There are a few habits that I picked up early in my writing journey that I’ve hung onto, and one of them is not letting anyone see my first drafts. I certainly don’t believe this is something that all writers should do/have to do, and I know many choose to workshop their first drafts of scenes or chapters with other writers.
But here are the reasons why I choose to keep mine private:
It’s not done baking.
To me, letting others read my first drafts feels a bit like taking a half-baked cake out of the oven and serving it to guests. There are very few people who want to eat a cake that isn’t yet finished. (Cookie dough . . . that’s another story.)
I don’t want others reading something I wrote that I know isn’t my best. Maybe that points to a pride issue, and I’m sure that’s part of it. But as the creator, I can see hidden potential in the story that isn’t obvious in the first draft. I don’t want others to read it until I’ve had a chance to bring as much potential forward as I’m able.
I need to focus.
The reason I initially stopped letting others see my first drafts is because Stephen King advises in his book On Writing to write the first draft with “the door closed.” He says:
The door closes the rest of the world out; it also serves to close you in and keep you focused on the job at hand.
On Writing, Stephen King
Focusing on the job of finishing the novel rather than posting it online or sharing it with friends was critical for me learning the discipline of reaching The End.
I make early feedback about me, not about the story.
In high school, I used to pass first drafts of chapters to my friends looking for their “honest feedback.”
What I really wanted was their praise and reassurance that the story was amazing. But this put me in a no-win position. If I got the praise, a side-effect was that I also got a big head along with it, which isn’t ideal for writing. If I didn’t get the praise, I felt deeply discouraged and didn’t write either.
It puts too many cooks in the kitchen.
The other thing that would happen in high school when I was allowing my chapters to get passed all over the place is I was getting loads of conflicting feedback.
Lauren loved the Love Triangle.
Janette hated the Love Triangle.
Christina loved Character A but hated Character B.
Suzanna thought Character B was fine, but Character A was annoying.
And I would go back to my story with all this conflicting feedback buzzing in my head. I lost track of what I had originally envisioned for the story and started trying to write a story that would equally please all my different friends.
If you’ve had any experience with trying to make everybody happy, you know that the result tends to be that nobody is happy. I learned that I am my story’s first reader, and as such, I must love it first.
Critique partners will catch the mistakes that I’m capable of finding on my own, instead of the ones that I’m not.
This is a big one for me. On the few occasions that I have shown a first draft to a critique partner, they understandably get bogged down with clunky dialogue, undeveloped side characters, and confusing scene transitions.
These are all things I can find and fix on my own. Not 100% of course, but a lot of it. And there are things that I have trouble spotting on my own that I need my critique partners to catch, but they can only see them if they’re not having to dig through junky craft issues in my first draft.
There are lots of writers who share their first drafts with writing groups or critique partners. If you’re one of them, I’d love to hear the other side of this. Why is it beneficial for you? Why do you continue to do it?
If you also don’t share your first drafts, is it for reasons on this list, or additional reasons?
I so agree with this. I have never shown a first draft to anyone . . . until this time NaNo. A friend and I decided to swap NaNo novels. I feel this naNo novel is the cleanest first draft I’ve ever written. But it’s still cringe-worthy. I was probably foolish to share, but oh well ;D
I don’t think it means you were foolish, Keturah. Like I said, there are lots of writers who think it’s valuable to get feedback as early as possible in the process. You may find you love the experience!
I guess we shall see! Haha. But glad you don’t think I was foolish ;D
I’ve wobbled back and forth on this a little; a lot depends on which story I’m drafting and which readers are seeing it. My little sisters happen to be very encouraging betas. 🙂 One piece of advice that’s worked really well for me (in the last month, haha) is to not tell anyone what happens in the story until you’ve actually written it.
That’s great advice, Megan. I think it’s so sweet that you can share your stories with your sister!
You make some very good points. I don’t usually show a first draft to anyone either unless I really need help to figure things out.
I do think there are god reasons to, Ashley. Like you said, sometimes you just need some outside perspective on a specific piece of the story.
I typically don’t share my first drafts either 🙂
For me, whether or not I share a first draft depends on the story. If I’m super excited about a story, I’m likely to share it with my best friend and my sister so I have someone to share my excitement with. If it’s just another story and I have an average excitement level, I’ll likely just keep it to myself and finish it.
Sharing first drafts has a couple of benefits. Firstly, a reader’s excitement and anticipation can give me extra motivation to keep writing. Secondly, if I get stuck on something and don’t know how to move forward, I can bounce ideas off of someone who’s familiar with the story, whether I end up needing their ideas or just the sounding board.
In general I only share my first drafts with my sister and/or my best friend (although on one of my more recent projects I also have a less close alpha reader), so I trust them to not nitpick things. They’re more of a cheer squad than critique partners. XD And I’m pretty confident in my writing after years of writing without letting people see my work, and way more recent projects that haven’t seen readers than have, so I can let people read my work without worrying about whether their feedback is going to conflict and I’m going to mess up my story trying to please everyone. (Which is interesting to me, because in a lot of things I’m very much a people-pleaser, so it’s a little odd that I don’t generally have trouble turning down feedback that doesn’t fit my ideas for my writing.)
So yeah. For me it depends, and in my experience it’s had more upsides than drawbacks.
What a great point. Having those cheerleaders can be VERY motivating. I’m glad you’ve found a balance that works for you, R.M.!
I don’t share first drafts. I need to know nobody is ever going to see what I write, otherwise I will censure myself and I will write ‘safe’. If I don’t close the door, I am only worrying about what others will think of it and my writing will suffer.
YES! That’s a big one that I left off the list. The freedom that comes with knowing nobody will see my first draft is what enables me to get words on the page. I’m so glad you said that!
In the past, I’ve never let anyone read my first drafts. For all the reasons you mentioned! With my current WIP, though, I felt like I was really needing help. It was my first MS in a few years, and I needed some feedback to help refresh my writerly memory so to speak:).
That makes a lot of sense to me, Katie. I think I would also want early feedback in that circumstance. I hope it goes well!
I don’t share my first drafts because I don’t have ‘first drafts’. I’ve only ever written one, and that’s the one I’m currently working on, which I don’t want to share yet. Not till I stop finding problems to fix on my own, lol.