I am sure everyone who reads this knows what a first draft is, it’s something we all learn in elementary school and reinforce throughout high school. It’s the very rough draft of an essay or paper where the writer just throws everything they are thinking to a blank screen or paper so they can later edit and revise with other drafts until a level of perfection is achieved. It is also one of the most annoying aspects of writing there is, some teachers even impose grades on it as though it was your final draft, which is ludicrous.
George Dila, “RETHINKING THE SHITTY FIRST DRAFT,” is someone who finds the idea of rough drafts ridiculous and not something that is set in stone for any writers. He compares writing to building a house, no construction worker will just build a shitty version of the house and spend an ungodly amount of time and effort remaking it until it is perfect. Rather they will check over everything they have done until it is perfect and then go on to the next step and for Mr. Dila that mindset also applies to writing.
Writing is a craft and you don’t start something by going about it in a chaotic and messy manner, you writer and check over it as you go along. Sure, rough drafts are good for writers and may be an invaluable step in their writing process; but that’s the thing their writing process – not mine your anyone else’s. A writer has the liberty to make their writing manifest in how every they want in the steps they feel comfortable taking, not those imposed on them.
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