Discussion: Are First Drafts Always Awful?

Photo credit: Samyra Serin on Flickr
So a couple weeks ago I wrote this post on why writers need to act like professionals and how to do so, and part of the list mentioned editing until you’ve ripped your first draft apart and made it unrecognizable. Because of that, one of you fabulous commenters asked a question that really got me thinking, namely, whether or not most writers really look at their first drafts as something so rough that it requires complete draft-altering surgery.

Naturally, this is the part where I say every writer is different. We all write at different speeds with different techniques. Some of us prefer to pump out a first draft in a couple of weeks while knowing it’s going to need massive revisions later, while other prefer to write their first drafts more carefully. Everyone works differently and there isn’t a right or wrong way to do it—there is only whatever works best for you.

Personally, I’m a fast-drafter. I finish my first drafts in an average time of one to two months, depending on the WIP. But I also spend a ridiculously long time revising and rewriting, because yes, my first drafts are pretty terrible, but that’s just how I work best. However, I know it doesn’t necessarily work that way for everyone else, and that’s ok.

For example, the endlessly brilliant Tahereh Mafi (author of Shatter Me) says she writes very coherent and careful first drafts despite being a pantser. I don’t know how she does it, but that’s what works for her. Other writers, especially careful plotters, tend to write very lean and detailed first drafts because they have a firm grasp on where they’re going with their story. That’s what works for them.

In the end, there isn’t a rule that says first drafts have to be awful. The key is that writers must be willing to accept that sometimes the first draft will be awful and sometimes they have to rip it apart before they can get to the real story, and if that’s you, it’s ok. You’re not alone, because many writers work this way. It doesn’t matter if the writing in your first draft is horrendous—what matters is that you finish drafting so that you can make it better later.

And if your first draft isn’t horrible? Congratulations! You have less revision work to do than the rest of us. And that’s ok, too.

Discussion time! What is your first draft process like? Do you write quickly then revise heavily later, or are you more careful with your first drafts?

36 comments:

David Brown said...

I'm the careful outliner and plotter, but I still see a host of inconsistencies in my current work-in-progress now that I'm about 75% finished. The issue for me is not stopping the draft process to begin editing now, because then I know I'll never finish. What I have found helpful is to go back periodically and re-read (or at least scan) up to the point where I am writing now, and take note of things like inconcsistencies that need to be edited later. Then, I can minimize making that issue a perpetual one by keeping it in mind as I write forward.

Adam C said...

Well, I don't think there are many teenage writers on here, so I'll be one of them. :D

Anyway, when I first started writing at age eleven (I was inspired to write by J.K. Rowling), I was a pantser. I liked the story I was writing, but noticed that parts and scenes of my book were basically a rip-off and copy of J.K. Rowling's amazing imagination. I think that's common when you first start out, though, right?

Today, I'm more of an outliner because it helps me get things straight and make sure the story will fit like I want it to. I'm usually in between when it comes to the speed I write in. I don't write like it's the end of the world and we only have three days before the French space bunnies invade the Earth (I have an odd imagination), nor do I work slowly like a snail. I'm really in between on my writing speed. It gives me time to think, but it doesn't allow me to get bored with my project and think that I'm getting nowhere on my work-in-progress.

P.S. I really find this blog useful. I've learned so many techniques I haven't learned before (character voice and what makes a great first sentence are some of my favorites). I never really knew about them before, so thank you so much, Ava!

Ava Jae said...

I've also found that it's helpful to keep moving forward even if you change things while you're writing. It's way too easy to get caught up in fixing what you already wrote if you look back. You can always fix inconsistencies and plot holes later--the most important part is just to get the draft completed.


Thanks for sharing your thoughts, David. :)

Daphne Gray-Grant said...

I usually tend to be careful with my first drafts UNLESS the thought of writers' block is lurking at the back of my brain. If that happens, I crank up the speed and write as fast as I possibly can. Bottom line: you can't edit until you have a first draft.

Yesenia Vargas said...

