When writing the dreaded first draft, don’t try

When writing first drafts, don’t try. This is a counter-intuitive idea, no doubt. But here’s the thing: trying is often outcome focused whereas flowing is less conditional and more in the moment.

This is a difficult balance to get right. You don’t want to just zombie through the writing in order to hit some predetermined word count. I’ve done this, and what I usually end up with is just unsatisfactory writing. And if it was all about the words, and not at all about the writing, you could just write the same ten word sentence a hundred times over. This is a little ridiculous. (Here’s a related post.)

There are different opinions on stream of consciousness writing too. Some people believe that if you just spew sentences out, you’ll eventually find some diamond in the rough, or your subconscious will conjure up some amazing story that is completely original and perfect. This too, is a little ridiculous to me.

Personally, I like to maintain some quality and coherence during first drafts without choking the creative flow too much.

What does this mean in practical terms? For me, it means not just writing down the first thing that comes to mind all the time, but being somewhat critical to whether it belongs and contributes. But if I’m deleting each sentence ten times before moving on to the next, it means I’ve moved into editor mode and I’m being unrealistic about my first draft expectations.

First drafts aren’t easy. It’s not supposed to be. You’re creating something from scratch. So, if you’re experiencing some discomfort during the writing, that’s okay. You shouldn’t avoid the discomfort by being too loose in your quality control.