Writing Crap

"The first draft of anything is sh*t."
                                                      -- Ernest Hemingway.

Writing crap is important.

It just is. Almost everyone will write crap if they are serious about writing, mainly because as they write, they grow better and better. Their beginning works are crap.

This is especially important during this month due to NaNoWriMo. We have to get 50K, and that means we don't have time to edit, look over things, etc. So what do we do?

We write crap.

We don't edit and we don't look things over when we draft; especially when we draft in November for NaNo. And it hurts. It hurts me, at least.

One of my biggest fears is that my MS will be turn out to be a whopper and I will have a hard time editing it down to a decent word count -- much like the first time I wrote this MS. I don't want that to happen and it's hurting my writing flow; sometimes I'm scared to even write. The solution?

I write crap.

The best magic happens in the editing phase. In drafting, we just need something to work with -- we can't sculpt without the marble. The marble block is our first draft in whatever shape or form it is. We can carve out our masterpieces from these blocks, but we need the block to begin with. It does not matter if the block is enormous, or a bit bumpy -- we can carve the crap away.

It's important especially in the drafting stage, because this stage is all about creativity and flow. Drafting will require all the ideas you have, so why hold back? You can get rid of the crap while editing.

Acknowledging the fact that you can and should write crap is freeing, as is the idea of not taking your first draft seriously. I need this message stamped into my brain, because I keep getting chills at the thought of a Dickens-sized novel on my computer. I need to keep my draft creative and fun, and I can't take myself seriously -- at least when I draft. Wish me luck.

Have you faced this problem?