Write the ugly first draft: what I learned editing 12 working novelists

In ten years of editing fiction I have worked with twelve writers who actually finish books. They disagree about outlines, mornings versus nights, and whether adverbs are a crime. They agree about exactly one thing: the first draft is allowed to be terrible.

The amateurs I work with polish chapter one for months. The professionals write chapter one badly, then chapters two through thirty badly, and then — only then — make it good. Momentum first, quality second.

One novelist keeps a sticky note on her monitor that says: you cannot edit a blank page. Another sets a timer and types with the screen brightness at zero so he cannot reread himself.

Perfectionism dresses up as high standards, but on a first draft it is just fear with better clothes. Write the ugly draft. The book you keep imagining is hiding on the other side of it.