First draft? It should be ugly, right?
Don't edit while writing, they say
Everybody says the first draft should suck.
Therefore, it must be right. Or what?
Of course, there’s some truth to it.
Don’t edit while writing.
You’ll use two different parts of the brain. Your creative and your logical part.
Write first, then edit.
That’s what I believed for years.
Sadly, I hate editing.
Take a look at my harddisk, and you’ll find several unpublished manuscripts.
Some are filled with [XXX] and or Danish words in square parenthesis. Or “look up how to do this” in notes.
The moment I stopped writing as if I could always go back and edit, my writing improved.
Write without editing
The secret is to use what prolific author Dean Wesley Smith calls “cycling.”
You write until you come to a natural halt. Then you cycle back over the last around 500 words you wrote. You check that you’ve used all five senses.
And that the sentences flow.
Then you continue.
If you need to do research it, you do it on the spot.
Don’t know how to create a torch to keep wolves away from you? Look it up, then continue to write.
You’ll often learn something interesting while researching. Something that will inspire you for your story.
Proof when you’re done, of course.
This is what works for me because I hate editing.
It was one of the things I wish I’d learned earlier because I would have been more productive and I would have published more.
Another thing I wish I’d learned earlier is all those terms writers use. Like “on the nose,” “show, don’t tell” and “headhopping.”
I’ve gathered the most important ones in a small dictionary for you. You can get it for free here: