Bad First Drafts Are Just Part Of The Process

First drafting is my favourite part of the writing process. I love discovering the story for the very first time, getting to know the characters and the places, and going on this amazing adventure as I write. I’m a panster, or discovery writer, so I usually write without much of an outline. And for the most part, this all works rather well for me. Apart from the fact that, as far as quality goes, my first drafts are complete and utter rubbish. This fact is abundantly evident to me at the moment because, as well as drafting this new book, I’m also meticulously proofing the final draft of my soon-to-be published fantasy novel, The Crystal Tree. My characters are awkward. My scenes are bogged down by too much dialogue, or, alternately, too much description. My first 12k words of this new book are pretty much just waffle as I try and figure out the best way to write this thing.

To be brutally honest, this first draft is an utter mess, and that is all the more evident because it is so strongly contrasted with my almost finished book. Sometimes, to be honest, I sit there starting at my awkward baby book in progress and wonder if I can actually write, whether The Crystal Tree was just a fluke, or whether I’ve actually gotten worse at writing in the past six years. It can be a bit demoralising, staring at the words I’ve just typed on the page and knowing that they’re stiff and clunky and not at all what I had in mind when I sat down to write.

But then, I remind myself, this is a first draft. And it’s [my] first draft. This is the way my writing process goes. My books start out bad. Very bad. The sort of bad where it takes me five drafts of hard slog just to reach the level of some people’s first drafts. That’s the way I write my books. they start out terrible and then I edit, and edit, and edit them until they become real novels of decent quality. The Crystal Tree has been through fifteen drafts to get to this point. I have other books that are creeping close on having almost as many. My editing process is long.

But this is the way I work. My book is bad now, and I wince when I read it back sometimes, but it’s my first draft. It’s the foundation for something that will be amazing later. Its job isn’t to be perfect now. All I’m trying to do is create something solid enough that I can come back and edit it later. I think sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in thinking that everything has to be perfect right away, that every first draft should be filled with highly quotable moments that can be shared on Twitter. But that’s not true. The only job a first draft has it to show you the bare skeleton for the amazing book it will become through edits.

So, as I push into the second week of Camp NaNoWriMo, I remind myself every single day that it’s ok for this book to be bad. it’s ok if the characters don’t quite sound like themselves, or if plot points are a little nebulous. It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever written (trust me, I’ve written way worse things that are so bad even editing can’t save them now). It’s rough now, but it’s bursting with potential. It’s overflowing with possibilities. And the only job it has at the moment is to provide a foundation. My baby book is bad. But that’s ok. That’s exactly the way it’s supposed to be.

Are you doing Camp NaNoWriMo at the moment? If so, how has your first week gone? If not, what are you working on at the moment? Do you ever have those moments where you feel like you simply can’t write? Do you write nice, clean first drafts, or are you a messy bad first drafter like me? Let’s chat down in the comments!

Liked this post? Then you should sign up to the blog and get these posts emailed to you direct. It’s so convenient!