How To Write The First Draft Of A Masterpiece.
The first draft of this article was a total snooze-fest. Exactly what I needed.
5 min readDec 22, 2021
All great writers know how to write great first drafts. I’ll bet you anything.
Ask Tim Denning. Read about the writing process of J.K. or Steven King.
A great first draft is more than half of the work — but what does a great first draft mean, exactly?
Here are its main characteristics:
- It’s a total mess. Plot holes, boring paragraphs, losing your train of thought and characters appearing and disappearing out of nowhere — it’s all allowed.
- It features your book or essay’s midpoint (and perhaps all key points).
- It features the ending, and that’s important.
- It’s workable. You can read it from start to finish, and it will make sense (at least to you).
Here’s what makes for a poor first draft:
- Trying to write the minimum amount of drafts. Because you’re stopping your creative genius from flowing freely on the page.
- Going back to revise before you’ve finished. Because you don’t know your perfect beginning until you write the ending.