First Drafts - Tumblr Posts
“First, get the story down. Resist the urge to rework your opening line or paragraph. The perfect opening may be the last thing you write. Once you have the story down, you can begin the real work.”
— Angela Savage, Award-winning Australian Writer (via rookiebooknookie)
When you’re writing your first draft and you know it could be better
“Don’t get it right, just get it written.”
— James Thurber (via maxkirin)
“Nothing will stop you from being creative so effectively as the fear of making a mistake.”
— John Cleese (via writingdotcoffee)
reminder to myself about the process of drafting & revising:
first drafts are for making it exist
second drafts are for making it functional
third drafts are for making it effective
“No thinking–that comes later. You write your first draft with your heart. And you rewrite with your head. The first key to writing is…to write, not to think!”
—
William Forrester (Finding Forrester)
When writing the first draft, don’t be a storyteller. Be an intrepid explorer, discovering what cannot be seen from the mouth of the cave.
me, having deeply fallen out of the practice of writing poetry: I can’t write any more, I am now a Talentless Hack
the voice of my 11th grade journalism/12th grade creative writing teacher who rly did know everything: if you stop writing for a while the words will build up and stagnate. to clear the water, you will have to open the dam completely, and accept the fact that what initially comes out will not be palatable
Tbh I don't understand this constant slamming of first drafts anymore. Like, yeah, theyre the first coat of paint, but they aren't "shitty." First drafts are the fun part? I love my first drafts. They're like little kids who don't know anything yet, or your dumbest pet who makes you smile. They're so special when they haven't really matured because they're all the fun and emotional bits you cobbled together in bursts of inspiration. They're good kids, just kinda messy and incoherent with occasional awkward statements that you nervously laugh about. That's why we call it a work in progress
90% of writing advice can be thrown out the window for your first draft.
Show don’t tell? Ignore.
Basic grammar and punctuation? Unnecessary.
Physical descriptions of characters? Don’t need to bother.
Solid plot? That’s for later.
The words don’t come as fast when you’re thinking of the best way to put them together. It doesn’t have to be pretty, or much more than inconsistent nonsense. The point is to have it exist.
Effective storytelling is for subsequent drafts! Go write some nonsense!
part 300 of trying to write Parseltongue in a way that people won't find annoying
"Where can I find the adders?"
"Placesss."
"Placesss?" he mimicked sarcastically. "What placesss?"
"Shh. You are attracting the badgers."
It half-heartedly flopped towards the water, and Tom followed it.
"In the sun. Not often. Try when the students have gone back to their nests."
"Do you mean during the holidays?"
"Yesss. Nasty little creatures, always kicking and throwing stones. He would have none of that, hss. Disrespect. Now leave me alone."
"Disrespect, hss," said Tom, biting back a laugh. He was going to catch a cold if he stood there any longer. "Fine. I'm going."
Okay I know everyone on the Internet says that they find hss'es and ss'es annoying in Parseltongue, but I can't imagine this snake not sounding like that. I wouldn't put it (unironically) in a human Parselmouth's speech, but I can't get it out of my head. At least the italics are fairly unobtrusive?
ᴡᴇʙᴛᴏᴏɴ?? ᴡʀɪᴛᴛᴇɴ ꜰɪᴄᴛɪᴏɴ???
𝒟𝓇𝒶𝒻𝓉 𝒞𝑜𝓃𝒸𝑒𝓅𝓉 (𝟢𝟨/𝟢𝟪/𝟤𝟦)
𝘐 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 (𝘭𝘮𝘢𝘰 𝘭𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬). 𝘏𝘖𝘞𝘌𝘝𝘌𝘙, 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 @v-for-venus 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘸𝘦𝘣𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦.
𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮 𝘪𝘴, 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘶𝘯𝘪— 𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘴, 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘝𝘌𝘙𝘠 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘺. 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱 𝘢 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦, 𝘱𝘰𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦 𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘯 (𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵?).
𝘚𝘰. 𝘔𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨.
𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘰 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘴𝘯𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘵 (𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵 𝘢𝘵𝘮) 𝘢𝘯𝘥/𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘯𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸, 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬.
𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵.
𝘏𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯.