Shitty First Drafts
Shitty First Drafts - Kelly Barnes
Like others, in my past English classes, I was taught to create different drafts when I was writing an essay. Mainly, I was taught to have a rough draft and a final draft. The rough, first draft shouldn't be perfect, but it should still be solid and professional sounding. However, Lamott's Shitty First Drafts seemed to preach the opposite. Writing is a process, just like any other creative endeavor. A painter doesn't create beauty with the first brush stroke, just like how a writer doesn't create a masterpiece with their first paragraph. It takes time to get there, so the first draft shouldn't be expected to be perfect. Take your time, write whatever comes to mind, and take your jumbled thoughts in your first draft to create something noteworthy in your other drafts.
This was an informative and helpful passage to read; I typically feel pressured when I'm writing for my first words to be nothing but masterful, but writing doesn't work like that. It's good to know that I can have a shitty first draft but still be able to transform it into something noteworthy later on in the writing process.
I agree that this passage was definitely helpful. It's nice to know that even if you start with a poor first draft you can change it into something decent.
ReplyDeleteI was also taught that the "rough draft" should be professional sounding with only a few errors which would be fixed by the final draft. I was surprised about the change of that writing process when I was reading the article.
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