Why You Struggle With Your Draft

By Don Watkins

Photo by christopher lemercier on Unsplash

Nothing is more magical than having the near-perfect draft pour out of you. But why doesn’t that happen every single time?

I’ve been thinking about this in conjunction with a project I’m working on where I feel like I have to struggle for every single word of the draft, and where after three hours I’m left with at best a few worthy lines plus a mess I know will mostly end up in the garbage. 

When we draft, we are using our subconscious to execute on directives set by our conscious mind. And there are really only three things that can sabotage that process.

Purpose. Your subconscious can only feed you material as good as the conscious assignment you give it. 

This is why outlining is so important. When you outline, you set your overall purpose (the theme or basic idea you want to communicate to your audience) and the sub-purposes required to achieve that overall purpose (the logical progression of points that will add up to your theme). 

When we find ourselves unable to draft it’s often because we’re not actually clear on what we’re trying to establish at that point in the piece—or in the piece as a whole. 

The solution is to set aside the draft and go back to your outline and make sure it has clear cut assignments you feel competent to execute on. 

Judgment. When you judge what your subconscious feeds you as it’s feeding you, you paralyze yourself. You’re giving yourself an impossible assignment: not to communicate an idea but “communicate it perfectly.” Good luck with that. 

To draft you have to write from a completely non-judgmental place. Here’s how Ayn Rand puts it in the Art of Non-Fiction:

When you write, be as conceited as you can be—“conceit” is not the right word, but I want to overstate the point. You must have total self-esteem. Leave your self-doubts behind when you sit down to write—and pick them up again, if you wish, during the process of editing. Sometimes your writing will give you reason to feel some self-doubt afterward (but this should be temporary, if you are disappointed in what you read the next day). But while you are writing, you must be God’s perfect creature (if there was a God). Regard yourself as an absolute, sovereign consciousness. Forget that man is fallible and you might make mistakes. That is true, but it is for the next day, when you edit.

Notice Rand’s point about editing. To be able to draft with non-judgment you need to have confidence in your ability to fix the draft in editing. You can be completely free with the draft because you know—really know—that no matter what a train wreck it is, you can improve it later.

Ignorance. Sometimes you have a great outline, you’re able to write without judgment, but you still end up stuck. This inevitably means that you don’t have the knowledge you need to execute on your outline.

My journalism teacher used to say that you should know 10x what actually goes into your story. That’s a good rule of thumb. 

Writing is communication and that presupposes you understand the idea you want to communicate. 

Even if you understand the overall point you’re trying to make, however, there can still be subpoints or examples that come up where your subconscious just doesn’t have the data. 

For example, I recently needed to describe the supply chain for bread (don’t ask), which is definitely not something I knew. So I had to set aside the draft, do some research, make some notes, and then return to the draft.

One tactic here that’s helpful is “TK.” Unless the thing you don’t understand is really central to your piece, it’s best not to interrupt your drafting every time you need to research or think through a point or word choice. Just put TK (old writer speak for “to come”), and when you’re done with the draft go back and fill in the missing pieces.

Okay, now get drafting, and let me know how it goes.