All first drafts are crap (AFDAC)

No one is immune from crappy first drafts, which is kind of the good news and the bad news.

I’m writing a mini-series (a series within a series, if you will). It’s on these three stages of writing.

If you want to catch up on the previous post, you can read Writing is Energy here.

All first drafts are crap

—>You have an idea in your mind.

—>The idea brings you excitement and energy.

—>You picture it coming out exactly the way you imagine it.

—>So you put it down on paper, and…

—>It sucks.

It’s messy and scatty and doesn’t seem to hit the mark.

Sadly this is par for the course.

And further than that, not only is the first draft of everything crap, it’s just as true to say that the first draft by everyone is crap. There is practically no one who is immune from this.

Anne Lamott is a brilliant author and writing coach. In her book Bird By Bird she says:

‘I know some very great writers. Writers you love who write beautifully and have made a great deal of money, and not one of them sits down routinely feeling wildly enthusiastic and confident. Not one of them writes elegant first drafts. Alright, one of them does but we do not like her very much.’

(I love that last sentiment. I should probably add that if you’re reading this and you are one of the few that find writing easy and effortless, God bless you, but let’s not be friends.)

Why is the ‘crappy first draft’ so important to acknowledge?

Well as you are writing your first draft - and noticing its crappyness - your inner critic will start chiming in.

DO NOT LISTEN TO IT.

You must remember our friend the Hippie Dancer (which I wrote about here). This is the time to let it all out on the dance floor, not to over-analyse.

After all, you can always fix bad pages, but you can’t fix no pages. Getting something down on paper is such a battle, that you need to do whatever you can to win that battle.

Here’s a highly effective technique I use to help me. I call it ‘grey shading’.

Anything that I get a slight hunch I should cut, I simply shade into a light grey colour. This fades it into the background, so I can see the piece without those words. But it makes me feel they are not completely lost, just in case I still need to bring them back.

This technique allows me to write and write and write. Without being overly critical of the words that are coming out.

There is a time for you to put you critical pants on - but that comes later.

‘A shitty first draft, while not a thing of beauty, is a miracle of victory over nothingness, inertia, bad self esteem Secret? Butt in chair.’

Anne Lamott

She’s damn right.

First drafts are miracles because just showing up and making something out of nothing is such a battle.

Peace and love,

Jamie

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