It's perfectly OK to go through life never writing a book or a screenplay. What makes me sad are the people who dream of it, talk about it, want to do it, but never even get started. In his book Poke the Box, marketing and internet guru Seth Godin writes:
“Part of initiating is being willing to discover that what you end up with is different from what you set out to accomplish. If you’re not willing to discover that surprise, it’s no wonder you’re afraid to start.”
I’ve found that there are two fears that writers have about starting a big project:
1: That the final product will not match their idea.
2: That the final product will match their idea.
The first group has an perfect product in mind. Theirs is going to be the best novel ever about family life, or an amazing science fiction script that will be turned into a film that will rival Star Wars. In their heart of hearts, though, they know this is unlikely, so why start and let reality ruin a perfectly good fantasy?
The second group knows that the idea is only the starting point. Even if it’s a very good idea it’s going to have to be executed well, too. The dialogue, the description, the pacing, and half a dozen other elements will have to come together to make their project work.They lack confidence and they fear that when the project is done they will not have been talented enough to transform it from a good idea to a good book or script.
These two fears, which at first seem opposites, are very similar. They are fears of not being good enough and they can be crippling.
In the next post, we’ll take a look at what happens if you fail so totally that even your kind Aunt Matilda, who thinks you are a genius, can’t bring herself to say one nice thing about what you wrote…the price of failure may not be quite what you think it is.
