First Drafts Are MESSY (And That's Great!)

My first draft of Society 57—my work-in-progress Young Adult portal fantasy novel—was awful. It was so awful, in fact, that I debated tabling the whole writing thing and pursuing basket weaving, or even brain surgery. Because somehow that still felt more attainable than writing a decent manuscript.

Wiggling My Eyebrows at the Myth of the Perfect First Draft

When I started writing my book during NaNoWriMo, I was fully convinced that I was going to be the one to do it—I was going to be the writer who wrote a perfect draft on the first try. Sure, the authors and pros at NaNoWriMo drilled into us that we should be focused on generating word count, not perfection, but I thought, Why not do both?

It was when I ready my tenth instance of wiggling eyebrows in my first draft that I realized, nope, I did not create a perfect first draft. And while I had a whole crew of main characters wiggling their way into the sunset, you know what I also had? Kind of a plot.

And that's HUGE.

Because the ultimate pitfall would have been focusing so much on editing the first time around, I would still be stuck on my first page, trying to craft that perfect opening line that would definitely get me a signed book deal from a bidding war.

#LOL, okay.

Why First Drafts Are Never Perfect (They're, Like, Bad, Bad)

So, what exactly went wrong? Nothing.

For me, writing is about creativity. It's about artistic freedom. Sure, I may have an outline, but sometimes in the middle of a scene, Gary decides he just has to go off and feed his Neopets. Or Alodie just has to get into her 157th fight with Mitchell (last time she told him he was going to die at the hands of the Dames Blanches because his horrible dancing would offend them). Sometimes, Alodie likes Leo, sometimes he really peeves her. Sometimes they go for walks and tell each other things they haven't told other Cordicles at the agency. And then she's all like Teehee, look at his dimples.

Those moments wouldn't have come from a perfect first draft because I didn't outline them originally for my first draft. I never knew those moments existed! They came from getting to know my characters as their lives unfolded across the page. While I thought I knew their darkest desires, I learned something new every time I sat down to write.

And it made writing that much more fun.

Teehee, look at this draft!

-Alodie, probably

How to Keep Writing When Your First Draft Feels Terrible

The tricky thing is that, sometimes, it feels so bad you don't want to keep going. Hence, my brain surgeon backup career.

When I get in a slump over my draft, I step away. I let my work have a moment to breathe. This is so important because otherwise you strain your brain with the repeated notion that it's not good enough and never will be, which just simply isn't true.

I also read other books for fun. Some writers say you should never read while writing your own work, but I disagree wholeheartedly. Reading inspires me with new ideas for sentence structure. It shows me how an author weaves in crucial moments or how a character's secret is reveals in the story. As long as you don't start copying plot points into your own work, I think taking time to feel inspired by other work is a valid use of time. But please, don't compare your first draft to theirs--because it's definitely not their first draft that got published.

Refrain from AI Editing

This is controversial, but here are my two cents.

AI programs and platforms rely heavily on input data. Basically, they are learning their responses from the millions of people using them. They are definitely not perfect. While they can be helpful tools in a variety of scenarios, using them to fully edit your draft is a mistake.

Why? Well, it's not you.

AI will take the language you give them and try to sound like you, sure. But it's never going to truly be the way you would write. These machines often have phrases and words that they love to repeat when generating text, so your work may actually end up sounding just like every other AI-generated manuscript. Be careful, tread lightly.

Progress Matters More than Perfection

So, go out there. Be MESSY. Write the worst sentences. Have a hoot-and-a-half. Make people fall in love, then break them up again. End a sentence with a preposition. Tell, don't show. Wiggle those DANG EYEBROWS until the sun goes down.

Just keep writing.