Are First Drafts Supposed to Be Bad? (Yes—& That’s Good News)

There’s a moment that nearly every writer knows all too well.

You start your project with a rush of energy and vision. Your characters are vivid in your mind. The story feels electric. You sit down to write and words pour out, maybe for a day, maybe for a week, maybe even longer.

But then something shifts.

You reread what you’ve written and think:

“Wait a minute. This is…bad.”

The dialogue is stiff. The pacing is weird. You’ve repeated yourself. And you’re suddenly unsure if your main character has any motivation at all.

Cue the imposter syndrome. Cue the panic. Cue the blinking cursor of doom.

If you’ve been there, or if you’re in that exact place right now, take a deep breath.

Here’s the truth no one talks about enough:

Your first draft is supposed to be bad.

In fact, it needs to be bad. And understanding that might just be the permission you need to finally finish your book.

The Purpose of a First Draft (It’s Not What You Think)

We often approach writing with the assumption that a draft is a smaller, slightly messier version of a finished book and that once we get the draft down, it just needs a little polishing. A few tweaks. A light dusting of editing fairy dust.

But that’s not how real writing works.

The first draft isn’t your book. It’s the raw material your book will be made from. Think of it like the ingredients before the meal, or a block of marble before it’s chiseled into a sculpture. The real work of crafting a story, shaping it into something powerful, beautiful, and meaningful, happens in revision.

In the first draft, your job isn’t to write well.

It’s to write enough.

Enough for the real story to reveal itself. Enough to see where your characters actually want to go. Enough to recognize what themes are emerging, even if you didn’t plan them.

The first draft is discovery. The second draft is decision. And the final draft is execution.

If you’re trying to make decisions and execute while you’re still discovering? Of course, it’s going to feel like a mess. You’re working against the natural rhythm of the creative process.

Perfectionism Kills Momentum

Let’s talk about perfectionism.

Most writers struggle with it—not because they think they’re perfect, but because they think they should be better than they are.

We tell ourselves things like:

• “I’ve been writing long enough to know better.”

• “Other writers don’t seem to struggle like this.”

• “This shouldn’t be this hard.”

The irony, of course, is that these beliefs don’t make you a better writer. They just keep you stuck.

Perfectionism doesn’t elevate your writing. It freezes it. It stops you from taking risks. It keeps you in the same paragraph for hours, rearranging sentences instead of pushing the story forward. It demands that the work be brilliant before it’s even born.

But writing, especially in its early stages, isn’t about brilliance. It’s about bravery.

It takes courage to write badly.

It takes courage to keep going when the story doesn’t look like it did in your head.

It takes courage to finish something even when you’re not sure it’s good.

Perfectionism will always be waiting in the wings. Your job is not to banish it forever, but to write anyway.

What You Gain When You Let It Be Bad

So, what happens when you stop fighting the mess and just write?

Magic.

Because something powerful occurs when you stop trying to control your words and start listening to them instead.

When you allow yourself to write a bad first draft:

• You write faster. You spend less time agonizing over every sentence and more time building narrative momentum.

• You’re more creative. Without the pressure to be perfect, your imagination has room to stretch. You try weirder things. You explore plot twists you didn’t expect. You surprise yourself.

• You stay connected to the joy of writing. Instead of turning your creative time into a performance review, you rediscover the part of you that just loves telling stories.

• You create material to work with. And that’s what you need most: something you can shape, revise, and improve.

It’s counterintuitive, but the worse your first draft is, the more likely you are to finish it. That’s because you’re not trying to edit while you create—you’re staying in the flow.

You Can’t Edit a Blank Page

Maybe you’ve heard people say this before. It’s obvious, but it’s true.

You can’t improve what you haven’t written. You can’t revise a story you haven’t told. You can’t deepen a character that only exists in your head.

The goal of the first draft is to give yourself something. Anything.

Even if it’s repetitive. Even if it contradicts itself. Even if it’s 70,000 words of chaos and underdeveloped subplots.

Because once it exists outside of your brain and on the page, you can work with it. You can mold it. You can chip away what doesn’t belong and find the real story underneath.

No one ever published their first draft. They published their seventh, or their seventeenth.

But they had to write that first, ugly, imperfect draft to get there.

So, if what you’re writing feels messy and broken? You’re on the right track.

So, What Do You Do With “Bad” First Drafts?

Eventually, the writing part will end, or at least pause. You’ll type “The End.” Or you’ll run out of steam. You’ll have something that, while imperfect, is done enough to take the next step.

And then a different kind of panic sets in.

Is this any good? Can I fix it? Is it publishable? What should I do with it now?

That’s where I come in.

At Inkling Creative Strategies, I offer a Manuscript Review service designed specifically for writers who’ve completed a project and need clear, compassionate direction.

Whether your draft feels like a diamond in the rough or a total train wreck (it’s probably not!), I’ll give it a careful, professional read and help you figure out what to do next.

With this service, you get:

·      A full read-through of your manuscript

·      Marginal comments to highlight what’s working and what needs attention

·      A written critique that outlines where your story stands and what your best next steps should be

It’s one of the simplest and most powerful services I offer—because it takes you from uncertain to in control.

If you’ve got a finished manuscript and are asking yourself, “Now what?” this is your answer.

Schedule a service consultation and find out more.