How to write a first draft: From idea to self-editing

A lot of people think they have a book in them. That’s probably true but can they spend hours, months, or even years of their lives sitting alone with a pen and paper, laptop or quill writing it? There seem to be a lot of writers around these days but in the whole universal scheme of things, it’s kind of rare to be doing this as an occupation.

But if you do have an idea burgeoning in the back of your mind that is wriggling to get to the surface, you should let it out! Finding out where ideas come from is oh so simple and so very complicated at the same time. Whatever the case, let’s assume you have one and it’s good – well, at least you think it is.

The task can feel enormous. When it comes down to it, all you need to do is start writing.

Whether you are a pantser or a planner has long been debated. You can be a bit of both or one or the other. For me, I find that a brief plan, synopsis or chapter-by-chapter outline helps me crystallise my thoughts and I have a map to follow. Neither way is wrong – it’s just up to you. You might be driven to write a character, have a unique setting in mind, a scene, an ending, or a simple idea that you just can’t stop thinking about.

Know this – you don’t necessarily need to know where you are going before you get there.

The aim of the first draft is to get your story and your characters formed, get the story arc covered and have a beginning, middle and end. It is not the aim of the first draft to be good and certainly not perfect. Try not to edit along the way when you are writing your first draft. If you have the urge to do this, stop it!

Start your first draft with what you know

Brainstorm your ideas to your heart’s content. Really go for it. With whatever you have: characters, places, scenes, scraps of dialogue, possible conflicts, themes or questions.

Even if you don’t think you are a planner, it might be useful to do some of these things:

• sketch out chapter headings

• write the story synopsis in 200 or 300 words

• make a rough list of scenes

• create a mind map

• use index cards

• make notes in a notebook

• or just start writing and see where the story takes you.

You don't have to write in chronological order

This can be surprisingly freeing.

If you can vividly see a scene from Chapter 12 but you're struggling with Chapter 4, write Chapter 12. If you know the ending before you know exactly how your characters get there, write the ending. You can connect the pieces later.

The same applies when you reach an area of your story that requires research. You don't necessarily need to stop your writing session to find out what time the train runs from Paris to Munich on a Sunday (does it?).

Put in a placeholder:

[CHECK TRAIN TIMES]

or

[RESEARCH THIS]

and keep going.

Stopping every few minutes to fact check something is a very good way to lose your writing flow.

Let the first draft be rough

A first draft is allowed to have clumsy sentences, repetition, inconsistencies, gaps, improbable events and characters whose names mysteriously change halfway through.

The job of the first draft is simply to be.

For some writers, getting their first words onto the page is agonising, but once they have something to work with, they love shaping it and working with their first draft. For me, however, getting the first draft down is usually the easier part. I really enjoy getting into the writing flow and letting the words come with no judgement or roadblocks. Self-editing for me is the much harder task.

Finish before you think it's perfect (because it never will be)

There's always the temptation to keep returning to the words you’ve just written and polish them over again. If you do that, you can end up with a beautiful Chapter 1 and no Chapter 10.

The key is to just keep moving and keep the words flowing. I like to shut my eyes while I’m typing away so I can picture what I want to say without worrying about the accuracy of what I’m writing at that minute.

Then leave it alone

When you finally reach the end, it’s a good idea to put the manuscript away for a while. You’ve been looking at it for too long and if you attempt to go back to it now, you will sometimes see what you want to see and not what’s actually on the page.

A little distance can help you come back as a reader rather than as the person who has been living inside the manuscript for months. Then your next stage of hard work starts.

First pass: does everything make sense?

At this point, it’s about the big picture. You're not looking at the language yet, you’re looking at the work as a whole.

Check timelines, dates, ages, character names, locations and continuity. Have you introduced things properly? Does someone know something they couldn't possibly know yet? Did a character have blue eyes on page 20 and brown eyes on page 180?

Resolve all those [CHECK THIS] placeholders you left yourself as well.

Second pass: still looking at the big picture

It’s now about the basic structure.

Could scenes work better in a different order? Does the story start in the right place? Are there slow sections? Does something important happen far too quickly?

This is where moving whole scenes and chapters around can make an enormous difference.

Scrivener is particularly useful for this because you can see and rearrange sections of a manuscript relatively easily. Some writers prefer cards, mind maps or even pieces of paper spread across a table.

Use whatever feels comfortable for you.

FYI: A post on writing resources is coming in the future.

Third pass: look at character and story

Look at what each scene is doing.

Does it move the story forward? Reveal something important? Develop a character or relationship? Build tension?

Look for characters whose motivations aren't convincing, subplots that disappear, unnecessary repetition and scenes you love but which aren't actually earning their place. This is the part called ‘killing your darlings’ and it’s when you have to make some hard decisions about the words you might have spent a long time developing – but you know in your heart of hearts that you will have to cull.

Fourth pass: tighten the writing

Now you can start looking at the words and language.

Look for unnecessary words, repetition, too many adjectives or adverbs, clichés, over-explanation and dialogue that isn't doing anything, or dialogue tags that don’t sound right. Too many ‘she saw’, ‘he noticed’ can feel like overwriting. Have you used your favourite words and phrases that appear frequently and you haven’t noticed? Can a sentence say something more simply?

Check your point of view too. Have you slipped from one character’s viewpoint to another by mistake? This can make it confusing for the reader and is easy to do. Check that your narrative voice sounds consistent.

A reminder: your first draft doesn't need to be good

Writing and editing require different ways of thinking, and probably different mindsets. Trying to write, research, fact check and restructure at the same time can make it difficult to get into that dream state where you're absorbed in the story and the words are flowing.

So while you're drafting, give yourself permission to leave gaps, jump ahead, write things you're not sure about and put [FIX THIS LATER] wherever you need to.

There will be plenty of time for making it better. Just get the words on the page.

Good luck!

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For more information about the publishing process, check out my free ebook From Manuscript to Publication.