The First Draft

Chaos. That's what it is. And that's what a first draft is supposed to be.

Most writers are avid readers who once had this thought: "I want to write something like this." Something as vast as impactful as what they once read. But when they do make that attempt, the results leave much to be desired. This is utterly heart-breaking. They put their hearts and souls into it, only to find that it looks better in their heads than it does on paper. They might even give up on making a second attempt, afraid of the disappointment they would feel. But you know what? No one gets it right the first time.

You need to make that second attempt. And then a third one. And perhaps more. Your book will get better with every iteration. Plot holes will be plugged. Characters will grow flesh and blood. Your voice as an author will shine through your manuscript. When you get to the finish line, you might even look back on your first draft and reminisce. I can't believe I wrote this, you'd think.

You don't need to be terrified of your first draft, whether you've already written it or are hesitating at the starting line. It might look like the fiercest monster there is, but in fact, it can be defeated with one single poke: revision. Once you make the first edit to your completed draft, it ceases to be the first.

However, you must also beware of putting the cart before the horse when drafting. It's important that you dump out the entire course of your book without looking back. Otherwise, you might get stuck in an endlessly repeating cycle of write-edit-write before even seeing the end of your story.

Doing so is hard, especially when there are typos competing for attention and fresh ideas popping up for an already written scene. When you encounter those, just put them aside in your notes; you can always get back to them the second time around.

If you find it hard to focus only on writing when writing, you can try out a sprint. Whip out your book, set a timer for 15-20 minutes, and just write. Repeat this two or three times, and you can get a great deal of words down. Setting a word count goal can also help light a fire under your bum if you need one. Play around with it and work with what brings out the greatest efficiency from you.

Remember, there is only one thing you need to keep in mind: first drafts aren't meant to be perfect. You can always make it better later on. So happy writing, you amazing humans. I hope to see you again soon.

Your friendly neighborhood editor,

Chiedozi.