First Drafting Basics - Changes

Stuff's going to change. So be prepared.

*cues that stupid goat song from Hoodwinked*

My rule #1 for writing a draft is don't stop don't stop don't stop.

Change a name? Don't bother going back, just change it in edits and write with the new name.

Change the plot? Ditto.

I used to get stuck in the endless spiral of "rewriting the first two chapters over and over and over and over" so I can't let myself go back.

So what do you do?

Easy. Create an additional document or get a notepad or if you've got a fancy word processor like Scrivener use one of its neat features.

Now, whenever you're knee-deep in a draft and discover something needs to change, you can just open that doc or notebook and scribble it down as a reminder. Then keep writing as if the changes were put into place. Everything previously written can be changed later.

If you jump to Google to search something, you could easily get sucked into Pinterest or YouTube or something. So also create a list of things to look up after the draft is finished.

This is a good plan - to a point.

I'll be honest. There are some things you do need to stop and research. And sometimes you really do have to completely trash a draft and start over at the beginning.

But part of finishing a draft is not getting sucked into endless re-writes of a scene or (even worse) end up distracted on the internet without writing a thing.

And there you have it.

A few quick tips to starting your first draft. Helpful? Anyone else write this way? Tried anything like this? Prefer something better! Let's talk first drafts!