Give yourself permission to write garbage.
This is the best writing advice I have ever received. Ever.
Anytime I either find myself intimidated by writing something or I simply canât seem to get words moving, I use this. Itâs great for the run of the mill perfectionist, as well.
Giving yourself permission to write garbage means letting yourself do something imperfectly. I always use this when I canât seem to find a place to start, and I set out to write the âworst versionâ of whatever Iâm writing. Not only do I give myself permission to write badly; I ask myself to. Instead of writing something eloquent like âthe banisters were carved straight out of Queen Victoriaâs pastâ Iâll write âthe banisters were fancy-looking and stuffâ. Or rather than coming up with the beautiful world building of the setting, Iâll just start with âtheyâre outside and itâs prettyâ and move on.
Every time I do this, perhaps the first line or two will be a little worse for wear, but as a whole, never comes out âbadâ. Youâre just giving yourself the opportunity to write a âfirst coatâ, if you will, and then add onto it when you edit later. And often I just need this advice to write the first sentence, and then Iâm in the flow again. For me, at least, if I didnât do this when I needed it, Iâd just sit paralyzed at my computer staring at a blinking cursor. Iâd rather just type some garbage that I can edit later than have nothing at all.
Itâs simple and itâs silly (and sometimes cringe-worthy), but it gets you writing and thatâs all that matters.
