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?