Learning From Mistakes

I think I'm taking way too much time to write this story. Maybe I need to dive in. I feel trapped by the planning. Perhaps I need to run with it. Every time I feel ready to start writing, I get another idea that’s slightly better than the last one, and then I have to adjust my plan to accommodate it. But maybe I keep delaying because I’m afraid to start.

I made a lot of mistakes writing my first two novels, and I don’t regret any of them. However, I’m trying hard to learn from those mistakes, and maybe that’s what’s holding me back.

Here are the top three.

Mistake #1: Planning

My biggest mistake in writing From the Ashes and The Inferiors was the lack of planning. When I wrote those, I had been struck by an insatiable inspiration, one that consumed me like a fire I couldn’t put out. It was such an amazing, incredible feeling. I spent so much time writing that I didn’t stop and think about where I actually wanted these books to go.

When I started, I knew how I wanted Book 1 to end, and I had some vague plans for Book 2. I had assumed that a plan for Book 3 would just materialize as I wrote Book 2, but it never did. This was not only disappointing but also somewhat terrifying. I had come up with this whole story, to leave it 2/3rds finished, which feels very unfair to my readers. (Side note: I am still cooking up ideas for Book 3, but don’t get your hopes up.)

With my new stories, I want to have a plan for how I want each character arc to begin and end. If the plan changes along the way, that’s fine.

Mistake #2: Being Too Hasty

Don't get me wrong. I love From the Ashes and The Inferiors. They were the books that taught me how to be a writer. They were the books that taught me I could really be published, that I could actually do this. But there is a part of me that wishes I had waited to publish them until all three books were ready.

That way, I could have modified Books 1 and 2 to fit Book 3 in case things changed as the story evolved.

Mistake #3: World-Building

From the Ashes and The Inferiors are absolutely character-driven stories. However, I could have explored the world-building a bit further. Yes, I was 16 when Book 1 was published, and around 20 when Book 2 was published, but I had wanted to create a richer world.

The Mistakes I’m Making Now

Of course, I made so many mistakes writing my first two books, far more than these three, but these are the ones that bother me the most when I look back on them. Again, I don’t regret any of them, because all of my mistakes are things I can learn from. All my mistakes will make my current and future projects even better.

Right now, I’m wondering if the mistakes I’m currently making are an overcorrection of the mistakes I made in the past. I have over 100k words of world-building, I seem stuck in an endless loop of planning, and I feel overly cautious. I spend hours creating new languages, cultures, and religions. It’s incredibly fun, but I’m also not sure how productive it is. I often find myself in a world-building rabbit hole. I spend so much time writing, but it’s not going anywhere because I’m not drafting.

So … here’s to drafting.

Here’s to starting, to diving in headfirst, even if it’s scary.

Even if I don’t know where I’m going.

Open road ahead.