In short, writing a novel consists of the following steps/phases/whatever you want to call them, hurdles?:
- Come up with an idea, research etc. to get enough to know what to write about. Here, you may also want to polish that idea into a synopsis, snowflake or other “writing plan” (there are tons of different ideas out there on how to do this)
- Write the first draft.
- Edit the first draft. (+ likely more researching).
- Now we’ve reached the point where we either involve editors etc. for self-publishing or try to shop the book to an agent or publisher.
- More editing, more rewriting, more more until finally you push the “publish button”. I’ve also heard, breathing into paper bags might be involved in the before or after of pushing that button…
Not to mention marketing a novel or a career, regardless of if you are self-publishing or working with a publisher/agent.
Today, I’m focusing on step 2 and 3.
I’ve seen some interesting questions from people struggling with their first draft. The interesting thing about these questions is that they are seldom “first draft questions” in the sense they are questions about how to perfect the text in a time when perfection will be your enemy.
I once read a book (I think it was by Sanaya Roman) about how we avoid being successful by piling on enough hard tasks that it will be impossible to change.
Let’s say you decide to quit smoking. Your devious mind, all against change, suggests, if you really want to be healthy you need to eat better as well, and exercise, and hey, it’s healthy with social interactions, join a club or two, and that garage needs fixing too. Now that you’ve decided to become a better person, let’s add the garage and the garden to the list as well.
You quickly decide quitting smoking seems like a major task, and maybe you could postpone it a bit.
While writing a novel is hardly like quitting smoking, it is a change in its own way. You may very well fear what would happen if you became a famous bestseller and had fans chasing you down the street, or maybe more commonly nobody wanted to read what you wrote, and it was in fact crap even though it seems so great right now in your head.
Your mind will want to protect you against that change, just like any other change.
One way to do that is to claim the first draft must be PERFECT or you might as well quit right now.
Hence, all the questions about proper verb usage, dialog writing, theme, tension, style, etc. etc.
We worry about the details in order to prevent ourselves from finishing the first draft and risking realizing that it is crap and useless and no good and by no means ready for publication.
Now the hard truth. But for it to sink in properly, I give you a quote from Hemingway himself:
“The first draft of anything is shit.”
Hemingway via Arnold Samuelson
That’s a bit harsh, but what it really means is that in order to have a text ready for publication, you’ll have to edit it into shape after the first draft is finished.
Others have also said, writing is rewriting, and you can’t edit an empty page.
So, rather than worrying about the text not being perfect in the first draft (or God forbid, sending your unedited first draft to a publisher or agent assuming you’re no good when they won’t reply or send you a form mail back) you produce a first draft that stinks seven ways to Sunday, and then you edit it, rewrite it, and polish it until you’ve removed everything from that slab that wasn’t David.
Here’s another quote if you feel the above one is unkind to your newborn first draft:
“Every first draft is perfect because all the first draft has to do is exist.”
Jane Smiley
This, of course, is not true for the final novel, but without a first draft you have nothing to edit into a final novel.
Talkwards 