Embrace Your Flaws

Life is a bunch of little steps. It’s an adventure. We never know what’s around the next bend, but that’s what makes it great.

This is how I feel about my artistic journey. I learned so much last year, completing To Secure a Scion and putting together the audio for An Occasion to Mourn. (Coming soon!)

Back in 2017, when I started seriously writing, I finished the first draft of To Secure a Scion, the first segment of Vale’s adventures. Its prologue was a short clip about this guy named Darith. But Vale was the one I instantly adored, especially after my daughter was born. Then I realized Vale’s story and Darith’s story need to have their own lights. Along came An Occasion to Mourn.

I put aside Vale’s first leg of the journey to write about Darith. Afterword, I went back to Vale. I had thought her story was perfect, but letting her simmer for a while changed my perspective. The writing was rough, and I had to strip it down to its bones and build it back up again. It was a lot of work that spanned a couple of years, but I’m glad I did it.

My writing had matured after exploring Darith’s adventures, and so I was able to improve Vale, to add depth and breadth and meaningful detail. It still ended up way longer than I intended (about twice as long), but I felt like it needed to be. Some would argue otherwise, and I’m fine with that. Part of me agrees. But I wanted to explore Alytha, its peoples, cities, and lands. I wanted to give my characters voices and personalities.

After many rounds of editing, I finally declared the work done.

But there was a little problem. Not with To Secure a Scion, but with An Occasion to Mourn. A couple of years studying the craft improved my writing even more. A read through of Darith’s adventures showed me so many flaws. But Darith was already out there. He was already published. Even so, I thought I needed to go back and rework it all again.

This feeling reminded me of my father-in-law, who is a master woodworker. He is talented, and I’ve seen him build some beautiful pieces. One of them was a sign I commissioned him to build for a friend. We brainstormed and eventually decided on a design that involved four different types of wood. That was so all the color variation was natural.

I loved it. I still love it. It turned out better than I imagined. Or so I thought. When my father-in-law showed me the completed piece, he started talking about the mistakes he made along the way and showed the sign’s imperfections. To him, the flaws were glaring. I hardly noticed.

An Occasion to Mourn is like the sign. The writing has flaws. I know it does. They glare at me. All the issues became more apparent when Adriel’s vocal talent brought Darith’s watchers to life. I might go back and rework Kezzah’s fall one day. Maybe. Those flaws are part of the story – mine as a writer. For now, I just want to enjoy the adventure. Mine and Darith’s. And I hope you will enjoy it too.

Embrace life’s journey. Embrace your flaws, whatever they are. No one notices them as much as you do. 

© Will Rivard

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