Yep. Definitely in the group with awful first drafts!

Sara Leggeri said...

It usually takes me a few months to write a first draft. The first one I finished I pantsed my way through the entire story. Two years later I am still trying to edit and refine it. I came to the conclusion that there was a whole chunck missing in the beginning. The other first draft I finished was the sequel to that one and I plotted it very carefully for NaNo. I noticed that it had more structure and everything in there had a specific purpose. I know they'll be much revising in my future to make sure the pantsed novel fits with the plotted novel. But I feel plotting definitely makes writing a first draft a bit easier, writing wise and in the long run.

Ava Jae said...

That's a great point and I agree entirely. Without the first draft, there's nothing there to fix, so the most important thing is just getting that draft finished. You can worry about fixing the details later.

Ava Jae said...

You and me both. :)

javacia of writeousbabe.com said...

My process is similar to Daphne's. I tend to be careful with first drafts unless I'm struggling to get anything on the page in which case I just word vomit and clean up my mess later.

Samantha Gluck said...

Hm. I'm not sure I would consider them "always" awful, but all first drafts have room for improvement.


My dad always told me never to get to complacent w/my craft or other talents because, no matter how good you are, there's always someone better, smarter, richer, younger, prettier out there. Always.
My first "real" editor at the Houston Chronicle always said to me, "What writers think of as polished and publishable, I see as a first draft." He gave me brutal, honest and necessary criticism. He is the reason I have the confidence in my craft that I have today.

Rebecca Ann Jordan said...

It varies for me. My first-draft of 2010 was written very quickly, and while I was fascinated by it, it was awful (and still is. I'm terrible at revising). In 2011 I wrote a 100,000 word draft in November and most of it is pretty coherent and final-draft worthy (and I still can't get around to editing it). Now I'm writing a novel that's taking me forever to write. I want to get it perfect the first time, because now I know that it takes an act of God to get me to sit down and revise. So I'm a hypocrite. While I believe in fast-drafting, I don't believe in revising. This puts me, naturally, in a quandary and perpetual state of stalemate with my drafts.

Ava Jae said...

That seems like a good, balanced strategy. Do you do anything to differentiate between sections you wrote quickly and sections you were careful with for editing purposes later on?

javacia of writeousbabe.com said...

Good question and yes, I do. Careful drafts are typed. Word vomits are written in a notebook. Gasp! Yes, I actually still use pen and paper.

Courtney Privett said...

My first draft for my first book was awful, my next three books were okay but needed significant revision, my fifth only needed some detail added and timelines corrected, and my sixth only required proofreading and an extra sentence here or there. Like any other skill, it takes time and practice to improve. I've improved a lot since that first book, and I found that out when I rewrote it recently, hopefully into something beautiful from the ugly duckling it used to be. I'm a fast writer and a pantser, but I'm efficient and careful from years of writing lab reports and research papers.

Margaret Alexander said...

As usual, you are weirdly in tune with my thoughts, but it's cool, I'm getting used to it ;) I'm a careful writer and re-read paragraph by paragraph, dumping midnight scribbles on the side and completely morphing them when they become part of the novel. And *still* it requires months (if not years) of editing to fix it up. I'm all for writing full speed ahead, but only when I have at least a few plot points ready to tackle. But it does relieve me when authors like King and Roth just say to go for it and stumble as many times as you need to.

Ava Jae said...

That's really interesting, because I'm the opposite. When I'm having trouble spitting out words or I want to write something more carefully, I tend to pull out the pencil and paper. I've done many of my rewrites this way. :)

Ava Jae said...

I think what your editor told you is pretty eye-opening and a good reminder that there's always room for improvement (and oftentimes, there's more room for improvement than we might have originally thought). Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Samantha! :)

Ava Jae said...

Hmm, I imagine it's excruciatingly difficult (if not near impossible) to try to write the story perfectly the first time around. I used to have trouble getting myself to sit down and revise as well, until I learned to love the process of revision. To me, it's fascinating to see the story develop and grow from draft to draft, even if it is quite a bit of work. But that's just my experience. :)


Thanks for stopping by, Rebecca!

