Finishing the First Draft (by Kristin Anders)

As I write this, I am actively working with three authors. Two of which have not finished their first draft. One is working on her rewrite.

So how many authors am I working with? One, really. And only when she has a specific question for me.

Writers, hear this. The most important thing you can do for your career, your stories, and your characters is finish your first draft.

Without it you are not even started. Write every day. Every day. You're on Facebook. You probably email and tweet. Set aside some time to work on your novel. It deserves it.

First drafts are not meant to be polished. They are meant to be finished. How can you polish the story when you're not 100% sure where it's going? This is especially true if you are a panster. This is still true if you are a plotter.

The first draft will likely not be consistent. Your hero may change his traits or even his personality. Your heroine may have more of a backbone than you planned. Your secondary character may turn your couple into a love triangle. But you will never know what your characters are capable of if you don't finish their story.

Finish their story. Finish your story.

I have never heard of more writer's block than on the first draft. I'm not sure why. Every time an author talks about The Block I think of Stephen King's book On Writing. In it he talks about the muse.

"There is a muse, but he's not going to come fluttering down into your writing room and scatter creative fairy-dust all over your typewriter or computer station. He lives in the ground. He's a basement guy. You have to descend to his level, and once you get down there you have to furnish an apartment for him to live in. You have to do all the grunt labor, in other words, while the muse sits and smokes his cigars and admires his bowling trophies and pretends to ignore you. Do you think it's fair? I think it's fair. He may not be much to look at, that muse-guy, and he may not be much of a conversationalist (what I get out of mine is mostly surly grunts, unless he's on duty), but he's got the inspiration. It's right that you should do all the work and burn all the midnight oil, because the guy with the cigar and the little wings has got a bag of magic. There's stuff in there that can change your life. Believe me, I know."

These words give me chill bumps every time.

Write through your blocks. Write when you have no plot. Write through the silence. Because in the end you will have a story. An unvarnished, incomplete, raw, and gorgeous story. That is the goal of your first draft.

Now go write it.

Wishing You a Muse to Change Your Life,

Kristin Anders

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