What Causes Perfectionism, And How To Make It Your Friend

Introduction

In this article, we'll discuss a concept that can hinder many fantasy writers from pursuing their stories and worlds: perfectionism.

As fantasy authors, we often strive to create the most intricate magic systems, compelling characters, and vivid settings. However, the desire for perfection can sometimes become our greatest obstacle.

We'll explore perfectionism, why some of us experience it, and define a way to turn it from our worst enemy into our best friend.

What Causes Perfectionism?

Perfectionism is, broadly defined, the friction we experience in completing our work due to a feeling that it hasn’t reached a stage of being perfect — or even satisfactory. It often stems from the fear of falling short of expectations, either our own or other people's.

Perfectionism, or striving for an ideal perfection synonym such as flawlessness, often creates friction in completing our work

As fantasy writers, this might mean stressing over whether our magic system is original enough, our characters are vivid enough, or our story’s twists are compelling enough. These doubts can paralyze us, making it feel safer to endlessly revise or delay sharing our work.

I’ve experienced perfectionism in various forms throughout my life: in high school exams, university assignments, and my career. Each time, the underlying fear was the same — the belief that my work needed to meet an impossible standard to be acceptable. In fantasy writing, this can manifest as the urge to know every single detail about a world before even writing the first chapter. It’s like trying to prepare for every possible exam question without knowing what will ultimately be on the test.

The truth is, striving for perfection requires a perfectly defined, unmoving target — a rare thing in creative pursuits. Our stories evolve as we write them. So, the question is: can we ever aim for perfection in writing, and should we?

How Is Perfectionism Experienced by Writers?

For fantasy writers, there are many types of perfectionism:

• Endlessly worldbuilding without actually starting the story.
• Revising and editing the same chapters over and over.
• Delaying sharing work with beta readers or submitting to publishers.

When this prevents writers from progressing in their work, it's known as writer's block.

After all, when we're creating an entire universe, we may feel like we need to have every detail figured out before we can proceed. Our brains trick us into thinking the only way to write a great fantasy novel is to make it truly perfect.

How can we be sure our fantasy story is perfect? To produce a perfect piece of work, we must have a perfectly defined and unmoving target, which is very rare in the creative process of writing.

So, can we ever aim toward perfection in our fantasy writing, and should we?

When Perfectionism Is a Good Idea

There are scenarios with clearly defined outcomes where our work can be or even must be, to the extent possible, perfect. It seems like a reasonable idea, for example, to produce the perfect test for a new commercial aircraft entering the market.

Through this reasoning, it becomes clear which traits belong to the kind of projects that we should strive to complete perfectly:

• Measurable — there must be a way to measure the perfection of the outcome. In our aircraft example, this is the number of crashes versus the number of safe landings when conducting our test.
• Objective, rather than subjective — in other words, it is not somebody's opinion whether it is perfect, but it's a cold-hard fact.
• Contextual — for example, an Olympic gymnast's perfect score only makes sense within the guidelines and scoring framework of gymnastics.

Otherwise, we have no right to call a piece of work objectively perfect.

That being said, even though perfection can be achieved, it isn't always best to do so.

For example, imagine we owned a printing press that costs $100 a day to operate and produces newspapers with a few typos on each page. Then, imagine we could upgrade the printing press, which could then produce newspapers with no typos at all, except it would cost $1,000 a day to operate. We spoke to our marketing team and they determined that a few typos on each page are not a big deal: our readers probably won't even notice. We spoke to our finance team and they say that, with the new operating costs, we would be forced to increase the price of our newspapers or quickly run out of business. In this case, although possible, we should not strive for perfection.

The printing press example is a case where perfectionism is possible but not worth the cost (in this case, monetary). In other situations, striving for perfection may not be worth the risk or the time. These are all examples of resources that we must deploy to reach perfection, and the more resources are needed, the harder it is to achieve it.

Perfectionism is hard, and sometimes, it's not worth it.

Chris Williamson, a popular YouTuber and Podcaster, said it best.

Pursuing Perfectionism as a Fantasy Writer

There are some scenarios where striving for perfection, to the extent possible, can benefit our fantasy writing:

• Ensuring continuity and consistency in our worldbuilding and magic systems.
• Thoroughly developing and fleshing out our core characters.
• Meticulously editing and proofreading before publication.

However, even in these cases, perfection is often an unrealistic goal. At some point, we need to accept that our work is as good as it can be within reason and move forward.

Can My Fantasy Book Be Perfect?

Let's explore the pursuit of writing Fantasy against our framework of perfectionism, and understand why it fails on two of the three criteria:

• Measurable — the success of a Fantasy book cannot be determined by its length, nor by the number of reviews or monetary success.
• Objective — literature is, by nature, subjective. There are some writing practices that are generally thought to be bad, such as info dumping, however, we cannot objectively say they are wrong.
• Contextual — writing is contextual, and the reader will interpret it through the lens of their own experience.

We, therefore, conclude that no Fantasy book can be classed as perfect. This makes sense when we think of writing as any other creative pursuit where there is a reader (or spectator) — there are preferences involved.

