I’ve seen too many people who work tirelessly to write that perfect first draft. Then, a lot of the same writers will spend five, seven, or even 10 years polishing up the manuscript. In reality, though, perfection doesn’t exist.
Don’t get me wrong, you should always put out the highest quality you can muster. But there needs to be a moment when you say, “Yep, this is good.”
Why Perfection Doesn’t Exist as an Author
The first draft of your manuscript is not the book you’re going to publish. You will undoubtedly make a lot of changes and adjustments to fit the story or to better describe the scenes.
What about after editing? Is it possible to finally publish a perfect book?
I would have to say no, and here is why…
Writing a Good Book is Subjective
First of all, writing a “good” book is subjective. This means that what one person thinks is good, another one is going to hate. There are no absolutes one way or the other as an author.
Now, there are books that can engage a larger audience because of the style and storytelling of the author. You don’t get to JK Rowling’s or Stephen King’s levels of success otherwise.
However, the fact remains that the term “good” is very subjective in a writing career. What you think of as perfection, another person is going to despise.
The only thing you can control is the quality you produce. You can’t force people to buy, read, or like your book. Trying to push yourself to write a perfect story is going to lead to frustration. The next thing you know, you’ve been working on the same draft of a book for the past seven years, tweaking every syllable to create that perfect stream of thought.
There Are Always Flaws
I would bet that even the most “perfect” of manuscripts will have errors and flaws. Editors will always find something wrong with a manuscript, whether human or bot.
I’m not saying that you should simply hand over your first draft to an editor and say, “good luck.” You can help them by polishing up what you can after the first draft.
Nonetheless, they will find all kinds of flaws in the manuscript from story flow to the overuse of certain words.
Part of this is because of what the editor perceives to be correct versus what you write. Everyone has varying levels of education, reading capability, and style. That, alone, is going to guarantee discrepancies between the draft and the edited version.
There Are Always Changes and Fixes
Lastly, every author can look back at a published book and think of ways to “make it better.” In fact, some authors will do so as a remastered version of the tale. I know I’m going to write one after the Witcham series comes to an end.
This may be the result of growing as a storyteller. Or, perhaps you thought of some details that could have made the story even better.
My point is that there is no such thing as a perfect story from an author’s perspective. There are always changes, fixes, and tweaks you could do to earlier books to improve them overall.
What Matters Most in a Book?
You don’t have to write a perfect book in order to engage an audience. In fact, I know a lot of people who’ll read anything regardless of the person’s skill level.
From what I’ve seen, not a lot of readers give a rat’s ass if the author has a degree. It all comes down to three very important elements when connecting with a reader.
Ability as a Storyteller
Being able to tell a story in a clear way makes a world of difference when it comes to producing a successful book. A lot of that comes down to the ability to describe a scene in a way that connects with the reader.
You need to get the reader to care about the characters and become invested in the plot. And you can do this without striving for perfection. All it takes is a good emotional connection to make a great book for your audience.
One of my goals is to make my beta readers cry by the end of the book. If I’ve done that, then I know I did well to draw them into the story.
Knowing Your Target Audience
As with blogging, knowing your target audience is key to putting out a book they want to read. Although you’ll find some overlap between genres, a lot of your fans are going to stick with one particular type. Or, they’ll have more of an affinity for a specific genre.
For instance, I love horror. But I also read fantasy and sci-fi. Then, there is my dad who reads far more horror than anything else. It’s extremely unlikely my dad would read a YA Fantasy novel while that style might pique my interest.
Knowing your audience is important for two reasons: a) you want them to read your book, and b) it’ll change how you market it.
Basic Principles of Spelling and Grammar
A lot of readers don’t care about perfection as long as the author knows the basics of spelling and grammar. A large portion of your readers may not even know or care about the difference between the AP Style and the Oxford comma.
This doesn’t mean that you want to throw caution to the wind and not edit your manuscript. You still want to write the best novel possible. However, a lot of readers aren’t going to care about some of the nuances that editors are going to point out.
Will honing your skills in spelling and grammar improve the book? Absolutely. But it doesn’t have to be perfect to engage your target reader.
Practice, Practice, Practice
The saying, “Practice makes perfect,” is somewhat misleading. The meaning behind it is the more often you practice any skill, the better you become. But remember, it’s not necessarily perfection.
You will get better each time you sit down to write a book, as long as you put into practice everything you learned from the last attempt.
Case in point, the next book I publish is quite a bit better than my first. Most of that is because of what I learned during the Reedsy masterclass for How to Write a Novel. But I have no doubt that the next book after this one will be even better.
Think of your favorite sports team. All of the people on that team are continuously practicing to become the best they can be. There’s no difference between the running back working on stamina and strength and you putting in the effort to become a better writer.
In the beginning, though, no one is looking for perfection, especially when it comes to the first draft.
The author you are today isn’t who you’ll be a year from now. You’ll continue to improve and grow with each line you write.
Perfection Doesn’t Equate to Sales
Writing the perfect manuscript doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll sell a lot of copies. As I said earlier, writing a “good” book is subjective. You might think your story is amazing but find that few people want to read it.
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t write the story, though. It just means that you can’t stress yourself out while writing that perfect manuscript.
Try to offer the best quality possible, but remember that perfection doesn’t exist.
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