Hi friends! I hope the month of January is going well for you all.
I thought I would follow up my brainstorming post with a post on drafting. After narrowing down the topic – as drafting is a very broad subject – I decided to talk about the thing that a lot of writers struggle with: writing fast (or slow) first drafts.
Now, everyone has a different definition of “fast.” For me, a “fast first draft” is one that’s finished in a couple months. But I know of authors who finish first drafts in a couple weeks. But I don’t work like that. At all. In fact, no matter how hard I try, I can’t write a super-fast-couple-week-draft. First drafts are slower for me than revising. I like to savor every second that I spend pouring words onto the page, and more importantly, I like to give time for the words to flow instead of trying to force them. I’ve actually found that when I’m having a hard time drafting, it’s when I’m doing the latter – trying to force it. Worrying about whether it’s good enough or whether people will like it, and that’s not what first drafts are for. Revisions are about cleaning it up and making it work for others; first drafts are making your story work for you. Allowing yourself to fall in love with your story. Nobody has to see your first drafts but you.
Which leads me to Tip #1. Write your first draft for yourself.
I know, that sounds selfish – but I don’t mean write solely for you and your purposes. I mean let your first draft be only for you. Not for the market, not because of that friend complaining about the genre that you’re writing in and you want to prove them wrong, or for that colleague who is curious about what you’re writing and you want to show them that you’re good at this. Don’t worry about it being bad or not – again, you can fix and alter and rewrite to your heart’s content during revisions. Write to please yourself first. Not to please someone else. Because opinions are always changing and contradicting each other, and you will make a mess of yourself and your book if you pressure yourself to make every audience happy.
But sometimes certain amounts of pressure can be a good thing, which segues into Tip #2: Set goals for yourself. These could be daily goals, weekly goals, monthly goals, etc. For example: “I want to write 1000 words today.” Or: “I want to finish this chapter by Friday.” Or: “I want to finish this last draft before the year ends.” I’ve found that goals really motivate me and help me draft faster – but I set reasonable goals, so as not to stress myself out or spend ten hours on the computer on a Saturday. Know your limits, but constantly press at them and test them. “Can I write more than 1000 words today?” “Can I finish this draft by March?” Etc.
As for Tip #3, it’s more of a practical strategy: Word sprint. What is a word sprint? Well, it’s a writing exercise where you set a timer for a certain duration – say, fifteen minutes, eliminate all distractions, like the Internet and your ringer, and challenge yourself to write as many words as you can during that amount of time. I’m constantly amazed at the amount of words that explode out of me when I’m against the clock! You can word sprint with a friend or a group as well, which can also serve as more motivation, especially if you’re competitive and want to write the most words (like me, ha-ha).
Tip #4 is relatively simple: constantly keep refilling the creative well. Read books both in and outside your genre, watch movies and shows that are visually appealing and interesting, search for inspiration photos (which I talk about in my brainstorming post) and listen to music – anything to keep the ideas and words flowing and to keep your fingers moving along the keys. In fact, what helps me a lot is listening to instrumentals – especially epic movie soundtracks – that fit with certain scenes. So I have songs for my action scenes, songs for my discovery scenes, and songs that just fit with the feel of my book – these help me focus and also fuel me as I write. Occasionally I’ll have a song with lyrics thrown in, but not very often, because I usually find myself humming along and getting distracted. (Thanks, Phillip Phillips).
And finally, Tip #5: always keep moving forward. Sometimes I’ll reread the last scene I wrote to refresh my memory on what just happened, but other than that, I don’t look back when I’m drafting. Which means that I don’t edit as I go. Is it hard? Yes. Is the internal editor very nagging and persistent and discouraging? YES. And did that last scene suck? . . .Ugh, definitely. So. . .I write that down. While I’m drafting, I have a second messy, cluttered, non-formatted document open that I take notes on as I go. So when I know something needs to be fixed but I also know I really need to finish my draft first, I jot something like: “make this less dumb/cliché/super bad.” Or: “make this dialogue less cheesy.” Etc. This humors the internal editor just enough to allow me, at least, to keep going – okay, I know about the problem and I’m going to fix it in revisions. Just keep drafting.
In closing, I want to make one last note (and a disclaimer): every writer is different. What works for me might not work for you – and that’s okay. Some of you might not even want to write a fast first draft! But I do hope that this post was helpful, and that you’ll try out some of my tips and see if they aid you while drafting. Happy writing!
*What strategies do you use to write fast first drafts?*