Love this. We're not meant to get it right the first time. If you find yourself hesitating, trying to write something “perfect” before it’s even real, pause, then let yourself write it badly. You can only edit something once it exists.
You're making this Brit sound like an American, all of a sudden. There was so much good stuff in your post. So much wisdom.
I finished writing my first novel around Christmas time, and while I'd been happy how it had been fitting together, scene by scene, and then chapter by chapter, I was devastated to find that it was pretty ugly in parts - overwritten, cliched, meandering. I was tempted to abandon it for a while, to write it off as a failed project, and then I decided to give myself to celebrate all that I'd done right, and all of the potential that is glistening under the surface.
I've tried following The Artist's Way a couple of times over the years, but where I froze was in committing my words to paper, as if I was chiseling them into one of Moses' tablets. Rather than decide the process just wasn't for me, I've accepted that I just love the cut-and-pasteability of using a word processor, and far fewer trees are sacrificed in the process.
Thanks, Robert! This "as if I was chiseling them into one of Moses' tablets" made me laugh. We take ourselves so seriously, right?
The Artist Way Morning Pages practice is to get over that fear of messing up, I believe. And if tapping on the keys works better than holding the pen, mission accomplshed, I'd say.
One of the tricks that I've come up with in getting over the dreaded Writer's Block is that I'll feed my draft into ChatGPT and tell it to turn it into freestyle verse.
I've found it works really well as a reset... it just somehoe unclogs my brain, and lets me come at rewriting / editing from a different perspective. I think that maybe poetry just lights up different parts of the brain.
You have nailed my emotions everytime I contemplate writing. I will admit that I want to write like Mitch Albom, Oliver Burkeman, David Sedaris and Pico Iyer every single time. But when I realise I cant, I procrastinate. But I have also learnt that I cant write like them. My voice is my voice :) I loved reading this piece and teh tips are valuable :)))Thanks for sharing :)))
Yay for ugly first drafts. The first draft should be wild and free - it is the clay that will be shaped into something. If you can get past the perfectionist thing, you will write more and have much more fun! I learned quite early that I did not want to be a perfectionist. Life is too short! My tip, though, would be to always keep a copy of that first draft because further down the line I have found that I can edit something so much I need to re-inject that early spark. And I will find it in the first draft!
I may be a bit peculiar. I love tearing into my first draft. Turning awkward sentences into a nicely flowing paragraph. Striking out a word and replacing it with a better word or meaningful phrase. I don't dread the editing. I embrace it and the several drafts that follow that first ugly draft. Thank you for this important article for writers.
‘The get it write the first time’ are the chains that have bound me rooted in fear - fear that I will write poorly. Reading all the comments here I realize that there’s a light for me at the end of the tunnel. I have my pencil in hand….,,
So, so interesting! Especially the data about the correlation between perfectionism and anxiety etc in young people. I have just finished a 7 week course with Beth Kempton where much of that involved spilling words for a given time limit after a prompt etc. It was amazing how reading those pieces back now, a week on, are so satisfying to me to me compared to pieces I have almost slaved over. Mostly I have no idea where those words came from but the freedom was liberating! And the process kicked my perfectionism out of the window. Obviously there is shaping to do and that's where perfectionism might occur again, hopefully not ruining the flow of them ;) I think it also doesn't help either when published authors on platforms such as this have been known to criticise those trying their very best to write essays as new writers and may fear not getting things so perfect.
I had a teacher back in Highschool that would tell us to write- not grading on anything other than our storytelling. I very much am grateful for her, given that now the mental barrier to writing that messy draft is often lifted in remembering that moment.
Very much so! I have since sent life updates via email, shared family photos, shared news about my first born, we keep in touch! It’s been a wonderful time reading her replies years later!
Love this. We're not meant to get it right the first time. If you find yourself hesitating, trying to write something “perfect” before it’s even real, pause, then let yourself write it badly. You can only edit something once it exists.
So right, Fanen. Real comes before perfect. And something can only be "improved" once it's come into being.
Wow, Jeanette!
You're making this Brit sound like an American, all of a sudden. There was so much good stuff in your post. So much wisdom.
