“You don’t start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it’s good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That’s why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence.”
Fast drafting, or vomit drafting, is a pretty self-explanatory approach to writing. You try to get the first draft down as fast as you can. Contrary to what the name suggests, it’s not all about speed (or, well, indigestion).
In this post, we’ll go over the benefits of fast drafting and why you should try it at least once.
Why Fast Draft?
Although you write faster than usual when fast drafting, speed isn’t the point. For most writers, speed isn’t a concern at all. Who cares whether it took you three, six or nine months to finish your book?
The problem many writers face is getting bogged down and never finishing at all. You probably heard the stats before. Nine out of ten writers who start working on a book will never finish the first draft.
Often, the issue isn’t time or energy. These aspiring authors are paralysed by self doubt, second-guessing everything.
I still remember my first attempt at writing a novel. I spent weeks writing and rewriting the first few paragraphs — about 700 words. And that’s it. I never got beyond that.
It starts by going back to edit stuff — rephrasing a few sentences here and there. Any bigger issue you can’t fix right away will gnaw on you. Suddenly, you’ve got this feeling simmering inside of you that the story won’t work.
You go back to your outline and start moving things around. Maybe you killed the sidekick too early? Isn’t the build-up too predictable? Ugh! The whole thing is a mess, and you don’t want to be working on it anymore.
How Fast Drafting Works?
The goal is to keep your mind focused on making progress. You don’t want to give it a chance to second-guess anything until you’ve finished the first draft.
It’s surprisingly difficult to do if you haven’t done it before.
Your first draft will be a mess. All first drafts are. But you will have to ignore that and keep ploughing ahead. Your inner perfectionist will be in agony.
To stay disciplined, many writers don’t allow themselves to fix anything. Mistyped a word? It stays in. No exceptions.
Editing is a slippery slope. You fix a typo here and there. Next, you’re fixing the odd structural issue, moving a few paragraphs around. Before you know it, you’re outlining again, wondering whether you should rather kill the sidekick in chapter 24.
That said, a messy first draft can be a blessing. Instead of seeing your first draft as this seemingly polished thing, you see it for the mess that it is. No matter how much you edit during the first draft, it will never be perfect.
When you start editing, you’ll fix the typos and obvious issues. That will help you get into the flow and be ready to tackle the big things next.
The Editing Lock
Writing Analytics (the app that I built) has a thing called the editing lock. When you enable it, you won’t be able to delete anything from your draft.
Every time I use it, I’m surprised just how much I go back to edit stuff. It’s so helpful.
It was a suggestion from one of the readers of the blog a while ago (massive thank you 🙏).
Spend an hour or more this week fast-drafting a story. Come up with an idea and stick to it until the end — no matter what. Put the editing lock on if you’re struggling and crush all the self-doubt that comes up with a steamroller.
I set up a challenge where you can write along with me (and others):
Fast drafting, or vomit drafting, is a pretty self-explanatory approach to writing. You try to get the first draft down as fast as you can. Contrary to what the name suggests, it’s not all about speed (or, well, indigestion).
In this post, we’ll go over the benefits of fast drafting and why you should try it at least once.
Why Fast Draft?
Although you write faster than usual when fast drafting, speed isn’t the point. For most writers, speed isn’t a concern at all. Who cares whether it took you three, six or nine months to finish your book?
The problem many writers face is getting bogged down and never finishing at all. You probably heard the stats before. Nine out of ten writers who start working on a book will never finish the first draft.
Often, the issue isn’t time or energy. These aspiring authors are paralysed by self doubt, second-guessing everything.
I still remember my first attempt at writing a novel. I spent weeks writing and rewriting the first few paragraphs — about 700 words. And that’s it. I never got beyond that.
It starts by going back to edit stuff — rephrasing a few sentences here and there. Any bigger issue you can’t fix right away will gnaw on you. Suddenly, you’ve got this feeling simmering inside of you that the story won’t work.
You go back to your outline and start moving things around. Maybe you killed the sidekick too early? Isn’t the build-up too predictable? Ugh! The whole thing is a mess, and you don’t want to be working on it anymore.
How Fast Drafting Works?
The goal is to keep your mind focused on making progress. You don’t want to give it a chance to second-guess anything until you’ve finished the first draft.
It’s surprisingly difficult to do if you haven’t done it before.
Your first draft will be a mess. All first drafts are. But you will have to ignore that and keep ploughing ahead. Your inner perfectionist will be in agony.
To stay disciplined, many writers don’t allow themselves to fix anything. Mistyped a word? It stays in. No exceptions.
Editing is a slippery slope. You fix a typo here and there. Next, you’re fixing the odd structural issue, moving a few paragraphs around. Before you know it, you’re outlining again, wondering whether you should rather kill the sidekick in chapter 24.
That said, a messy first draft can be a blessing. Instead of seeing your first draft as this seemingly polished thing, you see it for the mess that it is. No matter how much you edit during the first draft, it will never be perfect.
When you start editing, you’ll fix the typos and obvious issues. That will help you get into the flow and be ready to tackle the big things next.
The Editing Lock
Writing Analytics (the app that I built) has a thing called the editing lock. When you enable it, you won’t be able to delete anything from your draft.
Every time I use it, I’m surprised just how much I go back to edit stuff. It’s so helpful.
It was a suggestion from one of the readers of the blog a while ago (massive thank you 🙏).
Spend an hour or more this week fast-drafting a story. Come up with an idea and stick to it until the end — no matter what. Put the editing lock on if you’re struggling and crush all the self-doubt that comes up with a steamroller.
I set up a challenge where you can write along with me (and others):
I’m launching another exciting Writing Analytics feature this week. You can now customise the font in the editor!
I resisted doing this for a long time because different fonts have slightly different character alignment, which can make things look terrible. But I finally found the right way to do it.
You can choose from
three font faces: sans, serif and monospace
three sizes: small, medium and large
three colour options: warm, cold and monochrome
My personal favourite is the serif option — the font used by The New Yorker. It makes the app feel completely different!
Everything else still works the same, including highlights and Markdown.
To change font, click on the main menu icon in the top-left corner and choose Settings.
I’m launching another exciting Writing Analytics feature this week. You can now customise the font in the editor!
I resisted doing this for a long time because different fonts have slightly different character alignment, which can make things look terrible. But I finally found the right way to do it.
You can choose from
three font faces: sans, serif and monospace
three sizes: small, medium and large
three colour options: warm, cold and monochrome
My personal favourite is the serif option — the font used by The New Yorker. It makes the app feel completely different!
Everything else still works the same, including highlights and Markdown.
To change font, click on the main menu icon in the top-left corner and choose Settings.
“There are reasons people seek escape in books, and one of those reasons is that the boundary of what can happen is beyond what we do – or would want to see in real life.”
