The Blog
Writing craft, product updates, and thoughts on the creative process.
If you are a new writer there is one piece of advice you need to hear first, above anything else I or anyone else can give you. Your first draft sucks. No qualification, no buts — go back and read that again a few times. Go ahead, I'll wait. Done? Good. Now let me explain why that's the point and not a consequence.Your First Draft is Marble, Not a StatueYour first draft is the essence of a story. It's the idea you had in your mind when you sat down at the keyboard to begin. It's raw, emotional, all over the place, probably loops back on itself several times, makes no sense in parts, changes genre in others, and is similar to the slab of marble a sculptor starts with before they make their masterpiece. That's not to say you shouldn't be incredibly proud of finishing it. You absolutely should. Eighty percent of aspiring authors never make it there. But don't hold it up as though it needs to be perfect. It's in its infancy and it needs you, the author, to raise it.Internalize that idea because it's going to be the backbone for every decision you make while writing your novel. When you accept that you are allowed to make mistakes, not just allowed but encouraged, you will be free from the handcuffs of perfection. Perfection is where every idea, great, good, bad, and ugly, goes to die. You'll be free from the worry that someone might read that shameless or terrible idea that later turns out to be the core of the plot. Most importantly, it'll free you from the dreaded writer's block, because you will feel free to write anything that comes to mind, even if it's incoherent nonsense.When you write your first draft, whether from an outline ([url='https://www.quillloop.com/blog/should-you-take-your-pants-off-to-write']see why you should use an outline[/url]) or by the seat of your pants, you should be exploring your story. Wander into that plotline where the main character gets shot. Muse about what happens when the antagonist decides to start a cult and converts your main character's best friend. For me, I always write myself into the worst possible corner and try to write my way back out. Does it always work? Gosh no. Is it fun? You bet. Some of my best ideas have come from giving myself the freedom to make mistakes.Banish the Spell CheckerSo what does that actually look like in practice? Start by ignoring your spell checker entirely.Spell checkers are for the editing phase, and even then only when you're ready for your first round of beta readers. A good portion of what you write in your first draft will never make the final cut, so there is no reason to polish prose that will never see the light of day. Worse still, every moment you spend on spelling is another moment away from your flow, another chance to get distracted and lose your place. Who cares if you misspelled your character's name? You can fix that later. You won't forgive yourself if you forget the perfect way to get your main character's best friend out of the cult leader's house under cover of night.Write Every Day, Even if it's Three WordsIt may not feel practical to carve out an hour every day, and that's okay. For many writers, writing time is 15 minutes on the train to work, five minutes in the car before going inside, or an hour on weekends while the kids are outside playing. The important thing is that you use those moments and use them wisely. When you sit down to write, write. Don't get distracted by research, that can come later. Don't check your email. Just write. Write whatever comes to mind. If you're not in the mood for your current chapter, skip it and start the next one. Revision will catch the narrative inconsistencies later. Right now you need to get the story down.Leave Yourself a Breadcrumb for TomorrowOne thing I've found valuable is jotting down where my head was at when I left off. I'm not talking about an essay, just two or three bullets about what you were thinking when you wrote what you did, where you're going, and why. Those bullets can pull you back into your headspace so your next session gets productive faster.The Enemy of Good is PerfectWrite down anything and everything. Bad ideas written down can become good ones, and the truly awful ones get cut later. I like to think of writing as thought blogging, just getting ideas down on the page and sorting them out in the wash. You'll be amazed at where your mind goes when you stop worrying about making it perfect and start just doing the craft.Writing is equal parts frustration and fun. You're going to have days you wonder why you started and others where you're over the moon. Ride the highs and hack through the lows. Never put that pen down, because it's worth it when you finally get to write the words "The End."The only difference between a dreamer and an author is the tap of keys or the stroke of a pen.
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