Ava Jae said...

I try not to think about the first draft for my first book. If I ever went back to it, though, I'm pretty sure it would require a complete rewrite.


What's interesting about writing is I've noticed our definition of what we consider good changes as we become more skilled. When I look at a draft that I considered polished from a couple years ago, I cringe because I can see just how much work it needs. It's not a bad thing, but I find it interesting to see how we measure the quality of our writing over time as our writing skill improves.


Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Courtney!

Ava Jae said...

I've found that it's much easier to write quickly when you have some plot points figured out so that you know what you're going to write before you sit down--it saves me the time of wondering where to go next and I don't pause during my sprints nearly as much because I have a concrete end goal to reach.


Also, I agree that it's encouraging to hear published authors say not to worry about writing badly. It makes you realize that it's all part of the process and you're no different than many other writers if your first few drafts are less than stellar.


Thanks for stopping by, Margaret!

Toria B said...

I'm a rather slow writer for now. I'm not sure whether it's because I'm quite new to this or maybe it's just how I am, but still. Some time ago I always started writing by rereading what's already been written. Of course that got me nowhere - I was always either upset by the horrible writing I've done or sometimes on the contrary - too excited by the awesomeness of what's been written ("Wow! Did I really write this?!" - this happened rarely though). So I now I don't read what I write at all before I finish a certain substantial piece at least.


As I'm rather new to writing, I still have the editing, revision etc etc ahead of me. Reading your posts and discussions make me dread the editing part like it's the worst thing ever. But maybe since I'm writing slowly my first draft won't be so awful... However, taking into account that it's my FIRST first draft ever, I think it will be pretty horrible :-D

So yeah, that's about my poor experience with drafting. I don't think the quality of our first drafts depends entirely on the writing speed, actually. I believe it's all about how thoroughly thought-through the story is, how much time were you actually thinking about it. Not plotting really, but just thinking in your spare time when doing the dishes, riding a bike to work/school, etc. The more you kind of dive into the story and live in it all the time, the better your first draft might turn out I think.


Anyways, I'm rounding up my graphomanic comment :-D


I have another topic idea for a future post actually! It would be interesting to read about choosing names for characters. I don't know whether other writers have experienced it, but it happens often with my characters that I know everything about them - appearance, hobbies, manner of speech, habits, etc etc, but I have no idea what their name is. Does that sound odd? Would love to read your thoughts on this!

Ava Jae said...

Whether or not I look back at what I wrote the previous day depends on the WIP, but I've found I generally write faster if I don't look back (which, for me, is important for first drafts. The quicker I complete my draft, the less time I have to worry about whether or not it's working).


I hope you don't dread editing too much. As I've mentioned before, editing and revision has actually become my one of my favorite parts of the process. Yes, it's a lot of hard work and it takes plenty of time, but there's something really special about watching your work go from a very rough first draft to a polished final piece.


Finally, the only thing odd about your suggestion is that in all this time I've never written a post about naming characters. Not quite sure how I managed to overlook that topic...hmm. Thanks for the suggestion!

EB_Black said...

I write my first draft in a week and it's actually not always horrible, since I'm a plotter. I spend more time planning for it and revising than writing my first draft.

Matthew Rowe said...

I write chapter by chapter. Normally one in a sitting and I go back and revise all the time before the draft is finished. So by the time I reach the end of the story everything before it has already been polished.


Before each session I decide whether I am more in the mood for writing or editing. Its a particularly good technique if I'm stuck on part of the story. I'll edit until I figure out how to get past that point. Looking back at past events helps me process the problem.


Also, I find this technique is great for working in new plot threads and subplots, themes and such without having to rip apart everything from the end of the first draft.

Ava Jae said...

I'm pretty sure I've said this before, but...WOW. Writing a first draft in a week is incredible. Like you, I also spend more time in revision than actually writing the first draft, but I spend quite a bit more time than a week getting that first draft down. :) Very impressive.

