On Writing a First Draft
I’m not writing much these days. A regular monthly newsletter and an occasional blog post. Social media posts. Emails. That’s about it for now.
I’m also not participating in NaNoWriMo, but that’s what I always think of in November. And that’s what inspired me to write this post. NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, and it’s not too late to sign up or create your own self-styled program. PRO TIP: It doesn’t have to be a novel! And it doesn’t have to be November!
All writers start with a first draft. Getting started can seem intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. Here are some tips for you.
The sandbox analogy
I might as well start with my favorite tip about first drafts, which will also explain the sandcastle image:
When writing a first draft, I have to remind myself constantly that I’m only shoveling sand into a box so later I can build castles.
— Shannon Hale
To me, that says it all. A box full of sand doesn’t look like much. But without it, you can’t build a beautiful sand castle!
My own advice about first drafts
When it comes to writing stories about your photos and your family history — even if you don’t consider yourself to be a “real” writer — here’s a quote from my book What’s a Photo Without the Story? How to Create Your Family Legacy:
It doesn’t have to be perfect. In fact, let’s just assume right now that your stories won’t be perfect. But they will be a start. You don’t even have to know what you’re going to eventually do with them to get started. Just remind yourself you don’t have to show anyone if you don’t want to. Think of whatever you create as a first draft. (Even “real” writers start with first drafts!) If you don’t get it out of your head, and into a first draft, then there will be nothing for you (or others) to improve upon, right? And the stories will be lost.
— Hazel Thornton
If you are a perfectionistic writer — and who isn’t? — my blog post Letting Go of Perfectionism as a Writer addresses the following topics:
- What if there’s a typo, or a grammatical error?
- LOL — I just noticed an error in this section of the blog post! I’m going to leave it there for you to find because I think it’s amusingly ironic that in three years I’ve never noticed, and no one’s ever pointed it out to me. Wait — yep, the error also appears in the Nonfiction Authors Association guest post version! Which goes to show that the world does not end if you make a mistake.
- What if my writing isn’t clear, or my tips motivational?
- What if all my concepts are not original and unique?
- What if I missed something?
- What if, what if, what if…..?
Shitty first drafts
Many writers use the phrase shitty first drafts, coined by author Anne Lamott. But some take exception to the language and the concept, like Lev Raphael in his post Anne Lamott Is Dead Wrong About First Drafts–And That’s Not All. Whatever.
Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something — anything — down on paper. A friend of mine says that the first draft is the down draft — you just get it down. The second draft is the up draft — you fix it up. You try to say what you have to say more accurately. And the third draft is the dental draft, where you check every tooth, to see if is loose or cramped or decayed, or even, God help us, healthy.
— Anne Lamott
Click here to watch (or just listen to) a 7:33 min YouTube reading (by someone else) of an excerpt — the shitty first drafts chapter — from Lamott’s classic book on writing, Bird by Bird.
Writing a first draft is very much like watching a polaroid develop. You can’t — and, in fact you’re not supposed to — know exactly what the picture is going to look like until it has finished developing.
— Anne Lamott
Tips from some of my writing colleagues
I give myself the freedom and permission with first drafts to be very drafty with lots of holes so my creativity has space to fill them in later.
First drafts are all about perseverance and finishing. It’s getting the ideas out of your head, discovering your story, until it comes into existence. THEN you’re able to edit (and edit!) until you can share it with others. But it all starts with a first draft.
Y’know the knock knock joke about the interrupting cow?
Knock Knock. Who’s there? The interrupting cow. The interrup… Moooooooooo!
That’s what I think about when approaching first drafts. My temptation to edit is so high that I constantly interrupt my creative approach. I have to remind myself that you can’t edit a blank page, and you can’t let the interrupting cow editor make you stray from your path. When I catch myself editing before I actually write, I tell myself, “Mooooooooo” to get back on track.
So, what comes next?
