Tolerance for Uncertainty is the Prerequisite to Succeeding

Photo by Fallon Michael on Unsplash

I’ve been re-reading Art and Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking, by David Bayles and Ted Orland. It’s a short book, but every page is full of gems of advice for anyone in any artistic field. It’s definitely one to return to over and over, to remind yourself of what you face, and what is at stake, when you sit down to write.  

My favorite quote this week is: 

“Uncertainty is the essential, inevitable, and all-pervasive companion to your desire to make art. And tolerance for uncertainty is the prerequisite to succeeding.”  

If you’re in the middle of NaNoWriMo, (or in the middle of any long writing project) your energy may be flagging at this point. You may wonder why you started in the first place. You may wonder if it’s worth it to keep going.  

This also comes up in your writing career in general, especially if you haven’t published yet, or have published but not seen great sales success – or even if you have, but now face the daunting task of building on that success with your next book! 

When they say, all-pervasive, they mean it.  

You may feel disheartened to think, “It doesn’t matter what stage I’m in, I’m always going to feel this way???!”  

Yeah, probably. 

So get comfortable with it. Uncertainty, is, of course, a form of fear. It’s a fear of the future, both immediate and long-term. It can hit you when you sit down to write and have no idea what you’re going to say (like me with this article). You don’t know how this day’s writing will go, never mind if your book will be published or receive rave reviews or become a best-seller.  

What this says is that you can only control what you can control. Which may seem obvious, but how often do we really embrace that idea?  

Things we can control: 

• How often we show up and write. 

• How often we embrace learning our craft. 

• Committing to revising our work as much as necessary for it to shine. 

• Sending the work out into the world. 

• However we publish, showing up to market that work and help it find its audience. 

• Embracing the process, and committing to constantly iterating and improving and staying with it for the long haul. 

These are the big-picture things we need to focus on. Keeping the faith in the constant uncertainty of a writer’s life is not easy. We face self-doubt and rejection (by agents/editors/audience) all the time. To say nothing of indifference – what my friend the poet Steven Cramer calls “The Great Yawn.” Often, no one is waiting for our work. No one cares if we write or not. We send it out, and don’t even get a form rejection, just silence. Or we publish, and the book sinks with only the ripple of sales from a few friends and family.   

This isn’t to discourage anyone, because we can reframe that Uncertainty as Opportunity. Rather than fear, we focus on the present moment, and what we can do right now.  

Which brings us from the “macro” to the “micro” aspects of writing in uncertainty.  

There are so many systems now for writers to choose from. Different plotting structures, character maps, outlines, and so on and on. I’m not knocking them; they can be truly helpful to writers. I use some of them myself.  

But uncertainty is part of the process. Obsessive planning or outlining kills the spontaneity of art, that ineffable brew that bubbles up from the unconscious during the writing itself. There must be openness and room to grow and experiment. Nailing the story down too soon can kill a piece.  

However, it takes bravery to stay open to what might develop – to trust that something will develop – to accept that not all our experiments are going to go anywhere.  

What this means is that we need a balance between some structure and some freedom. Structure to contain all the overwhelming uncertainty, and freedom to let the work develop with that mysterious alchemy of talent, craft, and inspiration.  

Structure can mean writing at specific times, producing a certain number of words, writing in a specific form (poetry, short story, novel, etc.), or using a particular story structure (Hero’s Journey, Story Grid, Save the Cat, etc.). Structure can, in fact, allow you the freedom to revel in the opportunities of uncertainty.  

I feel the irony here. This will probably be one of my less popular articles because it deals with deep truths about being a writer in the world, vs. “10 ways to develop your main character” or other pithy, craft-focused pieces.  

Again, though, we need both craft knowledge and advice on how to navigate the writing life. Both are necessary to deal with the uncertainty inherent in the creative process. Craft development helps us understand how to do the work. The psychological aspects help us understand how to keep persevering in doing the work, despite all the uncertainty.