My first ever attempt at writing happened at age thirteen when I was introduced into the world of fanfiction. Imagine, I could legally write about established characters within a narrative of my own making– creating a new character from scratch wouldn’t be necessary or an obstacle I’d need to overcome, though it was one that excited me. For a green writer, it was like dipping my toe into a freezing cold sea of knowledge and creativity, testing the waters before being confident enough to dive in.
My first fanfiction was Dracula. Not the 2000 version or even Van Helsing; I’m talking Bram Stoker’s Dracula. I knew the German musical and the movie version at that time. Later on I found different interpretations of the musical in English, and I’ve watched parts of the Japanese and Korean theatrical interpretations.
Needless to say, I felt confident enough that I wanted to attempt a short story concerning Dracula as my first step in my writing journey.
It sucked. Majorly. I still remember that yellow notebook I wrote it in. Stiff, unnatural dialogue, bare descriptions, no discernible plot. I had no idea what I was doing, honestly speaking.
But without that stepping stone, I wouldn’t be here writing this.
I like to think I’ve improved quite a bit over fifteen years with trial-and-error in my free time alongside graduating as a Creative Writing and English major. The majors I took are well-known for their heavy writing aspects (essays and workshops galore) so I have gone through many first drafts of different kinds.
So, what’s the first mistake writers make with first drafts?
- Not starting one.
Yeah, you heard me. Thinking about writing it, fantasizing about the characters, the plot, the development… but when it comes to it, and you’re sitting before a computer (or if you’re more into the pen-and-paper way like I used to!) and staring down a blank page. I remember in an English class that I needed to write something for it, and I was frozen at the beginning as no words seemed to come… then this came out of my frustration.
It jump-started the words again.
→ Writer Tip!←
When faced with a blank page, take your emotion and put it into words. Then
begin writing what you initially wanted to write. Let me know if it works for you!
As the saying goes, you can edit a bad page, but you can’t edit a blank one.
- Thinking it needs to be perfect.
First drafts are meant to suck. They’re meant to be filled to the brim with plot holes the size of Jupiter, for characters to not be entirely 3-D yet, for misspellings galore, and for you to look back and go I should never show anyone else this.
First drafts are meant to be a guideline for the novel, or whatever piece of media you are creating. It is meant to be a path to understanding what you originally wanted to show.
My current psychological thriller Behind Closed Doors went through many, many drafts before it’s become what it is today. I’ve lost count of how many revisions it has gone through over the years. The first draft of this novel? It was completely different– different characters, different plotlines, different antagonists. But without that first draft, it wouldn’t be in the hands of a professional editor now!
- Too much on-the-nose writing.
This phrase is something I’ve learned from author Jerry Jenkins. On-the-nose writing pertains to writing out literally everything a character does in agonizing detail.
For example, let’s say the scene is a character inside their house and someone rings their doorbell. Readers wouldn’t need a step-by-step of every movement a person would take to answer the door: getting up from their chair or couch, walking across their living room, checking the peephole, twisting the doorknob, and then greeting the person and letting them in. They would need: “Character A answers the door.”
- Lack of Show, don’t tell.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, something I am guilty of, is the lack of show, don’t tell. It’s heard often in the writing community, especially with writers just beginning their journey.
Show, don’t tell.
→ Writer Tip!←
Show emotions, tell feelings.
It was the biggest flaw in my first ever fanfiction. I told a lot of details, albeit the details were lacking. Setting and character development are very important key details within a first draft. If there’s no setting, the characters float in space. Things come out of nowhere and important key elements seem to come out of left field. Characters are what drives the plot forward and their development is shown throughout the narrative by the things they do, say, and believe. Without it, characters fall flat, are not relatable, or don’t feel realistic. Plots fall through. Frustration builds, and eventually drafts get abandoned.
A tip I’ve learned over the years is to write out a list of the five senses— touch, taste, sight, smell, hear— and write down descriptions with each one based on the scene I struggle with writing at that particular moment. What does the setting look like? Put anything you can think of under sight. What noises are happening during the scene? That goes under hear. When you’ve filled out all of them with as many descriptions as you can think of, you can then pick and choose which details matter the most as the scene plays out.
- Stopping mid-way when writer’s block rears its ugly head.
Raise of hands, how many of you writers out there have battled with writer’s block and lost?
*raises hand*
There are many drafts sitting in my WIP folder never to see the light of day again due to my brain short-circuiting on the first drafts.
And for writers and published authors, there is an ongoing debate about whether or not writer’s block exists. Is it an excuse for us writers to not continue pursuing a particular draft because of imposter syndrome, or is it something that actually blocks us from continuing our works of art?
Write down in the comments– Writer’s block: what’s your take?
→ Writer Tip!←
When you have two pieces of writing within the same scene and you have an idea of what needs to happen but can’t find the words at that moment for the flow, use [blocks like this] to write into the space what is supposed to happen and then continue on.
- Inconsistent Voice, Tone, or Style.
When a piece, especially a first draft of anything, has anything inconsistent regarding the point of view, the tone, the voice or style, it’s noticeable. It gets distracting, and can potentially confuse you later down the line when the first draft is revisited and you wonder to yourself if you meant to be humorous or horrified with a character’s predicament.
It’s based on the context of your story. The story happens to your protagonist, right; at its basic level: what does your protagonist want, what is the reason they cannot get it at the beginning, and what are they willing to do to get it?