What comes after your first draft, but before handing your manuscript off to a professional editor for copy or line editing? Self-editing, of course. Here’s a tool to help you, written by another writing colleague, book coach Shawndra Holmberg:
Your First Draft is Complete, Now What?: Before you edit, check for these common errors.
Do you have a book in you? Or a blog post? Or a family/photo story?
Have you written your first draft?
What do think is holding you back?
Please share with us in the comments below!
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- Hazel Thornton is an author, genealogist, and retired home and office organizer.
- Hung Jury: The Diary of a Menendez Juror
- What’s a Photo Without the Story? How to Create Your Family Legacy
- Go With the Flow! The Clutter Flow Chart Workbook
- Feel free to link directly to this post! Click here to ask about other uses.
- Copyright 2024 by Hazel Thornton, Organized for Life and Beyond
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These quotes are great and I loved that you gave an example of what happens if there is a typo!!! Thanks!
Glad you like them, Shawndra. And, if we can’t laugh at ourselves, we’d be pretty miserable, no?
Thank you Hazel for this timely post! This should inspire a lot of us to just get started and WRITE that first draft…. NaNoWriMo or not! I know it gave ME a boost to keep on writing… til my first draft is FINISHED!
I know you write regularly, so I’m glad there was still room to inspire you!
I haven’t written a book, but I do write a lot. I totally relate to that Polaroid image comment. To me, writing tends to be like diving in, and getting a bunch of stuff down, and then seeing what appears. I think it was Michelangelo who talked about the image being in the marble, and he just tries to chip away until it reveals itself.
Such a relief to know you can start, on writing or any project, even if you can’t clearly see your way to the end. The power is in starting!
Ah, the Michelangelo analogy — love it! Very similar to the sandbox analogy. Thanks, Seana!
I loved so many of these quotes, and the way you frame them. Christy’s first drafts being “drafty” with all of their holes, Shannon’s sandcastle metaphor — as you wisely note, it all comes down to fear (as almost all of our mental obstacles are) of creating something that is imperfect, that doesn’t measure up.
I refuse to even look for the typo in your perfectionism post. After all, aren’t tiny flaws what make things beautiful?
Also, did you see Seana’s Michelangelo analogy in the comments?
I *did* see that, and I think I could have sworn that I wrote about that in one of my blogs, but searching proves fruitless. But I do love the Michelangelo story, and think that when we write, sometimes (if not all the time), it feels exactly like that, like the words were there, just waiting for us to dig them out.
I write a lot and push myself to write more. Recently, I’ve been responding to journalists’ queries. They always come with a short deadline. I can’t think too much about the editing because I have little time to get it down on paper and to the journalist. So, I do a quick first response, wait an hour or so, and then go back and refine. This strategy is working reasonably well for me.
This is great. I usually write a first draft, leave it and then come back to it. I am such a perfectionist when it comes to my writing. I just cringe if I see a mistake. And if someone points it out to me that is even worse.
I love the Shitty First Drafts section – lol. Since English was my second language, writing a book has challenged me. While I have an outline of what I would like to write, I haven’t gone any further than that. These quotes inspire me and many others who would love to write a book. Thank you for sharing and debunking why people don’t write their first draft.
As always, you provide such sage advice, Hazel. I love your emphasis on writing the first draft with the critic locked up. Let go of perfectionism, editing, and that “interrupting cow.” Instead, allow flow and collection to occur. From there, you move on and become more discerning.
Generally, I write one blog post a week. On my writing day, I know what the theme will be, but I often don’t know exactly what I’m going to write. I have a seed idea or two that I noodle around with. Since I’m a fast typist, I use Word to write the posts. I only edit once everything is captured. At that point, things become clearer, and the editing begins.
I also ‘practice’ free-flow writing for non-blog post things. I use pen-to-paper for those (instead of the computer), where editing as you go is more difficult. I let my ideas flow out of the pen, and I only occasionally go back to change things. Editing is less critical for my personal and meditation journals. However, practicing the free writes makes it easier for me to create a non-edited first draft when writing blog posts.