Writing A Novel: Being Unafraid of Failure
Part of the writing process is definitely about having the courage to sit down and write 200+ pages of a novel, but more than that, it’s more recognizably about being unafraid to write something that could potentially be horrible. It’s something that most of us don’t talk about but it’s all somewhere in the back of our minds, “Maybe my book is unreadable.”
The truth is, you won’t know that until you’ve started writing. And even once you’ve began, the voice creeps up on you, “This idea has got to be my worst yet. It’s truly horrendous.” Don’t listen to that voice. Say to yourself: “I will edit away the bad writing.” Say it out loud if you have to. “I will edit away the bad writing and replace it with something worth reading.”
And then you have to keep writing. You have to finish a draft. You have to keep saying, “It will get better. It will get better.” And wait awhile and when it has been long enough, look at your draft.
Your first draft could still bring you cringey feelings. This is okay. This is just the voice of doubt saying, “Told you so! It’s SO bad.” So just smile and laugh, admit that your draft needs some help and then let the editing begin.
Editing can take a LONG time. I’ve talked to writers who have written over 30 drafts of the same novel before publishing it. That is okay. You just have to trust that eventually through editing, it will become the product you intended. Eventually. If there has been anything I’ve learned about writing, you have to have a thick skin and don’t question if it’s “good” or “bad.” It’s “in the works” until it is the thing you want it to be.
You have to be unafraid to write and keep writing. If you write a scene you don’t like, you go back and rewrite it, tweak it, change it, reform it until it is the scene you want. Don’t be afraid to cut, so long as you know you can put whatever you cut back in if you need to. Don’t be afraid to add when you think you need to. Don’t be afraid that you’ve been working on a project that all the sudden you think is just a bad idea. If you really were enthralled with the idea once, there is a reason why. Just remember that reason.
