[Tipster] Limit Self Criticism in the Early Drafts of Your Writing

If you tried to take every bit of writing advice, applying all of it as you write, you'd never complete any writing project.

So don't.

As you write, write.

Don't try to craft. Crafting comes later.

Just lay down your ideas, as poorly as you can. The world needs your best, initial thinking. You can polish your writing in a later draft.

Silence Your Inner Critic

In "Writing Tools: 55 Essential Strategies for Every Writer," the author refers to Dorothea Brande, who wrote "Becoming a Writer" way back in 1934:

"The (inner) critic becomes useful only when enough work has been done to warrant evaluation and revision."

Just recently I published two extended blog posts, one of which ran almost 2,000 words.

With one of the posts in particular, I struggled to lay down even a few paragraphs as I began to draft it.

My ideas were forming as I was writing the post.

That is normal (ergo, you are thinking as you writing).

But the process was excruciating.

Mostly because I was trying to shorten my sentences and come up with fresh verbs at the time I lay down my initial ideas.

It wasn't working.

Finally, I just typed out the ideas as a series of sentences. And didn't even attempt to stitch them together. I did it like this:

   "I want to say that _____________________________.
 
   "I want to make the point that ____________________.
 
Just raw ideas in poorly constructed sentences.

I finally began to make a bit of progress.

I needed to STOP trying to write the perfect sentence. At least in my first draft.

Bridle Your Inner Voice

We all have an inner "Voice" that speaks to us as we write.

The Voice is a qualified good.

You want your Voice to nudge you later as you cut adverbs, search for stronger verbs, and, as Stephen King says, kill your darlings.

Developing this Voice is crucial to writing in fresh and creative ways. You want your Voice to nudge you.

But not in your first draft.

Here's a final thought from Roy Peter Clark in "Writing Tools":

"[T]he self-conscious application of all writing advice will turn you to stone if you try to do it too early, or if you misapply it as orthodoxy."

So, shush your inner Voice as you write that first draft.