I used to think my first drafts had to be perfect right away

My friend Carla read a messy chapter I wrote at a coffee shop in Seattle and just said, 'This is a great start, now tell me what you're trying to say.' That simple question made me stop trying to fix every sentence and just focus on the story. It changed how I write from the first word. Has anyone else had a friend give you that one piece of advice that flipped a switch?

3 comments

3 Comments

fox.david11d ago

Honestly, a writing teacher once told me to just write the worst version first on purpose. Tbh, it sounds dumb, but giving myself permission to make a real mess got words on the page. Ngl, my first drafts are still terrible, but at least they exist now. That shift from aiming for good to aiming for done was everything.

rowanellis11d ago

Read a blog post once that called first drafts the "vomit draft." The whole point is just to get the raw material out of your head, no matter how gross it looks. You clean it up later. That idea stuck with me because it makes the blank page way less scary.

william_jackson651d ago

Yeah, that "aiming for done, not good" thing is key (it's basically permission to be human). The mess can always get cleaned up later.