Embracing the Drafting Process: Why You Shouldn't Stop After Your First (or Second) Draft

It’s been over five years since I graduated with my degree in writing and rhetoric. Throughout my program, I learned tons of things, like how to write a clear and concise sentence (lots of them), how to recognize and use craft techniques, and how to rhetorically analyze virtually any piece of media. 

Through it all, there’s one phrase that still sticks with me: “Writing is re-writing.” To experienced authors, this might not seem like a novel concept (pun intended), but I’ve noticed that newer writers tend to put lots of pressure on their first drafts. It might seem counter-intuitive, but trying to write good prose is probably hurting you... at least at first. Let’s talk about how embracing the drafting process will help to shut up that pesky voice telling you to be perfect from the start–you know, the voice that's keeping you from actually finishing. 

The Shitty First Draft

Sometimes, it’s harder to write badly than to write well. I can’t tell you how often I sit down to work on my first drafts only to find myself stuck in place. I try to find the perfect words, fine-tune the prose of my first few pages, and close up plot holes that’ll probably re-open later. I move inches when I could be moving miles if I’d just drop my ego, shut out self-doubt, and write without looking back. 

The first time I heard the term “shitty first draft,” I was in Brooklyn at Pratt Institute’s Pre-College Program. I was seventeen, it was my first time away from Texas for more than a few days, and I'd only ever shared my writing on my anonymous Tumblr profile. Suddenly, I was expected to complete multiple short stories, which would be shared weekly with my small cohort of peers. I was terrified.

Personally, I find a blank page way more intimidating than a messy one. Make a mess of your first drafts. They’re easier to clean up than you think.

The truth is, until then, I’d never completed a full story (gasp). I’d always get caught on the first few pages, turning them over and over without getting to the end. During our first week, we read an excerpt from Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird, where she discusses what she calls the “shitty first draft.” 

“The first draft is the child’s draft, where you let it all pour out and then let it romp all over the place, knowing that no one is going to see it and that you can shape it later… There may be something in the very last line of the very last paragraph on page six that you just love, that is so beautiful or wild that you now know what you’re supposed to be writing about, more or less, or in what direction you might go–but there was no way to get to this without first getting through the first five and a half pages.”

Thanks to Lamott's advice, I not only survived–I thrived during my one-month stay at Pratt. Nearly a decade later, I still write shitty first drafts. It’s not always pretty. Sometimes the perfectionist demon possesses me and I end up editing the first ten pages of my manuscript for the hundredth time. But, mostly, I try to write without stopping or looking back, to make a mess, and to leave plot holes gaping. I write shitty first drafts because I know they’re the only way to get to the end–and that’s where the real fun begins. 

Draft 2, 3, 4, 5…

Some might say the first draft is easy and that the editing process is where the torture begins. I am decidedly not a part of that "some." I find writing to be so much easier once I’m not looking at a blank page, and I work miracles during revisions. Once I have the words down–even if they’re smeared on the page, leaving stains and a nasty smell–something unlocks. I can finally see the forest through the trees.

Each writer is either a gardener or an architect. Which are you?

My point is, everybody approaches drafting differently. George R. R. Martin famously said that most writers fall into two categories: the architects and the gardeners. The architects are the ones who create detailed outlines. Like drawing up blueprints, “they know how many rooms are going to be in the house, what kind of roof they’re going to have, where the wires are going to run.” The gardeners, on the other hand, plant a seed, water it, and only know vaguely what they’re going for. Only as the seed grows do they find out how many branches it’ll have, where the buds will bloom, and how tall it’ll grow. 

I tend to align myself with the latter group. I’d wager a guess that an architect’s drafting process might look a bit different from mine. They may have a more coherent first draft, and they might not have quite as many subsequent drafts, but I’m a firm believer that every story (even the architect's) needs to go through a multi-draft revision process.

How Many Drafts Should You Write?

Every writer–and every piece of fiction–is different. Some authors only write three drafts and call it a day, whereas others opt for ten or more. I tend to think that those writers who opt for fewer drafts aren't pushing their stories to their full potential.

That said, you’ve got to find a drafting process that works for your particular writing style. There are plenty of people online who claim to have the end-all-be-all method for finishing your book, and I suggest reading as many of them as you can. Take what resonates with you and leave the rest. My own personal drafting system is a cobbled-together combination of the advice found in these two articles (plus a few tricks of my own): The 10 Revision Stages of a Novel and The Drafts Your Novel Needs. Between the two, they recommend between four and ten drafts before you can consider your story “complete.” The full number of drafts I complete changes with each story, but I tend to fall within the six to eight range.

We can try to finish our stories alone, but sometimes it helps to have company.

How Do You Know When You’re Done?

The ultimate question with the most frustrating answer: it depends. Sometimes, you think you’re done, you try to query agents, and you're told that your story needs more work. Other times, you edit yourself in circles, tweaking sentence structure and swapping out words until you can’t tell which way is up and which is down. Sometimes, you have to take a break and come back months (or even years) later with a fresh set of eyes. 

Maybe you’ve exhausted your drafting abilities, but something still feels off. This could be a sign to consider help. I started KnightWriting because I love creative writing, solving problems, and working with other writers. It was only natural to become a professional editor. I don’t have the miracle cure, but I do have the skills, experience, and passion necessary to help. If you’ve written yourself into a corner that you can’t find your way out of, check out my website. You’ll get a chance to learn about my services, read my blog, and schedule a free consultation to chat about your story.