Writing doesn’t have to be perfect first time.
But brain surgery does.
Novelist Robert Cormer has said, “The beautiful part of writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.”
Sometimes when the writing gets tough the road underfoot is heavy, and it does seems like you’re trying to wade through treacle with flippers on.
So when you write your next piece, try a new approach. Try building a prototype instead.
By doing this, and then testing it, (like all good manufacturers should before going to market) you’ll be sure of a better, stronger, more improved and ‘crunchier’ version of the final product.
You know what I mean don’t you?
I mean draft the piece first.
If you take my suggestion now, draft something, quick and dirty. No corrections, no spell check, use any and all the possible words without filtering, just get it down.
A draft really is a prototype. It’s not the final version that you’ll publish or send for approval.
A prototype isn’t written for the reader, it’s written for the writer. It allows you to get something down on paper (or keyboard) to test out your ideas and see if they work. To see if they flow together and do what you want them to do as a team.
Do you think Henry Ford came up with the Model T Ford the first time? No way. I’m sure there were many modifications along the design route (all still in black though), that changed the way it worked, looked and felt to the final user.
Use this premise for the way your write. Prototype it first.
There is no such thing as writing, just re-writing.
Get comfortable with the thought of getting it wrong (meaning, not perfect) first time.
Don’t correct anything in your prototype. It’s a test model remember? It’s written to test. It’s written to see if it does what you planned it to do.
Then the work starts. Enter the testing phase.
What do you think? Will this prototype approach work for you – let us know in the comments.
If you enjoyed this post, you can get the Word Swords blog content sent straight to your email inbox for FREE.
We promise never to share, trade, sell or market your email address in any way.
Subscribe now
IT’S THAT EASY
Image: Stock.xchng user adamci
This is fantastic advice. When you’re a professional in a field it is very easy to allow perfectionism to stifle creativity and natural flow. As a software developer, I am equally (perhaps even more fruitlessly as few people ever read the final code) prone to this – the more experienced you become the greater the risk of second guessing and ‘finessing’ everything to make it better.
The best way to tackle this as you describe is to rapidly brain dump to build the initial scaffolding of your project so that you have something to *make* perfect.
I think its also the adoption of the idea that you are creating a ‘prototype’. I know its only a word, but somehow it places the work in a slightly differnt space than either a draft or jotting down ideas….. prototypes are made to be broken, so its OK if what you do doesn’t work. In contrast, a draft subtley infers that its close to being looked at. I like to think of it as Prototype – test – Rewrite – test – Draft – test – Edit – test – Produce. (Mind you there can be many iterations between the prototype and the production sample).