Are you writing a book? Today we cover why your first draft doesn’t need to be good. Chandler Bolt, our CEO, often says that done is better than perfect.
Here’s the fact about authorship: If you want to make money publishing books, you have to write the books. It’s simple, but authors tend to get ahead of themselves. The great news about writing a book is you can always edit it later. This is why your first draft doesn’t need to be good.
If you were to look at the original first page of my work in progress, you’d be surprised at just how much has changed. This goes for every author. We’ve taught over 8,000 authors how to write, publish, and market their books over the last 10 years.
And guess what? Part of what goes into this is teaching our students that their first draft doesn’t need to be good! Let’s get into the specifics.
Writing a book? Why your first draft doesn’t need to be good:
Common misconceptions about writing rough drafts
There are many misconceptions about how to write, from the practice itself to what the words should look like on the page. But if you truly want to publish a book, you have to finish writing the rough draft. I’m here to debunk some common misconceptions to prove why your first draft doesn’t need to be good.
Perfection only matters after draft one
Writers are often perfectionists, straining over each sentence until it reads just how they want it to. In reality, the writers who sell books are the ones who finish writing them.
I know plenty of people who say they want to be writers or who have been working on a book for some time. Aspiring to authorship is a great goal, but it can’t be attained with perfectionism standing in the way.
Yes, it’s important to do your best, but in draft one, your best should be stripped down to simply finishing. Your first draft doesn’t need to be good because you can’t edit a blank sheet of paper.
If you’re after perfection, you have to first have something to work with. Write the draft, then get into developmental edits.
Structure is permanent
Speaking of development, one of the great components of writing is that until you click publish, nothing is permanent. In fact, even after you publish your book you can always publish a new edition with changes.
Recently, I was working on a novel. I needed to change the structure because it undermined the plot. Guess how many edits I’d taken my manuscript through before a beta reader flagged the issue and I reworked the changes? Many.
If you’re writing a book, it’s vital to remember that you’re laying the foundation, but unlike laying the foundation of a home, you can change it with relative ease later.
This is particularly true for nonfiction, where you can organize chapters without needing to re-edit character arcs or change the plot.
Everyone will judge your first draft
Let me bring you in on a little secret. I don’t allow readers to view my first draft, but I do let them read my first completed draft. How does this work? Years ago, my writing mentor taught a writing and editing method that stuck with me.
He said to edit yesterday’s writing before writing today’s. This ensures that every first draft is actually a second draft. This “second” draft is what I let readers view.
While you will hopefully make many subsequent edits, remember that your first draft (or second, if you use my mentor’s method) is just the starting place for your book.
Plotting your novel or re-organizing your nonfiction chapters will morph and change as you better position your book to meet your audience’s needs. Plus, if you have some good beta readers, their role is actually to provide that constructive criticism so you can grow.
Your first draft sets the trajectory for your final
This myth is particularly important to debunk as it relates to why your first draft doesn’t need to be good. Many years ago, I wrote my first novel. It came in at about 130,000 words. While it was a medieval fantasy, it was too long.
A book coach recommended I cut 30,000 words. I did, and guess where those thousands of words came from? My opening. I had started my story far too early.
While your first draft plays a role in your final, it does not dictate what your final book will look like. You are the creative, and you have as much permission as you give yourself to make changes. That’s the fun of storytelling.
First drafts prove your talent
As someone who writes for a living and also writes for the enjoyment of it, I see a lot of drafts. With that said, I take my own writing through countless drafts as well.
One of my readers left a comment that said something along the lines of, “Lines of like prove you have talent.” Do you want to know what draft he left that comment on? Not my first draft, or second, or third. Or maybe even my seventh. He left it on one of my final drafts.
While first drafts can foreshadow that you have talent, it is often in the edits that talent emerges at last, shaking off the excess words and standing on its own.
Your first draft may be the writing you dislike most in the world, but you never know if you’re sitting on a bestseller if you just keep writing and editing.
Examples from famous writers
There are countless examples of famous writers whose first drafts did not reflect their final drafts and who didn’t want to stop editing, even after their work was published.
Whether you start your draft with a strong hook for your story and just need to edit the plot and characters, or print out a poem and decide to go back to the drawing board, these famous authors show you why your first draft doesn’t need to be good: No one escapes the editing phase.
Walt Whitman
If you go visit the Library of Congress’s website, you’ll find a printed copy of the famous poem “O Captain! My Captain!” with Whitman’s edits.
Sometimes, even after you print a piece of your work, you want to make edits, as the famous poet himself goes to show. If Whitman can do so, you better believe you have permission to to write an imperfect first draft too.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The New York Public Library shows that the creator of Sherlock Holmes made edits as well. While this image does not show as many edits as some of the other images show, Doyle still made edits.
Plus, you never know which draft he was on when he made these tweaks. The good news is, he finished writing his drafts. If he hadn’t, we wouldn’t have the beloved character of Sherlock Holmes today (or the films and shows based on him).
Your first draft doesn’t need to be good, but if you’re to realize your dream of authorship, it does need to be finished.
Stephen King
The King of Horror himself didn’t like his own writing. If you’re still wondering why your first draft doesn’t need to be good, consider this story.
As the tale goes, King disliked his first manuscript so much he literally threw it away. Thankfully, his wife found it in the trash and encouraged him to keep at it.
This draft became his first novel, Carrie, and launched a noteworthy career. If you’re writing a book, don’t stop halfway through your draft. Just finish it!
Henry James
The Harry Ransom Center shows a page from the famous A Light Man written by Henry James. But, surprise, even this page has copious edits from none other than the author himself. In fact, there are so many edits it looks like the published version of this page could have been a first draft.
Of course, we know this piece to be the iconic writing of Henry James, but to him, it still needed edits. This is why your first draft doesn’t need to be good. Even Henry James made edits long after writing his own first draft.
J.K. Rowling
A very early draft of The Philosopher’s Stone shows that the world’s first billionaire author made edits to her drafts as well. Known as the author who got a generation reading, she realized the importance of finishing a draft and editing it to shreds.
You’ll notice she scratched out entire phrases as well as single words. Today, this draft, that must have not been good in her eyes based on all of these edits, has been turned into a feature film and is in the works to become a television series.
You never know where your edits may take you, but to get there, you have to write the manuscript. Remember, your first draft doesn’t need to be good, it just needs to be written.
Get your draft done!
Now that you know why your first draft doesn’t need to be good, it’s time to get to work. Use our free resource below to take your next step toward your authorship dream! Your first draft may be the launching pad of the world’s next bestseller.
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