It takes skill to write a relatively clean first draft, and I don’t mean just the grammar. The only person I’ve known to create ready-to-print first drafts was also the slowest person ever — he never made a deadline. I admired his skill, but not his speed. However, I stood to learn a few things from him.
Recently, I emailed my editor a short article. I was tired and drugged because of pain from a car accident, but I still needed to turn in the article. My editor asked me if I needed a nap — she didn’t know at that point how right she was or why. In fact, she could tell my mental state by the number of errors.
When I edit other’s work, I wonder if they do the same thing I do when I had a long day or week. Deadlines don’t stop because you’re tired or have writer’s block. And the longer, more complicated a piece, the more time needs to be spent on it.
The writing genre and length will determine the complexity of the revision process. Before, I was talking about nonfiction journalism pieces. With fiction stories, the writing process requires a longer revision period. I’ve got a few novels at various stages of revision, and none of them are ready to debut. The reason is that fiction writing is a craft I haven’t mastered so it will take me longer. Knowing this, I try to be as thorough as possible with editing and revising. Sure, a short article might just be missing a comma, but a chapter, or even a feature article, might miss many, many more elements necessary to make it as polished as possible. Beyond grammar, the entire structure might not be its best.
It’s wise to know your weak spots. I learned my weak spots the hard way, under an editor who was known for brutal criticism the worse her mood. In writing nonfiction, after writing a draft, I try to go back and look for bad transitions. If I rush, those are usually my victims. Sometimes, although I know better, a comma in a compound sentence isn’t there when it should be. These blunders, if you aren’t careful, can make you look sloppy. I finally got it through my head that my first drafts (for anything) are never ready for publication. It’s become a habit to look over my writing and delete words that aren’t necessary, add in commas, rearrange paragraphs, or elaborate on ideas that are too vague. Over time, and with feedback, you learn what to look for and how to be a better self-editor so that when you turn in your writing, it’s the best you can give it.
My first drafts are never their best because I do what I like to call “vomiting the draft.” Whether it’s National Novel Writing Month or a news piece, I need to get the ideas out of my head without care for pretty prose or polished grammar. I know the do’s and don’ts of writing, have access to many style guides, and generally know what I am doing or who to go to for help. This helps me focus on getting words in a document without judgement. And then, methodically, I revise. Others prefer to make everything perfect as they write, revising a paragraph before writing the next or smoothing out grammatical errors before writing the conclusion. It’s a matter of knowing your style. The writer who had the cleanest first drafts I'd ever seen took the latter approach.
Even after you do your best to reduce errors, don’t be distressed if you still have problems. Becoming a better writer is a skill, and if writers were perfect 100 percent of the time, editors wouldn’t be in necessary.
The best kind of editor gives constructive feedback that can help you develop your writing. I learned most of my journalism writing on the job as I do not have a journalism degree. I had to correct mistakes in my stories and learned to pay attention to details. I’d get chewed out if I kept making the same errors, and I was constantly advised to “read the AP stylebook.” Although the criticism was sometimes severe, it made me a better writer. It also helped improve my first drafts to a point where some things became automatic and over time required less editing. I can't say the same for my fiction writing. Eventually, (hopefully?) it will get to that point.
Writing brings joy to many, but it’s also difficult at times. Sometimes it’s tough and you want to give up. You doubt if you’ll ever improve. It’s often like learning a language — tedious and a lifelong quest with no end. There’s always opportunity for growth and there’s always something new to master. More than likely your first draft (and second) will need revision. It’s a long and frustrating road, especially for writers trying to learn the craft. With each new piece I write, revise, or get feedback on, I think about how to use that information to become better. When I acknowledge that the process, though sometimes frustrating, is essential to a great product I relax a little before plunging into the chaos. I learn to love the process. I take better care to do well, and I never turn in a first draft.
