How To Get Started on Your First Draft
Coming up with an idea for your book and actually writing it may be easy for some people, but actually getting started on their book is the hard bit. Today, we have some tips to help you with the writing process.
1. Set a Goal for How Much to Write a Day
This will help you stay on track, and write as much as possible. Don’t worry if what you write isn’t the best it can be. A first draft is never perfect. Just write what comes to you. Save the editing for later. The more you write, the better your writing becomes. Setting a goal also helps you to deal with writer’s block, because you know you have to write that much. So, as a result, the laziness of not writing goes away.
2. Take frequent breaks
Taking breaks helps you to refresh your mind when you get back to work and have more ideas flood to you. For example, you can write for twenty-five minutes, and then take a five to ten-minute break, and then repeat. Or, you can just take a break every time you feel like it, but try not to write too much, as it can tire you out.
3. Set Aside Time Only for Writing
Setting aside separate time dedicated to writing can help you keep focused and stay on track. Whether that be at the beginning of your day, during your breaks or lunch hour, or at the end of the day before bed, setting aside time is vital. Try to set a time in which you can be sure you won’t be disturbed either. Keeping a strong focus can help to deliver your thoughts in the best way possible, and also helps you develop more ideas for your story!
4. If You Can’t Think of What To Write for a Specific Scene, Skip It!
Let’s say you get to a part of your story in which you have a brilliant idea, but you don’t know how to put it into your writing. The best thing to do is skip the scene, and just write a short description of what will happen in brackets. Then, just move on and continue writing! You can come back to those scenes as soon as you have an idea for them, or after you are done with your draft and are ready to start thinking about them. Either way, make sure you put where they go so you don’t forget!
John McPhee says: “Sometimes in a nervous frenzy I just fling words as if I were flinging mud at a wall. Blurt out, heave out, babble out something — anything — as a first draft…Until it exists, writing has not really begun.” That’s what a first draft really is- a bunch of words on paper that later make a story.
5. Set Realistic Expectations!
The last tip for writing your draft is one a lot of first-time authors ignore. You have to set realistic expectations! Don’t expect an amazing first draft or one that needs a few edits. First drafts will always be messy, and you have to let them be that way!
Another thing to consider is the time it will take you to finish your draft. Don’t expect it to be done within a couple of weeks. Give it time. Everyone works at a different pace. Find yours, and work at that pace, and continue until you finish.
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Originally published at https://setayeshkazempoor.weebly.com.