David Writes Fantasy

At different points in my life, I have tried to write fiction. I would get a decent start, and then my story would fall apart. I took this to mean I wasn’t good enough to write the middle part of the story. Instead of pushing forward, I would go back and try to fix things. This would turn my story into a gigantic mess. Combine this with my utter inability to plan a story, and I would reach about 40,000 words and give up.

Now that I have gotten two manuscripts finished, what has changed? I stopped going back. If I feel like my idea could have been better, I more or less start over. I reuse a section I have already written, but I start over. But most importantly, I keep going. I keep writing. I accept that the story might not be perfect, but it doesn’t have to be. I can fix things in the edit process. It is better to be finished and need work than unfinished and perfect.

My first manuscript took just about a year. The second I finished in 28 days. So, if you get stuck, just keep hammering away at it. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be.