You’re Allowed to Write It Wrong (In Fact, You Should)Why Perfection Is the Enemy of Progress for Creative Writers

You should write it wrong because it’s an essential part of the process. Creative writers must understand that their quest for perfection hinders their ability to make progress.

Let’s get one thing straight: Successful writing requires embracing mistakes because they play a crucial role in the creative process.

Writers who wait until everything is perfect on the first attempt will never finish. First drafts are supposed to look disorganized and unconventional while being incorrect. That’s their job.

The Myth of the Perfect First Draft

The image of a tortured genius crafting a masterpiece in a dimly lit room represents the romanticized view of writing. But real writing? Real writing contains numerous bad metaphors along with awkward dialogue while featuring enormous plot holes and characters that suddenly change names within scenes. And that’s okay.

Your authentic writing voice emerges as you allow yourself to write imperfectly.

Writing honestly becomes possible when you stop forcing your words to be “correct.” The creative breakthroughs and unexpected emotional depth you discover come from letting go of grammatical perfection during your writing process. When you write incorrectly your unique voice finds its way through the spaces between.

Ugly Sentences Build Beautiful Stories

You could describe the moon as a weary potato trapped in the microwave of destiny. That’s fine. The sentence may not stand up to revision but the emotional content within it can guide you toward creative breakthroughs. Since nonexistent work cannot undergo revision you must write unconventional pieces. Let it be ugly. Let it be alive.

Rules Are Tools, Not Chains

Grammar rules alongside story structure serve as useful tools but should not be treated as unchangeable laws. Break the rules on purpose. Write a whole story in fragments. Write run-on sentences when your main character speaks. Switch POV halfway through a chapter. Through experimentation you will learn what works best for you.

So Here’s Your Permission Slip:

• Write the cliché.

  
  

• Use adverbs.

  
  

• Repeat yourself.

  
  

• Be melodramatic.

  
  

• Mix metaphors like a smoothie.

  
  

• Make it make no sense… for now.

  
  

Your job is to write. Fixing it comes later.

Do you want to take the 7 Days of Writing Without Rules (on purpose) Challenge?

This is a challenge for rebels, dreamers, and perfectionists-in-recovery. For the next 7 days, you're going to write badly on purpose — and you'll be better for it.

No editing. No deleting. Just joyful, chaotic, beautifully "wrong" words on the page.

Download your FREE PDF HERE