How to Get Into the Habit Of Writing Awfully

Defeat the Blank Page

When people talk about movies it’s not uncommon to hear the term ‘movie magic,’ today it seems like every other superhero movie and Michael Bay explosion-fest is created in the editing instead of the filming itself. The funny thing is that’s how it’s done for writing as well.

When it comes to writing advice there aren’t many people whose opinion you should hold over Terry Pratchett’s.

The first draft to me has always been a bit of a hollow shell. Personally, I write very heavily with lots of unnecessary words and not as much story progression as there should be. That’s fine because when you’re writing the first draft I’m not trying to get it perfect, I’m trying to get words onto the page and give myself some kind of idea of where the story is going.

The worst thing you can do as a writer is fret over every single word or phrase, you’ll spend more time sitting staring at the screen than actually writing. My first drafts are always embarrassing, it looks like something twelve-year-old me would be embarrassed by, but you know what? That’s fine. I can happily write 2500 awful words in a couple of hours because it gives me plenty of time to edit it into something respectable.

Editing is where all the real work is done. Even the best writers who write detailed plans well in advance will find themselves making changes part-way through because of how the story flows. Brandon Sanderson plans all of his stories well in advance, even books in advance! And yet he still uses the second draft to change the personalities of some of his characters.

So it’s important you don’t beat yourself up if you don’t create a masterpiece on the first attempt, no one ever does. All that matters is actually getting the words down onto the page. You can edit something awful, but nothing can be done to make a blank page anymore interesting if you’re not able to write.

Many people have issues with writing bad words, even as they put them down onto the page they beat themselves up about it. There’s always that little voice in the back of your head…

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