A perfect, polished first draft is a myth.

Every novel starts as a rough, imperfect mess, in need of revisions.

Objectively, this makes sense. The creative process begins with planning, testing, revising and doing it again until you arrive at the final product.

Yet, we place so much pressure on ourselves to “get it right” the first time. 

We unconsciously believe that the state of our first draft says something about who we are.

It doesn’t, not to the extent that we place value on it anyway.

Your first draft doesn’t need to be perfect. It needs to be written.

This doesn’t mean you’ll just write without a plan. You’ll still put in your best effort. It means that we are going to embrace the messy bits and the frustrations.

We’re going to allow our rough drafts to be rough.

Who has to read that messy first draft?

You. And only you.

So, there’s no need to worry that it’s unpublishable or that no reader will love it because it’s not ready for the eyes of others.

You’ll reread it, cringe along the way and then put in the work to edit it to the point where you’ll hand it off to a professional editor for yet another round of edits and revisions.

Putting pressure on yourself to write the perfect story on your first try can lead to paralysis, writer’s block, lack of inspiration, and fear of starting.

But, here’s the thing… You can’t edit a blank page. You can’t share a story that hasn’t been written yet.

Every author has to write past that messy first draft at some point. So, start now.

Write without expectation and self-judgment. Accept that you’ll be revising it later.

Nurturing a growth mindset is crucial to viewing your writing skills as learnable.

With every first draft that you write, you will improve.

A person who doesn’t challenge their skills, who is scared to make a mistake, can never grow.

You need to write that messy first draft so that you can discover what doesn’t work. Then, you’ll know what needs to be fixed.

Plot holes, boring characters and awkward sentences are normal.

You can improve upon any of these problems. You don’t even have to do it alone.

There are so many people and tools out there to help you.

Here are a couple of resources to look at:

ProWritingAid provides actionable feedback to help you improve your story from plot to grammar.

Lisa Cron’s website and books are a phenomenal bank of resources to help you improve your storytelling skills.

And of course, this blog provides posts every week to help you through the entire writing process – planning, writing, editing, revising.

These lessons learned will strengthen your current manuscript as you work through them. 

And, when you move on to a new work in progress, you’ll see the benefits of writing through the mess in your next writing project.

Many writers have a bad habit of trying to write, edit and revise all at the same time. 

We reread what we just wrote, and that sneak peek crumbles our ego. We try improving upon the piece right away rather than letting it sit while we keep writing forward.

You’ll need to practice becoming okay with letting unpolished work lie if you want to complete your story.

Use your messy first draft as a safe space to experiment. Remember that no one but you ever needs to see it.

Try out new narrative voices, plots and sentence structures without fear that you’ll be judged for it. 

Use what you know, but don’t just stick to it.

A stale story can be found when a writer refuses to take risks.

As Natalie Goldberg states in her book, Thunder and Lightning: Cracking Open the Writer’s Craft, through writing practice, you’ll surprise yourself with discoveries that enhance your story.

You just need to allow yourself to let go and explore through your writing.

So, experiment without expectation, experiment to seek new ideas and writing structures.

You’re not married to anything you put down on the page.

If it doesn’t work in the end, you’ll revise it later.

Revision is where your story will gain clarity, structure and depth, not the first draft (although sparks of it might start there).

Allow your messy first draft to exist, because that is how you’ll grow as a writer.

Have a favourite messy first draft moment or tip?

Share it in the comments below.

Talk soon!

Julia