I've heard art teachers use the expression, "You have 1,000 bad drawings trapped in your pencil. You have to set them free before you can get to the good ones." I believe the same is true for writing. Your first draft is never going to be perfect, but that doesn't make it worthless. There will almost always be SOMETHING worth keeping. Bits of dialogue, the way something was described, or the sequence that the events took place, etc... Never completely throw away a draft, even if your next draft goes an entirely different direction. You can always learn something by looking back at your previous work. Maybe something you wrote will fit in somewhere else down the line. Maybe when you come back to an idea you'll be experienced enough to know how to fix what wasn't working before. Never let it go to waste. Neil Gaiman's writing Master Class compares this concept to "composting", and I've found that it's a very good approach.
I really liked the idea of writing down the major problems and analyzing them individually. A reminder that scrapping ideas can still be progress is always necessary from time to time for us novice writers. Thank you.
I struggled for a couple years trying to force myself to write a third book in a series. Finally, I realized the series needs to stop as a dulology. I feel so free and am now nearly done the first draft of my sci fi!
That is so exciting! It must have felt amazing when that piece finally clicked into place. I made a similar mistake with one of my bigger projects: the most recent draft turned out to be about 800 pages long, and when someone suggested stopping at a different point, I finally realized that they were right-the book had to end earlier. It took a while, but felt so good when I committed to that decision!
You are a Godsend! I have been "stuck" for a few months. Unable to even write the Blahblah (1st) draft of this story. I have two chpts.... and what seems to be a brick wall that delights in smashing anything that looks like progress. Perhaps I just need to try rewriting those two chpts in different ways, all the ways they could possibly exist, to find the solution my uncommunicative mind is trying to hint at with its cruel brick walls. Maybe, maybe, maybe.....
I learned this lesson the hard way last year. I finally started writing a story that had been in my head since highschool and from September to January I got about 75% of the way through it when I realized that I had jammed so many plot points into a single novel and skimped on certain character moments that could have been so juicy drama-wise. It made me realize that I had essentially written the plot of two novels into one, terrible book. I'm going to have to go back and rewrite it with this in mind and transform it into something much better. I could have just finished it or given up entirely and seen this as a waste of half a year and 100k words down the drain, but I learned a lot from it and I know I have material for at least two more books down the line, once I finish my current project.
I have definitely been there, and I love your perspective: if you hadn't done that first draft, you wouldn't have all these pieces to work with in your duology. Your next crack at the story will be so much stronger because of those 100k hard-won words you put in! Very excited for you and your project!
if i know something is wrong i will go back and fix it before moving on sometimes it's the small things like forgetting a description of a character or something like that i want my first draft to be as good as possible
I've heard art teachers use the expression, "You have 1,000 bad drawings trapped in your pencil. You have to set them free before you can get to the good ones."
I believe the same is true for writing. Your first draft is never going to be perfect, but that doesn't make it worthless. There will almost always be SOMETHING worth keeping. Bits of dialogue, the way something was described, or the sequence that the events took place, etc... Never completely throw away a draft, even if your next draft goes an entirely different direction. You can always learn something by looking back at your previous work. Maybe something you wrote will fit in somewhere else down the line. Maybe when you come back to an idea you'll be experienced enough to know how to fix what wasn't working before. Never let it go to waste. Neil Gaiman's writing Master Class compares this concept to "composting", and I've found that it's a very good approach.
I really liked the idea of writing down the major problems and analyzing them individually. A reminder that scrapping ideas can still be progress is always necessary from time to time for us novice writers. Thank you.
This was very good and timely for me! Glad to know the struggle is not mine alone lol. Thank you for the encouragement and comradery!
I struggled for a couple years trying to force myself to write a third book in a series. Finally, I realized the series needs to stop as a dulology. I feel so free and am now nearly done the first draft of my sci fi!
That is so exciting! It must have felt amazing when that piece finally clicked into place.
I made a similar mistake with one of my bigger projects: the most recent draft turned out to be about 800 pages long, and when someone suggested stopping at a different point, I finally realized that they were right-the book had to end earlier. It took a while, but felt so good when I committed to that decision!
You are a Godsend!
I have been "stuck" for a few months. Unable to even write the Blahblah (1st) draft of this story. I have two chpts.... and what seems to be a brick wall that delights in smashing anything that looks like progress.
Perhaps I just need to try rewriting those two chpts in different ways, all the ways they could possibly exist, to find the solution my uncommunicative mind is trying to hint at with its cruel brick walls.
Maybe, maybe, maybe.....
I learned this lesson the hard way last year. I finally started writing a story that had been in my head since highschool and from September to January I got about 75% of the way through it when I realized that I had jammed so many plot points into a single novel and skimped on certain character moments that could have been so juicy drama-wise. It made me realize that I had essentially written the plot of two novels into one, terrible book. I'm going to have to go back and rewrite it with this in mind and transform it into something much better.
I could have just finished it or given up entirely and seen this as a waste of half a year and 100k words down the drain, but I learned a lot from it and I know I have material for at least two more books down the line, once I finish my current project.
I have definitely been there, and I love your perspective: if you hadn't done that first draft, you wouldn't have all these pieces to work with in your duology. Your next crack at the story will be so much stronger because of those 100k hard-won words you put in! Very excited for you and your project!
if i know something is wrong i will go back and fix it before moving on sometimes it's the small things like forgetting a description of a character or something like that i want my first draft to be as good as possible
It is so hard to let go, but so necessary. 😅