Shitty First Drafts Response
Thank God we had to read this for the sake of my writing and sanity throughout this course. Teachers have been making me write first and second drafts since 10th grade but they never allowed it to be shitty. Throughout high school first, second, and even final drafts all sounded very similar, the only thing that maybe changed were the placement of commas, some sentence structures and the opening paragraph. Although some people are better writers than others its comforting to know that even the professionals start at the same place as us, no where, with a cluster of different ideas that all don't make sense. I really related to her when she said "It's over, I'd think
calmly. I'm not going to be able to get the magic to work this time. I'm ruined. I'm
through. I'm toast." because whenever I'm writing an essay all these exact thoughts go through my head, I always get very hyperbolical and think that I'm not going to finish and that I'm going to fail and not go anywhere in life. It's nice to know that my first draft doesn't have to be nice and pristine, it could be a mess, I could just write out all the random things that go through my head and then figure out what sounds good and what makes sense. Usually when I write essays i often come to a standstill when I can't figure out the perfect word or phrase to describe what I am thinking and that standstill many times leads to distractions and lasts hours. "Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start
somewhere," I love this quote because my first efforts will more than likely be very terrible, but that's just the beginning, you build and grow from it, and that's something none of english teachers never taught me, they never encouraged shitty first drafts as a means to a terrific final one. I am anxious to see and compare my first draft from my final one in our adaptation essay.
I'm so glad you were able to relate to this article! It hit home for me as well. I totally agree with you that there's no point in rough drafts if the drafts are expected to be perfect. I also understand your intimidation when it comes to comparing your own work to that of professionals. We tend to assume we are the only ones who struggle, so hearing that even the best writers have shitty first drafts is a relief!
ReplyDeleteI 100% relate to the feeling of pressure back in middle and high school when our teachers would look at our first drafts and not allow them to even be sub-par. I have even had teachers who would grade the first writing draft, so it is almost calming to me to know that somebody else knows the pain. I think it will really be eye-opening to all of us when we compare our first, shitty draft to our final, awesome one.
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way! The pressure to have a skilled and profound piece of writing on the first try can be very intimidating. In the article, the author was allowed to keep her first draft private and she was terrified of another person reading her first attempt. At my middle school, our first draft was reviewed by our peers. It was probably one of my least favorite experiences in any lit class. I would be too occupied attempting to downplay my mistakes to my classmates that I could not focus on the feedback I was receiving.
ReplyDeleteThere are times I think high school unintentionally does more to destroy the desire to write than any other source. I know that from the time I graduated high school, it was...almost ten years before I realized that I really did like writing, that it could be enjoyable and not some awful perfectionist slog wherein I try to pretend I'm Mr. Perfect Writer Person Who Always Is Both Formal and Perfect.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree all through out high school I just wrote because I was forced to and just did the minimum to get a good grade and I never went above that because you are usually punished for not fully following the prompt or taking too much time. due to this strict guidelines I would always just rush to put out whatever came to my mind and not go through the whole process.
ReplyDeleteHi Chabely
ReplyDeleteI love how you started this blog post and the sense of relief this text seems to have brought to you. Hope it helps with your future writing and relieves you from future anxiety when it comes to writing.