Prisimpad: A Guide to Wattpad, Writing, and Whatever

ON WRITING: First Drafts Suck

This chapter is for everyone who can never finish a first draft because they're too busy editing it to finish it.

Say it with me now, your first draft will suck, especially if it's your first novel. Even if you spend hours on the editing as you write, it's going to suck. I have yet to meet an author who had a perfect first draft. There is a reason the saying is "writing is rewriting" it's because it's true. Some people's rough drafts will be nicer than others, but it's still going to have at least one flaw in it.

It doesn't matter if you're a pantser or a plotter, it doesn't matter how much research you've done, something is going to be wrong in the plot or facts or characters or everything in between.

A lot of people like to tell me that my first drafts are perfect. I tend to laugh them off, not because I'm not flattered they think that, but because they aren't perfect. Are they better than some books on here? Sure. But there's also people who have first drafts far better than mine. Each of my first drafts has a flaw and I'm not just talking about the fact I don't put much effort into finding my dyslexic typos.

In Freelander, one flaw, aside from me deciding half way through I wanted it to be a trilogy, is that Abby is too much of an insecure whiner. That is going to kill a reader or make them want to kill her. Another flaw is I kinda dropped off the talking animals. I meant to tone them down some because she learns to block them out, but not be rid of them completely. There are a few other things, but I don't need to state all of them here.

In GoC, the fatal flaw is Sabina wasn't developed, at all. She was a victim of me being a pantser because I knew nothing about what was going to happen to her until I created her. There's also some things in the plot as well.

Draygon Frost is probably my most solid first draft, but I feel like the ending leaves it too dependent on a second book.

If I tried, I can find a flaw in every single one of my first drafts currently here on Wattpad. That's normal! That's fine. If you can't honestly sit down and think of a flaw in your rough draft then you're probably not being honest with yourself or you definitely need a beta reader who is not a friend. Someone who won't coddle you and will tell you what's right or wrong.

If you think you're the best writer in the world . . . newsflash, your first draft needs editing.

If you think you're the worst writer in the world . . . newsflash, it's normal for your first draft to need editing.

If you think aliens have come and taken your body for experiments . . . newsflash, your first draft needs editing.

A plotter may not have as much to fix as a pantser will, but their first draft will still need editing. Editing is inevitable.

If it sounds like I'm repeating myself in this chapter, it's because I am. There's no other way to say this except to say it repeatedly.

So say it with me boys and girls . . .  my first draft will suck.

If you have something come up while you're writing that you think needs fixing, write it down on the side to come back to later. Make notes whenever you have to. If you've posted the book on Wattpad and a person makes a comment about something, write it down too. When you're ready to look at them and revisit that first draft, those notes will be there to help you into the next draft. In the end you'll have a story which shines. Be patient and work through it. Your sanity will thank you.

Trust me, I know how hard it is to shrug off mistakes. It took me years to accept I won't catch all my dyslexic issues myself so I do what I can and move on to the next chapter. It's the only thing I can do to ensure I actually finish that first draft. We all have a natural affinity to wanting to be perfect, but sometimes you just have to say screw it and move on.

Even knowing your first draft is going to suck, don't give up. A lot of writers, myself included, will be quick to get frustrated with themselves during the writing process. If I had a penny for every time I thought about quitting a story because I thought it was terrible, I'd be a millionaire. I have such a defeatist attitude when it comes to my writing, even writing this I think I'm being stupid for believing that my opinion on the writing world matters. Who am I to give advice on writing if I'm terrible at it? Here's the thing with me, half of my "I suck" talk is just getting it off my chest. So if you need to get it off your chest in order to continue, do it.

If I truly thought I had no glimmer of hope in the pile of slop I call writing, I wouldn't be suffering through it. I write because I have a ton of fun doing it. It's agonizing as hell, I whine and snivel, but it's a heck of a lot of fun. A lot of my stories won't get past a first draft, but I'll do my best to get them through that first draft. That is exactly what you have to do: your best.

Your first draft is not the last draft. If you think it is, sorry, but there is loads more work to be done. Don't live in fear of it being bad, embrace it. Here's another newsflash, writing isn't easy. Anyone with a computer or paper can throw words to a page, but making those words mean something to someone else is hard. It takes hours of tedious work. There will be swearing, coffee consumption, and maybe some tears. Your blood will be put into those words you craft, maybe even literal blood. So why worry about if that first draft is bad? That draft is the tip of the iceberg, but unlike the Titanic, you can avoid it.

Editing is in your future no matter how good your first draft is. So embrace the suck!