Wisdom for First Drafts
The best of Refuse to Be Done.
UPCOMING CLASS
One of my end-of-year workshops filled up quickly, but there’s still space in my revision workshop!
Revision for Submission Workshop
Saturday mornings on Zoom, 10:30AM-12:00PM EST
November 4 + 18 and December 2 + 16
$350 (10% off for paid newsletter subscribers!)
Includes a 45-minute one-on-one meeting to discuss your submission strategy.
A good fit for more experienced writers who have work they're ready to revise.
Learn more and sign up here.
As always, paid newsletter subscribers get 10% off all classes. Hope to see you around the Zoom room soon!
FIRST-DRAFT WISDOM
Ever since I first read Matt Bell’s book Refuse to Be Done: How to Write and Rewrite a Novel in Three Drafts last summer, I’ve been saying, “Damn. I wish this book had existed when I started writing the first draft of my novel.”
Matt’s book would’ve saved me so much of the am-I-even-doing-this-right doubts that I had!
Here are my favorite pieces of
wisdom for fiction writers working on their first drafts.1. Write the islands.
When in doubt, get the most important scenes down first: the scenes you can clearly see in your mind’s eye when you daydream about the book. Then, hand Future You the task of connecting them later on. Matt Bell refers to these first important scenes as “the islands.”
Matt argues that this approach helps writers follow their excitement, which is crucial in a book’s early stages!
2. Resist the urge to go back and revise.
If you decide as you’re writing that something needs to change, move forward with the new change instead of going back and revising everything in accordance with that shift.
I love that Refuse to Be Done emphasizes one very important part of this process: you just want to get that first draft down. Which brings me to my next point:
3. A major perk of finishing a draft is to figure out the book you’re not writing.
In the first draft of my novel, my protagonist worked on political campaigns for a living and, at different points of the novel, lived in California, Massachusetts, and Florida. None of that is in the novel today!
So much of writing a novel is trial and error. If you embrace that, you’ll set yourself up for a much better time.
4. You might still be figuring out your story’s timeline.
“One reason some early drafts feel baggy is that they’re taking place over too large a span of time, or else the span of time they cover simply isn’t defined yet.”
Matt couldn’t be more correct about this. When I first started my first draft, I thought, “Well, it’s a novel, and novels are supposed to be complicated, so let’s cover a span of six years.” Turned out to be the wrong choice for the story I was trying to tell, which was much better suited to occur over the span of six weeks rather than six years.
When I made that change, my baggy draft immediately felt more tailored.
5. Remember: today’s task is not to write the book!
You won’t finish it in a day! You won’t make all the right decisions for the book on your first try! If you could do that, every single person on this planet would have multiple books out!
Pace yourself. And at the same time, keep assuring yourself: you are writing a freaking novel.
The stunning illustrations you see in this newsletter are by my brilliant friend Aysha Miskin, who is GETTING MARRIED THIS WEEKEND! Go admire her work on Instagram.
SOMETHING ELSE I’VE BEEN WORKING ON
This week, my interview with country artist Madison Hughes aired on WJCT. Madison and I discussed lessons she’s learned working with legendary Nashville songwriters.
I spoke with her two days before she sang the National Anthem at the Jags vs. Chiefs game, which she didn’t seem nervous about at all. Can you imagine being cool as a cucumber before something like that?! Listen to our conversation here.
LET’S TALK ABOUT MATT BELL’S BOOK
On Sunday, October 29 at 1PM EST, my Book Club for Writers will meet on Zoom to discuss Refuse to Be Done, Matt Bell’s incredible book on drafting and revision. I recommend this title to anyone who’s curious about writing a book-length work!
HOW DO I JOIN THE BOOK CLUB?
Become a paid newsletter subscriber to join. Subscribe for the month for just $5, or save 27% and subscribe for the whole year.
I’m announcing our 2024 book club selections at our meeting on October 29! You won’t want to miss it!