Another week of writing ups and downs. Well, publishing ups and downs. It’s got me thinking about the perfect draft and whether there is such a thing. The advice I got when I was writing my dissertation was, “A good dissertation is a done dissertation.” This was hard to swallow. As the culmination of my entire academic career, the dissertation was supposed to be perfect. Or, if not perfect, the very best I could do.
“No, no,” people said. “The dissertation is a means to an end. A hoop to jump through. You can spend time perfecting the book/articles that come later. Just get the dissertation done.”
I think it might be time to apply this idea to novel drafts. Novel drafts. Maybe all novels are drafts. Even the ones you check out from the library and read, all shiny and beautiful between their covers. Those are just the draft at which people—the author, the agent, the editor—decided, “This is done.” Or, “This is good enough?”
There’s this idea in publishing that there’s a perfect, “done” version of your novel and that version will get you an agent, an editor, or on the New York Times bestselling list. But maybe there’s just a lucky version that lands on the right person’s desk at the right moment and is good enough for them to take a risk. Maybe a draft is a means to an end.
I’m not sure, but I am taking a few steps away from perfect right now in all the ways. I’m thinking perfect isn’t something you accomplish. It’s a confluence of events, many of which are totally beyond your control.
Writers, let me help you find that right draft (not perfect). Subscribe to this newsletter in the next week (by midnight, March 9) and I’ll pick at random 5 lucky winners to get feedback on a first page (of a story, novel, memoir…whatever) or a query letter (no longer than 500 words).
You are close to perfect.
Thanks, Betsey! XOXO