How to Write a First Draft

Jun 29, 2021 • 3 min read

The first draft is never going to be perfect. It is, after all, just a draft. For the initial stage of writing a draft, your goal is to write your main idea and supporting ideas on the page. Just start writing, one word after the other, and before you know it, your first draft is ready for revision.

Remember: The end goal of your draft is to get your ideas written down and to give yourself something to start with, the draft doesn’t have to be good, it just has to be.

How to write a rough draft

When you’re writing on a rough draft paper, the end goal of your draft is to get your ideas written down and to give yourself something to start with, the draft doesn’t have to be good, it just has to be.

First draft writing

If you find yourself stuck in a certain part of your rough draft, put it aside and start with another section, change your focus, if you are writing about a character, you can continue writing about an introduction, change topics, chapters, etc. Again if you do not find something perfect to write, it does not matter, write it anyways, remember, it’s a draft don’t pressure yourself, you can edit everything afterward.

Once you have advanced from writing the first draft, the next step will be to start shaping this draft, this process is also known as editing. Before you move on with the editing process, give yourself some time to rest, in other words, don’t skip your first draft and go straight into editing, unless you are short on time or it’s absolutely necessary. 

By taking time between writing your first draft and editing it, you give yourself the time, allow yourself to have a different look, which will help you to observe errors, or give you new ideas that you can implement, there are studies that recommend resting for a while, especially in nature, going to walk in a park or the backyard. 

Moments of inspiration tend to come when one is in nature, totally disconnected from the initial topic, an example could be Newton when the apple fell into his head.
Another way to increase your inspiration could be by using our AI Writer, get inspired by AI to write your texts.

As you progress with the writing process, you will find that there are different types of editing, in some cases, you are exclusively alone in this process.

In others you can have help from an editor or a personal instructor, you can also use Smodin‘s rewriter by clicking here in your drafts, to look for other ways to convey the same meaning in other forms. You can also use our  Grammar checker to check your grammar in a variety of supported languages with full contextual support, corrections, and synonym suggestions.