Ava Jae said...

That's really interesting. How much do you edit your previous chapters? Do you polish them completely or just do a sweeping edit or something in between?

Austin Halsell said...

In my own work this is definitely true for me. It doesn't matter how I do it, my first drafts suck. For other people, I find that more often than not this is true too. They might not think so, but I found that it was easy to spot the first drafters vs the rewrites when critiquing.


Obviously that's not always the case, but I still think that a good first draft is most often the exception rather than the rule, no matter if you're the "pantser" or the "plotter". I have to hybridize the two personally. Both have enormous downsides if I stay exclusive to either method.


Bad first drafts, at least for me, always stem from the fact that I have so many ideas for a new WIP I want to write them all. Some aren't even fully fleshed out or thought of until the words hit the page. Plotting tempers this but I don't think it ever fully handles it without making the WIP feel robotic and over structured.


I almost literally edit everything I write. No joke, I wrote this comment 3 times before posting. Even some Facebook posts and comments I write once or twice before sending them off. It keeps me from being rash and definitely helps me clarify things, at least in my own head.


I wouldn't trash a first draft, but I wouldn't trust one either.

Ava Jae said...

I'm a compulsive editor with comments, Facebook posts and tweets as well. I've been known to delete a couple tweets only to rewrite them because of a typo or something of the like (and until recently when Facebook integrated editing posts, the same went for Facebook). The edit button is one of my favorites in commenting systems. :D


As for first drafts, I think you're probably right that good first drafts are most often exceptions--they're certainly not impossible, but more often than not first drafts require a lot of work after they've been completed.


Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your thoughts, Austin!

Tia Nevitt said...

I'm more careful with my rough drafts than I used to be, and it seems to be paying off. I used to end up cutting vast tracts of my manuscript - up to 20%! - but nowadays, my discards file ends up being much smaller.

Still, my rough drafts only have plot. No descriptions, and character development mostly through dialog. I'm keeping the story going. I really only bring my craftsy skills into play when I'm on the subsequent drafts.

Ava Jae said...

Like you, I focus on plot in my first drafts. While I do try to include some descriptions and character development, I definitely focus on those aspects significantly more during revisions. The most important part of first drafting, for me, is to just get the bones of the story into place.


Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Tia!

Emily said...

I try not to edit at all until I've finished my first draft. There's this little voice in my head that wants me to absolutely tear it apart, but if I focus on that I'll never finish my work.

The other problem I have is that sometimes I don't know HOW to edit something - which is when I turn to my ever-faithful writing minions. Sometimes I get so engrossed in a story that I have no idea of the plethora of things I get wrong.

Ava Jae said...

I've also learned to ignore the must edit voice while writing the first draft--for me, the most important thing is to just get the story down. I can worry about making it better later.


Learning to edit is something that took time for me--I've found that giving your work some space before you attempt to edit (I usually take a month), reading books on editing (I highly recommend Revision and Self-Editing by James Scott Bell) and critique partners all help tremendously. As a bonus, critique partners not only help you to edit your novel, but they can help teach you what things you need to look out for and improve in your writing for the future.

Matthew Rowe said...

It would be closer to a sleeping edit I guess, but on occassion when there is something big to change, I would rather do it when they story is incomplete than have to change the whole story after it's finished!

Ava Jae said...

I read a tip once about rather than going back to fix it while you're first drafting, it can be helpful to make a note of where the change needs to be made (i.e.: everything before page 57) and continue to write as if the change was already made. I sort of forgot to make the notes last time I was first drafting (so that's going to be fun during revision...heh), but for me I've found the concept of moving forward without looking back (at least, not for long) helpful while first drafting. Everyone works differently, though. :)

Monica Bryant said...

I write first drafts pretty quickly and they end up very messy at the end. The re-writing definitely takes a LOT longer.

Ava Jae said...

My experience is the same--quick draft, not-so-quick revisions. :)

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