I finished writing my first novel around Christmas time, and while I'd been happy how it had been fitting together, scene by scene, and then chapter by chapter, I was devastated to find that it was pretty ugly in parts - overwritten, cliched, meandering. I was tempted to abandon it for a while, to write it off as a failed project, and then I decided to give myself to celebrate all that I'd done right, and all of the potential that is glistening under the surface.
I've tried following The Artist's Way a couple of times over the years, but where I froze was in committing my words to paper, as if I was chiseling them into one of Moses' tablets. Rather than decide the process just wasn't for me, I've accepted that I just love the cut-and-pasteability of using a word processor, and far fewer trees are sacrificed in the process.
Thanks, Robert! This "as if I was chiseling them into one of Moses' tablets" made me laugh. We take ourselves so seriously, right?
The Artist Way Morning Pages practice is to get over that fear of messing up, I believe. And if tapping on the keys works better than holding the pen, mission accomplshed, I'd say.
One of the tricks that I've come up with in getting over the dreaded Writer's Block is that I'll feed my draft into ChatGPT and tell it to turn it into freestyle verse.
Here's a verse based on my recent essay, https://www.brittleviews.com/p/notes-i-never-gave-him
But now I write.
And when those boys appear,
I don’t rescue them.
I sit with them.
I say:
You’re not broken.
You’re not wrong.
This isn’t your fault.
Whenever I do that, it somehow reroutes my thinking and creativity around the block, and i'm off to the races again. :-)
Here's the prompt: "Summarize and convert into freestyle verse", followed by your draft.
Well that's unique!
I've found it works really well as a reset... it just somehoe unclogs my brain, and lets me come at rewriting / editing from a different perspective. I think that maybe poetry just lights up different parts of the brain.
That's definitely my experience reading poetry!
You have nailed my emotions everytime I contemplate writing. I will admit that I want to write like Mitch Albom, Oliver Burkeman, David Sedaris and Pico Iyer every single time. But when I realise I cant, I procrastinate. But I have also learnt that I cant write like them. My voice is my voice :) I loved reading this piece and teh tips are valuable :)))Thanks for sharing :)))
We all have our heroes but we have to become our own hero by showing up when when it's hard.
Yay for ugly first drafts. The first draft should be wild and free - it is the clay that will be shaped into something. If you can get past the perfectionist thing, you will write more and have much more fun! I learned quite early that I did not want to be a perfectionist. Life is too short! My tip, though, would be to always keep a copy of that first draft because further down the line I have found that I can edit something so much I need to re-inject that early spark. And I will find it in the first draft!
Great tip to keep the first draft in case you kick out the spice when editing.
I may be a bit peculiar. I love tearing into my first draft. Turning awkward sentences into a nicely flowing paragraph. Striking out a word and replacing it with a better word or meaningful phrase. I don't dread the editing. I embrace it and the several drafts that follow that first ugly draft. Thank you for this important article for writers.
I agree. Once the Ugly First Draft is out, the fun of editing can start.
‘The get it write the first time’ are the chains that have bound me rooted in fear - fear that I will write poorly. Reading all the comments here I realize that there’s a light for me at the end of the tunnel. I have my pencil in hand….,,
Yes, Ruth! Our uniqueness is our superpower. Noone can beat that.
So, so interesting! Especially the data about the correlation between perfectionism and anxiety etc in young people. I have just finished a 7 week course with Beth Kempton where much of that involved spilling words for a given time limit after a prompt etc. It was amazing how reading those pieces back now, a week on, are so satisfying to me to me compared to pieces I have almost slaved over. Mostly I have no idea where those words came from but the freedom was liberating! And the process kicked my perfectionism out of the window. Obviously there is shaping to do and that's where perfectionism might occur again, hopefully not ruining the flow of them ;) I think it also doesn't help either when published authors on platforms such as this have been known to criticise those trying their very best to write essays as new writers and may fear not getting things so perfect.
Spilling words exercises let us see what's inside. And can bring startling results. I have the same experience. And love Beth Kempton's work.
I had a teacher back in Highschool that would tell us to write- not grading on anything other than our storytelling. I very much am grateful for her, given that now the mental barrier to writing that messy draft is often lifted in remembering that moment.
You're fortunate to have had that class and liberating creative experience, Jake. Aren't some teachers so key to opening up up.
Very much so! I have since sent life updates via email, shared family photos, shared news about my first born, we keep in touch! It’s been a wonderful time reading her replies years later!