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10:37 AM

Quote:

"I have never thought of myself as a good writer, but I'm one of the world's great rewriters"
James A. Michner

"first drafts are for learning what your novel is about"
Bernard Malamud

"the first draft is just you telling yourself the story"
Terry Pratchett

"the first draft of anything is shit"
Ernest Hemingway

I was caught up in a discussion with a couple of friends about inspirational writers the other day, and came to the realization that people often get hung up on a mythical notion of what those we admire did to get to their final product, we see only the final product, and in doing so, put incredible strain on ourselves to produce final product quality on our first draft. this is why our heroes are so dangerous. we are told to aspire to what they achieve (and sometimes we aren't told to, but we do anyway). the problem with heroes is we see only their final product. whenever I speak to aspiring writers, their biggest challenge is usually that first paragraph. why? because it won't come out as final product. there is a reason a first draft is called a first draft, but, for whatever reason, most writers want to start off by writing their final draft. of course, it would be easier that way, but it is, unfortunately, an impossible endeavour. this philosophy pans out to inspirators of all fields. just like in writing, our heroes are dangerous in all aspects of life. those people who we aspire to be like can trip us up. we look at the final draft, the final outcome, and we aspire to that. I believe, in many cases, it stops us from writing our first 'ugly' draft. "god knows someone may see it… and then what?" so we believe we have to wait until we are ready to write our final draft and in waiting, do nothing. our heroes should not be final product people, our heroes should be those people who are working on their first draft. I shouldn't admire Joe Abercrombie for the final draft of his book 'The Blade Itself,' I should admire him for the first draft of that story, the red-lined version I never got to see. because we don't see our heroes' first draft work, we therefore assume, even if we are told differently, even if we know differently, that everything they do is a final draft. if you are waiting to start a career in criminal forensics, don't use the CSI as source of heroes, they are a final draft product. if you want to write bestseller horror novels, don't aspire to Steven King, he is a final draft product. If you want to be a long winded poster, don't aspire to be me, I am a final draft product. lol, but seriously, I was up at stupid o'clock this morning jotting down some plot ideas for an RP which I'm considering (big emphasis on the 'considering'). that's something to admire, even if I did get side-tracked and wrote this post. anyway, there was alot of first-draft work going on, and that right there, that's the good stuff, the stuff of heroes. I often burn a lot of time working in the first draft world so as to be able to present a final-draft, or a "good enough for the time being" draft product (ironically, I rewrote that particular sentence three times over, and still don't like the end result, so in this instance you get to see first draft quality in a third draft product). heroes should not be admired for the thin-shaky veneer you see, but for their first draft work that you will never see. otherwise, you are doomed! I could never be Joe Abercrombie, but I'll bet I can be the blood, sweat, and tears he puts in behind the scenes. I have a list of things I wished I'd written and the first thing on the list is his 'First Law Trilogy.' if he writes nothing else, he has secured his place in legend. it actually pees me off a little (Jealous!). he writes such fantastical things in his books that it scares the Belieber out of me. of course, I only see his final draft product, and naturally compare it to my first-draft product. my advice, for whichever avenue you take in life, is get your first-draft out. in fact, do a lot of first-drafts, and final drafts will start to appear. but a warning to the wise, never believe that you are your final draft, we are all first draft people, even the person you admire the most ��