Assalaamu alaikum Reader,

First drafts always get such a bad rep — A vomit draft. Bad. Crappy. Terrible. Just google “first draft quotes” and you’ll see so many writers and authors talking about first drafts in this way.

I get that a first draft will never be perfect. But is a final draft ever perfect?

And more to the point: Does not being perfect mean they have to be so terrible that we need to describe first drafts in this way?

But I do get it. So many writers I know have that feeling of ugh this is no good when they go back and re-read their first drafts. I’ve felt that way too.

But unless we reframe the way we think about first drafts, that feeling will keep coming back with every draft that we write. And what’s the point of writing if it sucks you into a cycle of despair and feeling terrible about yourself and your writing abilities?

I love writing a first draft. My experience of a first draft has always been so much more than ‘this is garbage.’ Not because I’m a ‘gifted’ or ‘talented’ writer, but because I see a first draft as the place where I discover what I want to write about.

If you're writing fiction, a first draft is where you meet new characters and discover what haunts them. It’s where you write words, one after another after another, and you don’t know where they came from and where they will lead you. It’s where scenes show up on the page and characters do things and say things that you didn’t plan for them.

The experience is the same even if you’re writing memoir or creative non-fiction. Old memories resurface. You remember details that you thought you had forgotten. New insights and reflections reveal themselves to you. Connections form where they didn’t exist before.

None of this can happen unless you write that first draft, unless you sit down and say to yourself: Write whatever is coming up, and just keep going.

A first draft will always needs to go through a process of revision, and sometimes that process can be long and circuitous. But we can appreciate that first drafts are works-in-progress without resorting to labelling them as trash.

There might be many scenes and sentences in that first draft that don’t make it to the final draft. But that’s okay, because it’s that first draft that got you there.

You know that saying, the journey of a 1000 miles begins with a single step? It’s the same with writing.

Without a first draft, there is no story, there is no final draft, there is no book.

Every book that you love started out as a first draft. A first draft where the writer, even if they thought it was terrible, was able to recognize its potential and see all the beautiful bits they could carry into future drafts, into the book that you now hold in your hands.

So honour your first drafts. Infuse the process of writing them with gratitude and awe. Your writing experience will be so much more joyful because of it.

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With best wishes & duas for your writing,

Hajera

How I can support you in your writing:

✍🏽 Transform your writing by learning craft and getting my feedback on your stories: Join me inside Grounded Writers, a creative writing membership for Muslim women.

📖 Find fiction intimidating and not sure how to go from writing about your life to writing fictional stories? It's easier than you think. Take my Ease Into Fiction course.

📞 Struggling with your writing and need some guidance from someone who has been where you are now? Book a call with me and get advice that works for you and gets you feeling excited about your writing again.​