Shitty first draft responses
As someone who's written for money, online, and on various forms of paper, Anne Lamott nails so much of the process here, especially the inner arguments. First drafts are awful, horrible things to write. You're sitting there in front of paper or a blank computer screen and it's laughing at you. Hard.
Fine. Here, happy?
The words come out, and after a couple of lines, they even start to flow. (Flow doesn't always happen. There's an analysis of the USB 2.0 protocol that was well-received but never "flowed". People often said it was a good cure for insomnia, to which I'd reply "it's an even more effective cure when writing it.") I'd get done, feel good about it and then...then I would re-read it. That would cause me to wonder if I actually was literate. But, by the second or third go-through, it looked a bit better than if the dog had written it. In the case of books, I'd get a chapter back that wasn't more comments and edits than my words.
First drafts are, well awful. I know authors who build a book via outline and they have awful first drafts. I know one that had a computer malfunction (waaaay back in the 80s) eat a book two weeks before the final version was due. It may have been a blessing in disguise, what she re-wrote was, according to her, madness and genius and far better than the original. The first draft though, that is what gets you from wanting to be a writer to being a writer. It's writing. It may be awful, but it is writing, and it is the only way to start.
I also can't comprehend anyone who claims "perfect" first drafts. How does that happen, do they write in a unicorn pen?
Fine. Here, happy?
The words come out, and after a couple of lines, they even start to flow. (Flow doesn't always happen. There's an analysis of the USB 2.0 protocol that was well-received but never "flowed". People often said it was a good cure for insomnia, to which I'd reply "it's an even more effective cure when writing it.") I'd get done, feel good about it and then...then I would re-read it. That would cause me to wonder if I actually was literate. But, by the second or third go-through, it looked a bit better than if the dog had written it. In the case of books, I'd get a chapter back that wasn't more comments and edits than my words.
First drafts are, well awful. I know authors who build a book via outline and they have awful first drafts. I know one that had a computer malfunction (waaaay back in the 80s) eat a book two weeks before the final version was due. It may have been a blessing in disguise, what she re-wrote was, according to her, madness and genius and far better than the original. The first draft though, that is what gets you from wanting to be a writer to being a writer. It's writing. It may be awful, but it is writing, and it is the only way to start.
I also can't comprehend anyone who claims "perfect" first drafts. How does that happen, do they write in a unicorn pen?
Hi John
ReplyDeleteI love this reading response and the fact that you've shared a little bit about your own writing process. It looks different for everyone, so it's interesting to see what it looks like for you