First Drafts

[GK]

Anne Lamotte wrote a chapter in one of her books on writing about first drafts. Those of you who have read the book know why I can't include the name of the chapter in a CF thread. The gist is that we need to disable the editors in our heads when we write first drafts. We need to write without erasers, so to speak. We need to put pen to paper and get the draft out without editing; editing comes later.

I am terrible about this! I never write without editing as I go. I have no idea why I picked up this habit, but even in school, I went straight from head to final draft. All the editing took place before I began typing. There are times when that can be a great gift, but I know I need to learn to simply write.

Does anyone else struggle with this? Do those of you who have struggled with this have any tips for turning off the editor-within, shutting down that part of the brain? How do you tune-out a voice in your head that won't shut up?

 

[Moonfisher]

No one person's advice is the end all be all of writing. I don't care for Lamotte's book, though I happen to share her method--but not her view--of rough/first drafts. For me [and this was the case a long time before a well meaning friend sent me a copy of Lamotte's book] it works best to get the gist of the story down first, and come back later to do editing, revising, and last of all, polishing. For other writers that might not be the best approach. [That is one of my issues with Lamotte; she puts forth a one-size-fits-all approach, and I believe a whatever-works-best-for-YOU approach is better.] I don't personally care for Ayn Rand's novels, but no one can deny they have been a HUGE commercial success. She practiced the method of getting every sentence, every word and every syllable correct before moving on to the next sentence, word and syllable. She NEVER went back and revised, edited or polished; she made it perfect, by her standards, the first time, and then moved on. That method worked for her. I couldn't do it; it would drive me insane. I don't know any more about your situation than you've posted, but perhaps trying to do things Lamotte's way is driving you insane--or at the very least not maximizing both your writing pleasure and potential? Figure out what works best for YOU, and do that; it will be much more productive and enjoyable than strong-arming yourself into someone else's mold, and I believe it will produce better results in the long run.

 

[GK]

I don't think I have to switch to a new method just because one author told me to. Rather, I think at my level, it is good to learn and practice new methods, even if, after practicing, I throw it out as a tool I don't need in my bag. Before I know if this is something that will help my writing, I have to try it. While I do appreciate your suggestion and agree with the premise behind it, it doesn't quite fit what I am trying to do here.

Long term, I will probably continue to be one of those writers who chews on it so thoroughly, the first draft is the final draft, but I think there is something to be gained by learning to write without editing, even if only used for practice and exercise. For those who have struggled with this and learned to do it, what wisdom can you pass along?

 

[Tariel]

I don't think I have to switch to a new method just because one author told me to. Rather, I think at my level, it is good to learn and practice new methods, even if, after practicing, I throw it out as a tool I don't need in my bag. Before I know if this is something that will help my writing, I have to try it. While I do appreciate your suggestion and agree with the premise behind it, it doesn't quite fit what I am trying to do here.

Long term, I will probably continue to be one of those writers who chews on it so thoroughly, the first draft is the final draft, but I think there is something to be gained by learning to write without editing, even if only used for practice and exercise. For those who have struggled with this and learned to do it, what wisdom can you pass along?

For a long time (long being a relative term, I've only been writing for a few years) I was like you. In many ways I still am--I never edit papers for school and the like. But I have developed a bit into getting it all down and coming back to it later.

What helped me the most was to just keep reminding myself that this is NOT the final draft, it does not have to be perfect, nobody ever has to see this but me.

I don't know whether you tend to write on the computer or with an pen and paper, but if you, as I guess, usually do your writing on the computer, trying to write it out on paper could help as well. It forces you to do much less editing anyway. Along these lines, keeping a journal is a good way to acomplish this (at least it works for me).

And above all, work at it. It can be a diffiult skill to learn, but it has been very helpful to me...even just having copies of the earlier drafts so that I can see how my work is progressing is a wonderful thing for me. But as you persevere and work at it, it will become easier to do.

Hope this helped! And I hope that you don't mind taking advice from a girl over a decade younger than you

 

[GK]

I don't mind at all, Tariel!

Yes, I do write primarily on a computer. Carpal tunnel is my excuse for not taking pen to paper, but I could write by hand if I wanted to. It would keep me from making changes after writing (where it's much easier to go back on the computer and make quick changes), but makes it more difficult for me to write without first editing in my head.

*sigh* I think it's just a head game I need to get over. Your reminder that it's just a draft is a good one!

 

[oncewaslost]

well, how i got over that is setting a deadline to have the whole thing completed before a certain time. kinda like nanowrimo (http://www.nanowrimo.org) has it set so you write a novel (50k words) in 30 days. you're not supposed to have time to go back and edit.