Beware the trap of perfectionism masquerading as noble attention to detail. Many a fantasy novel has languished unfinished because the author got lost in a perfectionistic loop.

Loving and Hating Perfectionism

Perfection can feel good when it's achieved. After all, we all love to produce quality work. It showcases our skills and makes us proud of what we have accomplished.

However, striving for perfectionism can be dangerous when:

• It is not worth the cost, risk, or time.
• It causes significant delays which are not justified by an improved outcome.
• It blocks progress or completion of the task altogether.

The problem, we often find, is that merely striving for perfection can feel amazing. Here is where you may find yourself stuck for hours, weeks, years, or even decades.

The source of this pleasure in my experience has come from various places:

• Telling myself that I am acting in my best interest in making sure the project is perfect before I release it to the world (being naive to the fact that early feedback is key to a successful launch).
• As a form of procrastination, to delay harder tasks in place of simpler ones, or to delay having to show my work to the world altogether.

Perfectionism can also have roots in a deeper sense of self-doubt, low self-esteem, or incredibly high standards. In this case, although we're frustrated with the task at hand, we feel compelled to push forward toward perfection.

In this short video from the series Malcolm in the Middle, Hal, Malcolm's father, sets out to complete a simple task: changing a lightbulb. He quickly becomes distracted by countless other tangential tasks that also call for his attention.

The problem is that not only has Hal spent time and money pursuing many unrelated tasks and not completing any of them, but if we could enter the fictional world of Hal and talk to him, he might even have forgotten what he set out to do in the first place!

When confronted by Lois, who asks him whether he's changed the lightbulb yet, his answer is simple:

What does it look like I'm doing?

This lets us peek into the inner workings of Hal's mind, who has proven to be the perfect perfectionist. He believes that the chain of unrelated tasks (fixing the wooden panel, the squeaky drawer, driving out to the store, and finally fixing the car) are all, in fact, related, and must also be completed in the exact order he discovered them before he can finally begin his work on the lightbulb.

Hal's mind has convinced him that his house must be in perfect shape, immediately. We can bet that, had Hal gone to bed that night knowing about the minor defects without having fixed them immediately, he would have struggled to fall asleep. So, here's the first lesson: learn to be ok with imperfection. 

Many, just like myself, experience perfectionism due to a combination of negative and positive emotions:

I would hate for this project to be released incomplete. I would hate the negative judgement I could receive from others for my imperfect work.

I would also love for this project to be perfect, the crown jewel of my portfolio, a state-of-the-art encapsulation of all my knowledge.

Reframing Perfectionism

If you suffer from chronic perfectionism, a mindset that may help you is as follows:

Perfectionism means good enough every time

Of course, we're not talking about aircraft testing or newspaper printing. We're talking about your project, passion, or career.

First, define what a good enough execution means for your project — writing a thousand words a day for your novel, or studying a foreign language two hours a week.

Second, strive to be perfect in your consistency.

Understand that perfection is subjective, and where it's not, it's usually the product of many iterations over a long period.

Realize that we grossly overestimate how much people focus on us. 

Understand that sustainable growth comes from compounding, or in other words, doing the same thing to a good enough standard, consistently, for a long time.

Learn to be ok with imperfection.

Be willing to be a beginner and look silly.

But, above all, be consistent.

Embracing Perfectionism in Your Writing

If you're a fantasy writer who struggles with perfectionism, try adopting this approach:

1. First, define what "good enough" progress looks like - writing 500 words a day, spending an hour developing your characters or world, etc. Whatever keeps you moving forward at a steady pace.
2. Second, strive to be as consistent as possible in hitting those "good enough" goals.

Recognize that a flawed finished draft is infinitely better than an eternally incomplete "perfect" one. You can always revise and improve upon what exists.

Understand that the richness of your fantasy story comes through many layers of development over time, not a burst of perfectionism.

Learn to proceed despite imperfections. They won't ruin your work.

Be willing to try new things, make mistakes, and look silly in the pursuit of learning your craft. Failure is integral to growth.

But above all else, keep putting in your best effort with consistency. That's how fantasy epics get written.

Conclusion

In this article, we explored how perfectionism can affect fantasy writers, for better or worse. We looked at when perfectionism is useful, such as ensuring consistency in worldbuilding, and when it becomes a hindrance, like delaying your draft for endless revisions.

The key takeaway is this: don’t aim for perfection in the outcome—instead, aim for consistency in your effort. Define what “good enough” progress looks like, and strive to hit that mark daily. Remember that your fantasy epic doesn’t need to be flawless on the first try. What matters most is that it exists.

Consistency and steady improvement, not perfection, are how great stories are written. So embrace imperfection, trust the process, and keep creating. Your world—and your readers—are waiting.

The next time you get the urge to revise a chapter over and over, ask yourself:

1. Is this edit really necessary, or is it just another form of procrastination?
2. Am I avoiding something more important that deep down I know I must do?
3. Do I harbor fears of releasing unperfect work? Am I afraid of my friends and family's opinions?
4. Do I believe that releasing the perfect book will make these fears go away?