Oh, sloppy first draft, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
One. You exist. Unquestionably, the best thing about a sloppy first draft is that it’s better than no draft at all. If there’s nothing written down, there’s nothing to fix. And sure, maybe a polished first draft based on a careful scaffolding of research, character work, and following a rigorous, detailed outline might be nice too. But I’ve never even gotten close to writing one of those. Which reminds me…
Two. You give me ideas. I do have a sense of where I’m going with my plot and characters when I sit down to write, but I don’t have things figured out every step of the way. Which is where you come in. If I’m writing fast, pouring words onto the page nearly as fast as my fingers can type them, strange things happen. A throwaway line might spark the idea for a whole new character, a bit of background, a direction for the plot. Life is like this. It’s great when first drafts are too.
Three. In the end, I think you save me time. No matter how much I plan — and believe me, I’ve tried — my novel ends up going in a different direction somewhere along the way. That means some scenes I write end up being thrown out. Now, I’ve gotten to an emotional place where I’m fine with that (Lulu’s not dead, she’s just resting!) but from a functional, time-oriented place, the less time I spend on a scene that eventually isn’t used in the novel, the better. So in that sloppy first draft mode, I pay no attention to things like, oh, actual geography. The city I’m writing about now doesn’t have a Gold Coast or a Beauregard Street or a Garden District, as my sloppy first draft claims. It might have a building at the corner of State and Main, but that’s just guessing. If a scene stays in the novel, there’s plenty of time for refining street names, along with period-accurate vocabulary, cliche-free writing, and all the rest of the polish. Save it for later.
Four. You free me from perfectionism. As an inveterate editor of sentences, if I took the time to tweak every paragraph until I was actually happy with it, I’d still be on page 10, three novels ago.
Five. I love you for what you aren’t as much as for what you are. You’re not polished. You’re certainly not publishable. (First time NaNo’ers, take note!) I won’t show you to anyone in your first incarnation, not even my beta readers or my agent, let alone my editor. You’re just the first step in the process, a necessary first step, to be enjoyed and endured in equal measure, on the way to what the novel will one day actually be.
You, sloppy first draft, are a beginning. And for that, you have not just my love, but my thanks.
Love,
Jael
About Jael McHenry
Jael McHenry is the debut author of The Kitchen Daughter (Simon & Schuster/Gallery Books, April 12, 2011). Her work has appeared in publications such as the North American Review, Indiana Review, and the Graduate Review at American University, where she earned her MFA in Creative Writing. You can read more about Jael and her book at jaelmchenry.com or follow her on Twitter at @jaelmchenry.
This is great. Wish I hadn’t taken so much time on my first few drafts!
I think of first drafts less as cheerleaders and more as con artists, but in a good way. It’s good to believe, even for a little while, that what you’ve got is the best thing since bagels.
When I dig into draft two and face the mess I’ve made, I don’t blame the manuscript but my eyesight. And draft one is never quite as bad as it seems. After all, con artists often do tell a good story.
Thanks, Jael! I love a love story! Here’s to first drafts!
Perfect for the beginning of NaNoWriMo! Nothing is wasted.
Adorable, Jael.
Dee Willson
Author of A Keeper’s Truth and GOT
Definitely not publishable! Mine, I mean. And since you aren’t sharing, I can’t tell about yours.
But the story gets worked out in a rough draft in more detail than even the best of planners – and I’m extreme – can manage.
For us controlling types, it allows a complete overhaul of the plan – before spending any more energy on the writing. It is time well spent, both the initial plan and its draft, and the improved plan.
Thank you for writing this! I’m very new at novel writing, but I don’t think I’d be doing it at all if I hadn’t come to accept the necessity, for me, of allowing myself a “shitty first draft.”
Hi, Jael:
Being freed from perfectionism is no small thing. What a prison. How grand to be free at last.
Jael, what a wonderful love letter to a first draft, which I call an “exploratory draft.” Perfect timing as I finally begin to put words on paper for 3 new picture books.
I am so on board with this, especially since I’m working on a novel for the first time in almost a year. Yes, it’s good to be free from perfectionism right now. I love this stage, the exploration, the surprises, the characters that take you places you’ve never been before. Thank you for this. It’s wonderful for me to read right now.
My, my. What a well-said, timely post.
Now if only it be easy for me to see my first words for what they are, love them for what they’re not, and ignore the stench.
Wonderful blog. THANK YOU! I needed this!!!
Love this! Just what I needed this morning. I’m halfway through a ridiculously messy first draft, and let me tell you, embracing the chaos is freeing. Instead of wasting two hours “researching” just the right name or place or detail, I’ve allowed myself to just use an XXXXXX and keep moving on. I change things on the fly, and I’m only allowed to go back to previous chapters to insert a quick note about what I’ll need to alter in the next draft. Because I’ve learned there will be another draft. And another, and another… But you can’t fix a blank page.
Absolutely love this! It took me the month to write the story and I know it’s nowhere near publishable. But it exists and that’s more than what I had before