“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
“Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make
mistakes.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
― Mahatma Gandhi
Through the
last few weeks of final line editing (going through a manuscript for the last
time to see if you’ve blindly missed any commas, full stops or whole words), I
realised that no matter how careful you are, you’re going to make mistakes.
I think
this also pertains to life in general. How many of us have that one skirt which
you know is too colourful for anyone over eight and which has never left the
confines of your closet? How many times have you gone over a conversation that
you had with a friend and wondered why you used that word whose etymology is
dubious to say the least and if that person is going to forever think you’re a
complete moron? Mistakes and regret happen. They’re a part of life. I always
tell my son that the only thing that matters is how hard you work at correcting
them.
But is this
true? Could that enormous no parking sign have been an omen heralding the
appearance of that totally unfair traffic policeman? Are we just plain careless? In
The Scarlet Omen, my protagonist Anjeli
faces heart-rending regret and wishes that she could make things better.
However, in her case, destiny and fate gang up and shove her out of the way. Sometimes,
there is no reconciliation. Would it have been better never to have made the
mistake in the first place?
“Because we live in an achievement and success oriented world, a popular
rule is, "Whenever you do anything, do it right." Our parents,
teachers, coaches, and friends helped us learn this rule. If we adopted it as
our own then it may have been translated as, "Be thoroughly adequate and
competent in everything you do." With this rule we become perfectionists and
don’t like mistakes. Mistakes are now "bad" and something to be
avoided.”—Daniel H. Johnston, 2002, Lessons
for Living, http://www.lessons4living.com/wmaz14.htm
As an
author, mistakes – especially those made during the querying process and final
line editing – can be fatal. Compare: 'He glanced around the sea of faces' and 'He lanced around a sea of faeces'. Can you already hear your manuscript being flushed down the toilet? An author’s whole reputation depends on being a
perfectionist! However, at any other time, I have to admit that mistakes are
the tutors of life. We screw up, we learn and we move on, praying all the way
that we haven’t left too much damage in our wake.
“The problem is that you are applying a bad rule about mistakes. It may
have been a good rule and kept you out of trouble when you were six years old,
but it is not a good rule now that you are older. It is time to change the
rule…… a mistake is the first
step in learning. Success comes from mistakes. This is good news…..With your new rule, what should you say to
yourself the next time you make a mistake? Something like, "Great!
Wonderful! Now I can learn something." You will be energized and feel
excited, challenged, and motivated. You will get busy and work harder.“—http://www.lessons4living.com/wmaz14.htm.
Well that sounds a whole lot better. Pull out your pom-poms people because mistakes are the building blocks of a good plot.
Characters in a novel go around making mistakes all the time and the whole
point is to learn something from their journey - laughing, crying and cursing
along with them as they bumble through life…and learn. Good news for us authors; bad news for that poor character who's about to answer the beckoning whispers of that Earth nymph!
“When you make a mistake, don’t look back at it long. Take the reason of
the thing into your mind and then look forward. Mistakes are lessons of wisdom.
The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power.”—Hugh White
(1773-1840)
“If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular
error.”—John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006)
No comments:
Post a Comment