Process
6
Brandi Bain, Aliani Hawkins, Zarrar Nashman
Throughout your career, you have always been told to write a rough draft, but have you been taught how to write one? Most people have figured out the basic idea of brainstorming and planning out your rough draft. Once you have finished your first rough draft, you then go back and edit it until it has reached your perception of perfection. It may even take two or three rough drafts until you are fully satisfied with your work. However, what may be unknown is that there is a great deal of ways that you can go about writing a first rough draft. There is no set way to write a rough draft, although, it is important to keep a mind open to new ideas.
Learning Objectives
- Understand how a “shitty first draft” can lead to high-quality writing.
- Consider how time (like pausing and slowing down) affects writing.
- Connect brainstorming with later phases of the writing process.
- Distinguish between productive delays and stops and those that are unhelpful.
Key Terms
- First draft: a version of something written or drawn (as an essay, document, or plan) that has or will have more than one version
- Brainstorming:a technique of solving specific problems, amassing information, stimulating creative thinking, developing new ideas, etc.
- Situational Variables: factors that change or affect the results of a study
- Iteration: the repetition of a process
- Looping: following a course to form a loop
- Writers Block: the loss of ability to produce writing/words
- Algorithm: a strict set of rules used to formulate a specific set of answers to a problem
- Heuristics: simple but efficient rules used to formulate a more general answer to a problem
It’s Okay to Have a Shitty First Draft
There are many ways to write a rough draft. Only you know what the best method for you is. If you do not know what works best for you, try this method: the shitty first draft. Through this method, you simply write your first draft by writing down whatever comes to mind. This draft can be as messy as possible and can contain shorthand or phrases that only you will understand. When using this method there is no right or wrong way in creating your first draft. In Anne Lamott’s “Shitty First Drafts” article, she states that this is the “child’s draft,” where you “let it all pour out and then let it romp all over the place.” This is the child’s draft because you write for the intention of no one else but you yourself. You can let the child within you run free and write down whatever you want. This method enables you to see the “mess” that you wrote down, and if you find different lines or phrases that you love, you can take them and then create a story around it. By doing this, it allows for you to have a free imagination.
Lamott’s purpose is to dispel the notion that great writers write a masterpiece immediately and effortlessly. Writers do not just sit down at their computer feeling confident and inspired. Even though she had fears that