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“The faster you blurt, the more swiftly you write, the more honest you are. In hesitation
is thought. In delay comes the effort for a style, instead of leaping upon truth which is
the only style worth deadfalling and tiger-trapping.” — Ray Bradbury
You’ve probably heard it before: first drafts are sh*t. And in a way, they are, in
comparison to later drafts that is. That’s because writers are so focused on getting the
story down that often times things like character development, plot sense, sparkling
descriptions, and snappy dialogue (not to mention grammar and spelling) fall by the
wayside.
But you know what? That’s exactly how first drafts should be. So if you’ve ever groaned
in woe because your first drafts are — well, dog doo-doo — you’re doing something
right.
I love Bradbury’s quote because it gets to the heart of what a first draft is really about —
moving ahead as fast as you can, getting the story rolling like film in a movie camera in
your head down on paper. That’s all that’s required of you for the first draft. Nothing
else.
But getting to THE END can be a challenge for so many reasons. They could be
external (hello, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok) or they can be internal
(procrastination, lack of self-confidence, general “stuck-ness”).
In my First Draft Strategies course, I talk about three of the most common pitfalls
writers, newbies and seasoned, can fall into when they’re writing the first draft.
Because, ya know, we end up writing many first drafts in our careers as prolific and
committed writers. Each novel has to start somewhere, right? It has to have that first
zero draft, but that’s a topic for another blog post).
What are those three pitfalls?
Coming to the blank page with a blank mind
Falling down the research rabbit hole and getting stuck there
Editing as you go when it disrupts the writing process
Let’s talk about one of these: the very real (and somewhat esoteric) blank page.
Blank Page, Blank Mind — Good, Right?
Well, not so much. True, books, TV, and films have given us the stereotype of the writer
hopping out of bed in the morning, sitting at the typewriter (or computer) and click-
clacking away at the keys while letting Ms. Muse and her relatives take over. And that’s
super fun to do. As a teenager, I loved to just open a fresh notebook and start writing
without any idea of who was in the story, what it was about, or where it would take me
(and it often times ran me into a wall or a dead end.)
That’s great for journaling. Because when you journal, the idea is to throw down on the
page whatever comes to your mind and just keep the hand moving even if you’re writing
“this is stupid, this is pointless” one thousand times. Journals are about you, the person
writing, and whatever’s in your mind. No on sees it (unless you’re Anais Nin who
decided to publish her journals — all seven volumes of them, and that’s not counting
later unexpurgated editions).
But it’s not so great for fiction. Why? Because you’re writing for readers (for yourself too,
but that’s another kettle of fish). Readers want a story. They want to be able to follow
some kind of narrative with characters they care about in locations that are fascinating
or identifiable to them. Yes, there are plenty of exceptions (fiction always has
exceptions) but for many readers, this is why they read. They want to get into someone
else’s (your characters’) lives and out of their own.
Coming to the blank page with no or little idea of where the story is going is likely to
result in too many directions, dead ends, and rushing through parts where you should
linger while becoming painstakingly detailed in parts you should summarize. Now that’s
OK up to a point because, as we said earlier, first drafts are sh*t. But the less you know
about the first draft when you sit down to write, the harder it’s going to be to get that bad
girl into shape later on (even for pantsers). Some writers simply give up on a book
because it’s way too chaotic and too difficult to extract some kind of satisfying story out
of it later on.
So what can you do? Come to the blank page with ideas. Know something about your
story, your characters, your location, and your conflicts. How much you know will
depend on what kind of writer you are. If you’re a panther, you’ll likely know only a few
essentials. If you’re a plotter, you might know a blow-by-blow account of each scene or
each chapter in the book. It’s all about where your comfort zone lies and what works for
you and your story and your genre. Experimentation is the key. Try pantsing it for even
just a short story (you don’t have to commit to an entire novel) and see how it goes. If
you were biting your nails down to the nib because you were frustrated by plot turns or
characters misbehaving, then you might be better off doing a little more planning next
time. If the fingers flew on the keyboard, then pantsing might be your thing. And the
same goes for planning. If you find yourself having fun plotting your story’s ups and
downs, then you might be more of a planner.
The trick is finding what works for you, not what the writing books are telling you or that
USA Today bestselling author on Facebook is doing. Only by finding your groove can
you be a prolific, committed, and consistent writer.
Happy Writing!
Works Cited:
“On First Drafts: 26 Quotes From Famous Writers”. Writing Routines. Writing Routines,
2021. Web. 22 July 2021.
Tam May is an author, blogger, teacher, and lover of all things classic. She’s
been self-publishing since 2017 and has 5 books published, one of which
debuted at #1 in its category on Amazon, with 3 more books coming in 2022. She
also taught college writing and tutored EFL students for 15 years. She loves to
see students forge their own path to writing success.
Her writing and publishing courses are all about creating autonomous writers -
writers who learn what writing tools are useful to them and leave the rest and
even take the tools apart and put them back together again to suit their individual
writing needs.
For more about the autonomous writer and access to a free mini-course on first
draft pitfalls and strategies, visit her website at
Teachable school link: https://the-autonomous-writer.teachable.com/
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