Perfection can never be achieved.

What is perfection and can it be achieved? Painters, writers, sculptors, designers, composers. It is most unlikely that any artist will stand back, admire their work and claim it to 'perfect' in so far as there is nothing more than can be done to improve the work in hand.

I recall reading a biography featuring the American writer, Stephen King. He is reported to have said that when he writes a novel he doesn't go over and over it making adjustments and corrections. He writes it once and will perhaps read through it again making a few corrections. After that, he won't touch it for fear that it will interfere with the natural flow that he sought to achieve to his writing in the first draft.

He is a remarkable writer but I disagree with him on this point. I am currently re-writing one of my novels which centres on the work of the French Resistance during World War Two. I have re-written it two or three times and have added to the story and removed sections that I find no longer work. I am not after perfection because it can never be achieved but I can set out to make the story as good as I can within the limits of my human ability. It is this part of the creative process that I really enjoy. As I add words and remove others, change syntax and sentence construction and change some vocabulary, I feel like a sculptor chipping away at his sculpture seeking to improve the work until he is satisfied that he has devoted sufficient time and effort to the finished project. Of course, there is a point when, as Mr. King points out, the artist might overstep the mark and lose the original idea completely through endless corrections and perceived improvements. That trap undeniably exists.