Overcoming the Stress of Writing the First Draft

by Beth Vogt @BethVogt

“The first draft is just telling yourself the story.”

Terry Pratchett (1948-2015), English fantasy author

We writers tend to stress about our first drafts. 

We overlook both the words “first” and “draft” and expect our preliminary take on our book to somehow appear on the page polished and perfect.

It’s not going to happen, friends. Every writer – fiction or non-fiction, pre-published or published, award-winning or not – produces a needs-to-be-rewritten first draft. 

Feel better yet?

If you don’t, read author Terry Pratchett’s words again: “The first draft is just telling yourself the story.” 

And then determine to remember his wise words the next time you’re writing a first draft.

As we sit down to write our first draft of our romance or steampunk or women’s fiction novel, we need to give ourselves the freedom to tell the story. This is also true if we’re writing a non-fiction book or a Bible study. We need to tell our internal editors to “shush!” and allow ourselves to rediscover this book we think we know so well. That’s what a first draft should be: an act of discovery.

Novelists, we may think we know what our stories are about when we’re finally ready to start writing. After all, we’ve taken the time to develop our characters. We’ve written a synopsis – maybe even a short synopsis and a long synopsis. We may have roughed out our chapters.

But let’s give our stories room to breathe as we write our first drafts. Let’s allow our characters to surprise us. Let’s permit our stories to change if they need to. Sometimes those unexpected changes are the best things that happen to our plotted-out beginnings or middles or endings.   

Non-fiction writers, we need to breathe, too, when we face our first draft. (I’ve written both non-fiction and fiction. I know stress accompanies both types of manuscripts.) 

Oftentimes, there’s a story woven through a nonfiction book. As it’s been said: Remember why you started. Let that truth – not perfection – fuel your first draft. 

Story is a powerful thing. The next time you’re stressing about your first draft, stop for a minute. Remember this is about telling yourself the story – not perfecting it. And then breathe and keep on writing.

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Award-winning author Beth K. Vogt believes God’s best often waits behind the doors marked “Never.” Having authored nine contemporary romance novels and novellas, Beth's first women's fiction novel with Tyndale House Publishers, Things I Never Told You, released May 2018. Moments We Forget, book two in the Thatcher Sisters Series, releases May 2019. An established magazine writer and former editor of the leadership magazine for MOPS International, Beth blogs for Novel Rocket and The Write Conversation and also enjoys speaking to writers group and mentoring other writers. Visit Beth at bethvogt.com.