THE INDY AUTHOR
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Getting Past the Fear of (First Draft) Commitment

June 4, 2017
Bernard Malamud once commented, “The first draft of anything is suspect unless one is a genius.” I am suspect of the “genius” caveat, and am more in agreement with Ernest Hemingway that “the first draft of anything is rubbish” (although he expressed it more colorfully).

However, the hesitance to commit words to paper, actual or virtual, because you know they’re rubbish can stand in the way of getting the first draft complete—and it’s not until you have a complete first draft that you can work on making it less rubbishy. As with so much advice about writing, the direction to “just get the words on the page” is easier said than done.

A trick I’ve developed to overcome this hesitance is to mark anything that is especially rubbishy with <angle brackets and purple font> . (Any marking will work as long as you use it only for this purpose.) For example, in the last sentence in the first paragraph, I originally typed “although he expressed it <in more spicy language>”; I didn’t like the word “spicy,” but I didn’t want to get bogged down at that moment in coming up with exactly the right word.

This trick enables me to plow ahead with my half-baked ideas and sentences, knowing that I won’t lose track of the especially egregious issues in the editing process. Another benefit is that there are some days when I’m in more of a “finding exactly the right word” frame of mind, and I can easily search for angle-bracketed sections to fix.
​
This works not only with individual words, but with sentences and even paragraphs. However, don’t use the marking for more than a few consecutive paragraphs. That’s not using it for the intended purpose, it’s just providing a visual illustration of the fact that the first draft will be rubbish, and that will be more likely to freak you out than to speed you up.

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  • Home
  • About & Contact
  • Podcast
    • 061 - Google Play
    • 060 - Mastering Action Sequences
    • 059 - Newsletter Swaps and StoryOrigin
    • 058 - Author Newsletters
    • 057 - The Pros and Cons of Pre-orders
    • 056 - Crowdfunding for Authors
    • 055 - Costs of Self-publishing a Book
    • 054 - Futurist Trends We Can Prepare for Now
    • 053 - Learn from TV and Movies
    • 052 - Building a Resilient Indy Business
    • 051 - Podcasting as Content Marketing
    • 050 - First Responders
    • 049 - Ruminations on Book Launches
    • 048 - Protagonist and Antagonist Voices
    • 047 - Backstory and Flashbacks
    • 046 - Writing Coroners
    • 045 - Exercise
    • 044 - Using Aggregators versus Direct
    • 043 - Killing Suspense
    • 042 - The Importance of Metadata
    • 041 - Writing Convincing Villains
    • 040 - Storytelling Lessons from Investigative Reporting
    • 039 Building a Writer Community
    • 038 - Graphic Novels
    • 037 - How Cozy is Cozy?
    • 036 - Frugal Tips for Writers
    • 035 - Police Procedures
    • 034 - Connecting through Video
    • 033 - Barriers to Creativity
    • 032 - Hybrid Publishing
    • 031 - ebook Pricing
    • 030 - Common Writer Wisdom: Is it Right for You?
    • 029 - Fostering Creativity through Digital Minimalism
    • 028 - Writing the Killer Query
    • 027 - Why to Stop Blogging
    • 026 - Weaving Your Day Job into Your Books
    • 025 - Mastering Book Descriptions
    • 024 - Three Hard Truths
    • 023 - Reaching New Readers through Translations
    • 022 - SEO for Authors
    • 021 - Building Communities in Podcasts and In Person
    • 020 - Working with Libraries & Bookstores
    • 019 - Judging a Book by Its Cover
    • 018 - The Importance of Masterworks
    • 017 - Story a Day
    • 016 - Drawing Back the Publishing Curtain
    • 015 - Five Things I Wish I Knew Before I Was Published
    • 014 - Collaborating on "Taking the Short Tack"
    • 013 - Writing in Time
    • 012 - Top Firearms Mistakes Writers Make ...
    • 011 - Making the Move to Full-Time Writer
    • 010 - Update from The Indy Author
    • 009 - Craft and Business of Short Fiction
    • 008 - Screenwriting
    • 007 - Faster Fiction
    • 006 - Importance of Storytelling
    • 005 - Image-intensive Books
    • 004 - Using Media Outlets
    • 003 - Small Press Publishing
    • 002 - Creativity Tips
    • 001 - Introducing The Indy Author
    • For Guests of The Indy Author Podcast
  • Podcasting for Authors
    • Podcasting Resources
    • Descript >
      • The Anatomy of Descript
      • Best Practices | Tips | Tricks
      • Descript Q&A
  • The Short Tack
  • Resources
  • Tools
  • The Craft
    • Getting Past the Fear of (First Draft) Commitment
    • Scalability
    • Professionalism
    • From Dead in the Water to Favorable Winds
  • The Voyage
    • Reading Your Work Aloud
    • Preparing to Request an Author Blurb
    • Navigating Indy
  • For the Armchair Sailor
  • Editing Services
  • Events
  • For Libraries
  • Blog
  • William Kingsfield Publishers
  • Online Store
  • Press Kit