Shoot for the Moon

I want to talk about how I don’t have to love an entire book in order to love that book as a whole.
 
Sort of like people. I don’t have to like everything about a person to like that person. Right? That makes sense.
 
I’ve noticed that even with my favorite books, there is usually something I don’t love about the book. The interesting thing, I think, is that I still love that book unconditionally. I never say, I adore this book except for that scene where she ignored the cat that was starving on the side of the road.
 
For instance, I love many classic books that are somewhat slow moving. Pride and Prejudice is one of them. I like that Elizabeth is not uber-eager to marry. I like that she reads a lot and takes long walks for fun and that she isn’t described as having supermodel good looks, LoL.
 
But I must admit that I don’t love the end of the book. It bugs me that once Elizabeth visits Mr. Darcy’s bazillionaire-dollar mansion, she thinks, “Well, maybe I could marry him.” Yes, I know she truly does love him, but the money, it seems to me, acts as more of an influencer than I would like it to.
 
That said, in no way does it tarnish my adoration of the book. When I think of Pride and Prejudice, I think of the journey, the historical simplicity, and the moments of the story that swept me away: mainly those that made me pray Elizabeth wouldn’t end up with the tiresome Mr. Collins, and that she and Darcy, and their bad timing, would get together already.
 
Many of my favorite books are this way. I'm in awe of Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Its ending, which I found devastating, has stayed with me for years. But the first half of the book was slow. I knew something more was going on at that school with Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy, and I wanted clarification. My curiosity kept me going. Patience was required because I didn’t love not knowing, and I didn’t care that much about the characters—yet.
 
But the end made up for it tenfold. By then, I realized there would be no devastation without the slow-burn first half. For this reason, I love the book as a whole and wouldn’t have it any other way.
 
These are things I think about as I write my own novels. I realize the reader may not be head over heels with every aspect or scene in my book, but that’s okay because readers can still love a book they don’t love in its entirety.
 
Knowing this doesn’t mean I let myself off the hook when the writing gets tough—when a scene or a dialogue or a character arc isn’t just right, no matter how difficult and bumpy the road becomes, I try to make every moment count. If I had my way, the reader would relish every moment in the journey.
 
And yet, that’s not how it is for me and my favorites when I read them. For this reason, I think that hoping for this kind of book "perfection" is not altogether realistic, or necessary. But nor is it detrimental to strive for. Aiming for this kind of perfection isn’t a bad thing.
 
For this reason, I write hoping to entertain or engage and/or dazzle every second.
 
If it doesn’t happen, it’s okay. The reader may still come away from the experience loving the book. If they don’t, at least I can say I tried!
 
“Shoot for the moon,” as Norman Vincent Peale said. “Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”