→ Writer Tip!←
Word choices matter for consistency. When a character cries dejectedly or
mournfully into another character’s shoulder, it is jarring when readers learn
after that the second character is happily pregnant and it’s intended by the
author for it to be a happy occasion. Of course, context here is important: if
Character A is upset about it, why?
- Underdeveloped Characters.
Readers want to root for the protagonist, more often than not. Some root for the antagonist, and some root for the morally gray characters.
No judgement here; we at Midnight Muse love morally gray characters.
→ Writer Tip!←
When creating characters, figure out their why. What is the motivation that
pushes them to do what they do?
In first drafts of writing (particularly fiction manuscripts) characters are what makes the story. The protagonist is who readers will read, emphasize, and root for— or against, in some cases. In first drafts, it’s important that the fundamentals of at least the protagonist and the antagonist (or obstacle) are explored in detail, so in future revisions these fundamental traits and skills can be further developed and explored within the context of the narrative of the revised storyline.
Underdeveloped characters leave readers feeling unfulfilled. If a character has something happen to them, like a car accident, it’s tragic, but if the character shows no concern or interest, it rubs into the reader: if this character doesn’t care, why should I?
Now, what if this character found out this car accident concerned their spouse and child and both were taken to the hospital in an ambulance shortly after? What if said character was on the edge of divorce with this spouse, but didn’t outright hate them, just couldn’t live with them anymore? The character’s reaction to this can have readers on the edge of their seats, thinking: oh god, I hope these characters are okay! Will this save the marriage? Would it make it worse?
When characters care about something intensely, readers will also care about whether or not the character either keeps it, strives for it, or strives to lose something in order to gain it.
- Ignoring basic grammar rules and mechanics.
I can hear it already…Allie, it’s the first draft! It’s meant to suck, like you said! Including the grammar; no one’s gonna see it!
First of all, fair point.
It is a first draft, and it is unique to each writer’s journey.
I do want to state this: completely disregarding grammar can make it difficult later on for context, intended voice, and style to be cleaned up and polished, regardless if it’s for personal enjoyment or if it’s intended for publishing.
Run-on sentences help with the stream of consciousness, but in hindsight, it can be hard to distinguish where exactly periods, commas, and semicolons should go. If the piece goes through the hands of an editor to be looked at, having comma splices, out-of-place quotations, inconsistent capitalization, and the like can make it difficult not only for an editor to follow along with the story, but for potential beta readers.
- Head Hopping…Switching of POVS
Point of view is a stylistic choice writers make because it can say many things about a piece or a manuscript. There is a reason certain point of views trend so heavily, or are expected, in certain genres of fiction due to its audience. Romance, for example, is often written in the female protagonist’s first person viewpoint. Dark Romance alternates chapters between both love interests in their personal point of view. Likewise, in fantasy genres, third person is often the poison of choice considering the many plotlines coinciding with each other throughout the narration.
I remember in my early fanfiction days, head hopping– constantly moving between different characters’ first person point-of-views at random– hindered the story more than it helped. Of course, it was for personal use at the time. Once I decided going down a publishing path, I knew head hopping wouldn’t fly for keeping a storyline consistent and understandable for readers in my chosen genres of writing.
I’m not saying never head-hop, but there is a strategic method to pulling it off. Dividing it up by chapters, for example, and writing in the character’s name at the top of a new page helps keep everything organized. That is the standard method, though I’m certain there are other methods to head-hopping that help the storylines various authors need for their novels. I am saying for a first draft, it is difficult to accomplish if there is no structure for the head-hopping to occur naturally.
My current novel Behind Closed Doors features a protagonist with Dissociative Identity Disorder— a mental condition in which a person never got a chance to have their identity fused as one whole personality due to childhood trauma, resulting in separated states of consciousness called alters— from a first person point-of-view. Because of its psychological nature, many writers and authors who write characters with this condition do so in the third person to avoid the feeling of head-hopping and confusion for their readers. I have decided to write Behind Closed Doors from one alter’s first person point-of-view despite the potential confusion of my future readers to make a point— this condition at its core can be unintentionally chaotic.
And that first draft was very chaotic with the head-hopping.
- Not understanding the main theme or message.
Many stories, regardless of how short or long they are, usually have a message or theme attached to it. At least one. While there are readers out there that read purposely for escapism and nothing else, there are many who read for a purpose: to learn, to discover, to understand, to emphasize, to hate, to love.
There are popular novels out there that have an intended message that the author has stated outside of its narration, and readers and critics alike viewed an entirely different message than what the author meant to portray. Case in point: 50 Shades of Grey by EL James. Another good example is the After series by Anna Todd.
Now, if you are a fan of either author, that is okay. I am not here to bash these authors on their novels, but rather to point them out as examples: there is a certain level of tact needed to portray what you intend with your story when there is a bigger audience to consider outside your friend group, your writing group, or your editors and beta readers.
What you intend as a message may not always be what comes across.
Writing a first draft of your manuscript will be easier when you understand what message you want to bring to the table. What is it you want to say to the world through your narrative? What do you think should be better or could be better with the world? What themes are meant to be explored and analyzed, and what is the purpose of the exploration?
With all this said, first drafts are meant to exist. It is how we as writers and authors grow and hone our craft. It is how we learn our voices, our style, our purpose of why we write. It does not have to be perfect, and in the end, all these points are merely guidelines rather than steadfast rules.
Let me know which point resonated with you the most, dear readers and authors, and also leave down in the comments any tips you have in writing first drafts!
Till next time, this is Allie signing off!
