The words Perfect is the Enemy of Done can be attributed to Voltaire. What he actually said is:
“Le mieux est l’ennemi du bien.”
—Voltaire
Which can be translated to: “The best is the enemy of the good.” What does this mean, though? To me, it means there is a point where you accept something is finished and not pick at it until it’s perfect. Perfect isn’t the goal for writing; done is. Perfect means you work on the same bit of your project over and over until it sparkles. Done means you’re happy enough with it and can move on to something else. It’s better to have multiple done projects instead of none because you’re worried about it being perfect.
Why isn’t perfect achievable?
Perfect is different for everyone. That makes it unachievable, because no two people will agree on what perfect really is. Trying to achieve perfection will drain your creative resources and you’ll end up picking at things that were fine the way they were.
What is good enough?
Good enough is when you’ve gotten your thoughts down in a way that’s complete and compelling. This requires getting other eyes on your work to make sure you’re not just tinkering with the work until it’s pretty mush.
Recently, I considered changing the introduction to Serenity because I thought I could make it better. I consulted some writer friends and it turns out I was trying to be perfect in a way that would ruin the good thing I have. It’s fine the way I’ve written it. Compelling in a way that makes others want to read more. My characters’ motivations are clear, and I needed my friends to tell me that so I could move on.
How to tell if you’re tinkering too much
When you’re editing a part of your story over and over instead of moving onto the next bit, you’re probably tinkering too much. You have to get to the point where it’s good enough and move on. Sometimes you have to leave it alone and work on something else. Is that section of your writing giving you trouble and you just can’t find the right words? Take a break, put the project in a drawer, and work on something else. Stepping away lets you come back fresh and see if you really needed to pick at that portion of your story in the first place.
Conclusion
Perfect is fine, but finished is better. You’ll feel better getting the words down and then moving onto something else. Saying, “Hey, I completed that!” feels so good. To get there, you have to get out of your way and shut off the perfectionism.
Don’t worry about being perfect for July. Just get the words out and tinker with it later.
If you’d like to join the event this post is for (The Tri-Annual Writing Cartel Heist), check out The Writing Cartel Discord server. We’re a bunch of writers set out to do the impossible: actually finish our projects.
