How failure creates the foundations for success

Even if we don't necessarily realise that at the time.

I’m recovering from Covid this week, and whilst I’m relatively fine physically, my brain is mush. So instead of my usual newsletter, I’d like to point you to this excellent piece from Doug Johnstone on the Royal Literary Fund about the immense value of a failed novel. 

Contrary to what you might expect, this isn’t a ‘Rah rah, failure made me stronger!’ post, which I suspect you’d find as irritating as I would, but a thoughtful look at the role played by a failed novel in the development of Johnstone’s authorial voice. Even if the work didn’t quite come together creatively, it was still a crucial part of his writing experience and lead to an important breakthrough as he rediscovered his joy in writing as well as nailing his voice. 

We often talk of failures as if, by their nature, they are a waste of our time. But we learn more from our failures than our successes, whatever kind of failure it might be. I can give you chapter and verse on why my first business failed, and why my subsequent businesses haven’t done as well as they might (not enough access to capital being a major problem), but business owners who’ve only seen success often don’t know why their businesses were successful and misattribute that success to irrelevant or less important factors. 

Failed novels are a fundamental part of being an author. The key thing is to not view them as a waste of time, but as the foundations for future success, and to remember that we might not recognise the lessons they have taught us until years after we’ve learnt them.