3 Ways to Make Your First Draft Better

Indie writers are constantly told to write faster, release more stuff, get your book out in front of more people, strike when the iron is hot. All writers are told not to sweat the first draft, it's ok to be bad, really, really bad. But what if you want instead of a bad first draft, an OK first draft, what do you do? Here are three ideas to help you along.

 

1) Outline--I know it sounds trite, but outlining and planning have a way shaping the story inside your head. It gives you road markers to know if you are hitting the pacing right and scenes to write when you're pretending to have writer's block. It will make you write both faster and better.

 

2) Do the unexpected...throw your outline out the window and do something crazy. I can hear you now, you literally just said to outline. YES, but this is a first draft so if you're completely off script, so to speak, it's not a bad thing. Usually when something unexpected happens you get a better story.

 

3) Hang a lantern on it. This is the mantra for most weekly sci-fi shows and a few cop dramas, but hey it's a goodie. Got yourself in an impossible situation? Then do a proverbial wink to the audience to let them know you're aware of it and then move on. They will too. It's just a first draft, you can think you're way out of it in revisions or come back to it later, or maybe the lantern will work just fine...

 

Enjoy your summer writing.

 

Love,

 

Melanie