On Writing Flawed Books

letswritesomenovels:

If you’re a writer and you’ve thrown yourself into learning the craft–following writing blogs, reading craft books, attending workshops–there’s this thing that is very likely to happen. 

Armed with newfound knowledge of what makes a piece of writing fantastic, you’ll realize that your writing.. isn’t. 

It may even start to feel like your writing is the worst writing that has ever existed. It may make you scared to put a single new word on the page in front of you. You’ll see exactly what you’ve been doing wrong, and you may very well not know what to do fix it. 

I’m here to let you know that it’s natural to feel that way when you’ve reached a point where your knowledge surpasses your ability. A secret for you? Your knowledge of craft–any craft–will always surpass your ability if you do what you should and continually study said craft. It’s a good thing. 

It’s okay for your writing to be flawed. 

You can write a book, know it has flaws, and still be proud of everything you’ve accomplished. 

Published books are flawed. Best selling, critically acclaimed books are flawed. Readers love books with flaws, because those flaws tend not to matter as long as the story connects with them. 

There are people who complain about all the adverbs Rowling uses for dialog tags in Harry Potter. Features in Harry Potter can be used as examples of “bad craft.” Does it mean the books are poorly crafted? Does it lessen their value to the literary world? To the world at large? OF COURSE NOT. 

No book is perfectly crafted. Not a single one. The book you’re writing will never be perfectly crafted. So what do you do about it? 

Tell your story. 

Do your best. 

Keep Improving. 

But don’t let the fact that your work has flaws stop you from writing–or worse, stop you from being proud of everything you’ve already written.