The Ups and Downs of Writing a First Draft

Hooray! I finished a first draft! It’s been literal years since I’ve done that (if we’re not counting my zine). In my limited experience with writing, I’ve found writing the first draft is always the most difficult part of the process. I love edits, and all of the other details that comes with writing. It’s just getting the skeleton down! I even love the outlining process. In fact, I have several outlines completed (in detail) for stories I haven’t started writing yet.

I remember when I was a teen writer, and the first draft was my favorite part! I dreaded edits, and just wanted to be done. Now, as an adult, it’s the opposite. I love the process of taking my time with a story; going over and over with it making it better than before. The part that hurts the most with writing the first draft is the struggle of getting it all out of my brain in order. I wish I could just download scenes from my brain onto the paper! It would make things so much easier.

At one point with my current story, Lady of Drowning Darkness, I ended up changing up the plot halfway through the draft. I threw in a plot device and a character that wasn’t originally planned, and had to rework the outline. Luckily, it was a small change I was able to make work. Now, since I did that, I’m looking forward to starting my edits and polishing everything up. Make it look on purpose instead of just thrown in there

I had watched a writing vlog at some point and the author said that once you finish a draft you should go a month without touching it, or looking at it. Like, do other things. Since my deadline is so close, I chose to do a week instead. During that week, I’ll read books and play games. Hopefully that’ll be enough time for me to have fresh eyes for edits.

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