Drafts. No matter how awesome your writing is, you’re going to need to do at least two. If you send an agent or publisher your first draft then don’t be suprised if you get it back again.

If you send an agent a rough draft don’t be suprised if they commit an act of violence against you.

In f act you shouldn’t be showing anyone a rough draft. The first incarnation of your book is purely to get your book out onto paper. You can’t edit nothing, but more often than not the rough draft is so you can find out what the ending is.

If you’re one of the talented few who can edit as they go then i still recommend treating your first run through as a rough draft and having another look at it once you’re done. You’ll be amazed what you can pick up on with a fresh look at your own work.

A word of warning though; even though you need to be tough on yourself with grammar and spelling, don’t be to tough on yourself about the overall quality. My first two books stalled because I took at my rough draft and despaired at the poor writing. With my current book I’ve been determined to think: “That’s terrible, I can change it…” instead of “That’s terrible, I don’t deserve to eat…”.

I’m finishing off my rough draft in the next few days, 10,000 words to go (roughly). Once I have a full draft to edit I’ll go into more detail on what we’re looking for in our first draft.

Time to get back to writing. Good luck with your work. Get it done!

Tags: advice, edit, editing