First drafts are a pain. I say that with conviction. I have been stymied for years by blank pages and a whirling mind, unable to start. Yet, somehow, the first drafts I write are often what I turn in for my classes. What is meant to say ‘look, an attempt was made’ becomes instead ‘here are my thoughts, this should work.’
Anne Lamott’s Shitty First Drafts and Renee Long’s Why I Reject the Idea of Shitty First Drafts (And What I Do Instead) are in direct opposition to each other. I, for one, fall on Long’s side. Long assigns a sense of anger and upset to Lamott’s idea. Whether or not Lamott meant for it to be or realizes it’s there, it is. I, too, picked up on that subtle vibe. Why would I, someone who likes writing, want to write something “shitty”?
It’s a Matter of Process
Part of it comes down to process. Lamott views her process as letting “this childlike part of you channel whatever voices and visions come through and onto the page.” It is inherently messy to her, because her mind is messy. What she needs to write is an allowance for chaos. See, an attempt was made, she can tell herself after, and she takes that and refines it like molten glass.
Long, on the other hand, takes the first draft as an opportunity to nurture. Her process is to look for what can grow, to take those first words and cradle them gently while cracking them open. Long shows deep respect for writing. “…no one really wants to think of their creativity as shit.” she proclaims, shoving the idea that first drafts are meant to be bad far away. Gardening is messy, but one doesn’t disparage the dirt for being dirt.
Where I Fall
For my count, my writing is akin to a forced rhubarb stalk or farmed eel. My ideas run in my head as I get them in order, and I don’t start writing until I have a mental outline. On purpose, I don’t write shitty first drafts. The words are already clean before they leave my head. Internalizing this process makes things more difficult for me, true. I don’t discount this. My saying ‘an attempt was made’ is often comparable to fourth or fifth drafts from others. I do my editing mentally.
The first drafts I’ve turned in are first drafts only in the sense that it’s the first time I’ve put pen to paper. However, my words have already been sanitized and replaced and pruned dozens of times. Yet I lose whole papers easily – often what gets typed is not where I started in the slightest. First drafts have merit, though I maintain they are a skill. Perhaps this is a skill that I, one day, will master properly.
For further in depth discussions, see: https://eng2020.chrisfriend.us/blog/category/process/first-drafts/
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