[Perry] Ain’t Gots to be Perfect. Just Gots to be Written

Alternatively: It Won’t Get Done If You Don’t Get to It

You can thank Tami for the title up top there and to be honest, I had a conniption over which of those words needed to be capitalized but to hell with it. Who’s writing this post, huh? Me? That’s what I thought and I’ll capitalize whatever the hell I want!

Ahem.

So here’s a little story.

Around November of 2011, I was approached by a friend to join a little group of creative people. The goal of the group was to promote creativity. Everyone that joined had some sort of artistic craft they wanted to pursue, whether it was painting or video editing or writing, and this group was sort of a way to keep ourselves focused. We’d meet once or twice a month, touch base with each other on projects that we were working on, obtain feedback and criticism and encouragement and it’d all just be seventeen kinds of awesome with chocolate sprinkles on top.

At first, I thought this was a fantastic idea. One of my biggest problems when it came to getting a piece of writing done was that I didn’t really have anyone to share it with. Sure, I should have just been writing for the sake of it and I was…but I can definitely say that having a reliable audience, a deadline, and getting some consistent feedback did wonders for my productivity.

I can’t say the same for the rest of the group.

There was a lot of talking about the projects they were about to start on and what they hoped to accomplish…but little to no actual product. One of the other members, a friend, also pursued writing. Throughout the past year and a bit that we’ve been meeting, I haven’t seen a single finished product out of her, or from any other member of our little group save for one of them.

There is a horrendous lack of apples in this group and there are two reasons for this. Two traps that the various members of this group have fallen into that I am here to SAVE you from today.

Yes, you heard me right. I’ve come down from the mountains with their mistakes writ large on butterscotch tablets so respect my buttery burden and listen up.

The first one is the trap of conflating talking about doing something with actually doing it.

I can see the sugary, butterscotchy glaze coming over your eyes already so concrete example time!

A couple members of this group want to film short little comedic sketches, about two or three minutes long. After a lot of talk, they decided on one idea…and they’ve been talking about filming this same sketch for over a year now. They’ve shown absolutely no sign of actually getting it done or even doing any concrete work on making this a reality other than talking about it.

This is a trap that MUST be avoided. I’ve seen it happen to many people, I’ve experienced it firsthand myself a few times and I’ll be damned if I see anyone else get sucked down into that Sarlacc Pit of doom.

For some reason, the act of talking and describing what you want to do suppresses that little voice at the back of your mind that tells you to get off your ass and get to work. It’s sort of like the more you talk about how much you WANT to do it, the less you feel like you have to.

For a personal example; there are a number of stories that have died a quiet, whimpering death in my head because I spent too much time talking about them. I talked to people about where the plot would go, who the characters were, the way the magic system worked, all of the details of the worldbuilding and on and on and on. I talked so much about this story that I was planning to write that I never actually got around to sitting down and writing it.

Eventually, half a year to a year of no actual progress would come and go and I’d give up the project for lost, moving onto the next shiny idea that slipped to mind.

I’m here to tell you not to be that guy. It is a TRAP. If you want to create something, at the most, talk about it with one other person, someone whose opinions you trust to give you some constructive feedback during the project but keep the rest of it to yourself. Resist the urge to grab a passerby on the street by the lapels and tell them all about this amazing story you’re planning to write. Keep it all inside and make sure that the only outlet you have is to sit down and get it done.

The more you talk about it, the less you will be inclined to start and/or finish so keep your ideas to yourself and GET IT DONE.

This is the really awkward transition to the second trap so in your head, I want you to pretend that the curtains have come down and there’s a line of can-can dancers (gorgeous ones!) prancing across the stage as the curtains come back up and…

[SCENE]: A dilapidated house stands at the corner of the stage. A FOR SALE sign is seen shrouded by weeds, bugs and other things that make you sad. The front door opens and an anthropomorphic bear trap steps out onto the creaking front porch.

TRAP: My name is Early Revision and I am the second trap to creativity.

[SCENE]: Curtains fwoomp back down, can-can dancers trot back across the stage and a debonair young Asian gentleman steps to the front of the stage, sets down a soapbox and steps atop it.

For the love of all of the corgi puppies and grammatically challenged kittens on the internet do NOT do this!

The urge to go back and edit and revise before you’re done is a terribly insidious one. Maybe you noticed a glaring plot hole or maybe you suddenly had an idea on how to do something better or  make it more effective. Like, if the main character loses both his parents at a young age at the beginning of the story instead of starting the story without them, you could totally turn that character into Batman.

I know that in the midst of your creative fire, some lightbulbs are just too damned bright to ignore. Some ideas to change things around are SO good that there’s no way you can ignore them. Burn this into your heart; I’m NOT telling you to ignore them. All I’m saying is to leave it for a more appropriate time. Leave a comment in your document or a post it note at the appropriate spot (if you’re using a typewriter and being all old-school) stating exactly what your new idea is or how to change the scene to make it stronger and then move on.

If you get bogged down trying to fix something you haven’t finished, I can almost 100% guarantee you that you’ll never finish it. The first draft of a story is NEVER going to be ‘finished’ and trying to polish it while you write is is as fruitless as trying to catch a greased up deaf guy.

Save all of the ideas and insights that you have. Make a note of all of the things you thought to change about the story to make it better. But leave it until the first draft is done, done, done.

I’m telling you this three times so that you know it to be the most profound truth.

Leave it until the first draft is done.

Leave it until the first draft is done.

Leave it until the first draft is done.

FINISH the story first, then go back to start polishing.

I promise you that you’ll never be happy with your first draft. You’ll think it’s crap or you’ll think of so many things that you want to change about it before you would dare show it to another soul.

But I can also promise you that if you stop at every chapter to go back and try to edit before the story’s done, IT. WON’T. GET. DONE.

So look up at the title of this post. Look at Tami’s words of infinite and sagacious wisdom and burn them into your heart and soul because everything you will ever accomplish as a writer starts with that all-important piece of advice.

It doesn’t have to be perfect.

In fact, it won’t be perfect.

It just needs to get done.

 

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