“All perfect ideas will become imperfect realities in the end, if they are to become anything.”
Novelist and screenwriter Emma Jane Unsworth tells how she gets over the fear of imperfection.
“There is a point I reach regularly, which I am sure all novelists reach regularly, around about Chapter 12, when I realise the perfect idea I had is becoming a shambolic, shameful reality. It always hurts. Because you always think you’ve got the perfect book until that point. But then you have to remember you can never have such a thing as the perfect book, because the act of creation involves translating an abstract into a form – and you are only human, and this is only the real world. So all perfect ideas will become imperfect realities in the end, if they are to become anything. You can always just leave them hanging in the ideas ether, of course, but these things tend to nag.
How do I get over this? I walk, I run, I drink wine, I talk to friends, I watch good movies, I watch dreadful TV, and sooner or later, I find I can push through in teeny, tiny increments, that difficult middle part until you get to the very end and it’s downhill again. I also find it helpful to break the job down into sections. Turning points, if you like. When a character goes off in another direction, physically or mentally or both. Making it to the next turning point becomes like the next tree or lamp-post you’ve got to run to in a marathon, when the thought of the overall marathon is too much to take. Because the most important thing you can do – to truly know whether your idea is worth anything – is to get to the end of the first draft. Do whatever it takes to do that. Remember you can redraft, and redraft, and redraft – so it doesn’t even have to be a great first draft, and probably won’t be.
I keep five or six of my all-time favourite books to hand when I’m writing and when I need to, I just open one randomly and try and be inspired by the style. I also think, this only exists because someone finished it – so get on with it! That thing you’re afraid of – of not being good enough – is nowhere near as bad as never having really tried.”
Emma Jane Unsworth is a novelist and screenwriting. Her novel ANIMALS was adapted into a film, for which Unsworth wrote the screenplay. ANIMALS the film, starring Holliday Grainger and Alia Shawkat, premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2019 and was released in the UK later the same year. Unsworth won the award for Best Debut Screenwriter at the 2019 BIFA’s for her adaptation of the book.
Her latest novel, ADULTS , is out now
Find out more about the author at emmajaneunsworth.com
This article was taken from the book Seven Creative Gremins. Want more inspiring author stories plus gremlin-busting motivation? Get hold of your copy here.
