How to Write Your First Draft: A Complete Guide

The first draft is where most writers get stuck. Perfectionism, self-doubt, and the blank page conspire to stop you before you start. Here's how to push through and get words on the page.

The Purpose of a First Draft

Your first draft has one job: to exist. It doesn't need to be good. It doesn't need to be polished. It just needs to be written. As Terry Pratchett said, "The first draft is just you telling yourself the story."

Everything you love about your favorite books was created in revision. But revision requires raw material. Your first draft is that raw material—messy, imperfect, and essential.

1. Lower Your Standards (Seriously)

Permission to write badly is the most liberating gift you can give yourself. Professional writers know this. Anne Lamott calls it the "shitty first draft." Hemingway said, "The first draft of anything is shit."

When you accept that your first draft will be imperfect, you remove the pressure that causes writer's block. You can't edit a blank page, but you can edit bad writing.

2. Disable Your Inner Editor

Your inner editor is helpful during revision but toxic during drafting. Every time you stop to fix a typo or rewrite a sentence, you break your creative momentum.

Try these techniques:

• Turn off spell-check while drafting
• Don't reread what you wrote yesterday
• Use [brackets] for notes to yourself instead of stopping
• Write "TK" for facts you need to research later
• Never delete—just keep moving forward

3. Write Out of Order

You don't have to start at the beginning. If you're excited about a particular scene, write it. If you know your ending but not your middle, write the ending.

Writing the scenes you're excited about generates momentum. That momentum carries you through the difficult scenes you've been avoiding.

4. Set Small, Daily Goals

A novel is 80,000 words. That's overwhelming. But 500 words a day? That's two paragraphs. At that pace, you'll have a complete first draft in 160 days—just over five months.

Or focus on time instead of word count. Just 30 minutes of active writing daily adds up to a finished draft. The key is consistency, not heroic writing sessions.

5. Use Placeholders Liberally

Can't think of the perfect word? Use a placeholder. Can't describe a location? Write "[describe the castle later]" and move on. Can't nail the dialogue? Write the gist in brackets.

Placeholders let you maintain forward momentum while flagging areas that need attention during revision. The goal is progress, not perfection.

Or use AI to push through: Hearth's AI tab-complete suggests the next few words when you're stuck. Press Tab to accept, or keep typing to dismiss. Sometimes just seeing a suggestion is enough to spark your own better idea.

6. Protect Your Writing Time

The world will always have distractions. Your draft won't write itself while you answer emails, scroll social media, or clean your house.

Treat your writing time as an appointment with yourself. Turn off notifications. Close other tabs. Use a distraction-free writing environment that puts your words front and center.

7. End Mid-Sentence

Hemingway's trick: stop writing when you know what comes next. End in the middle of a sentence, in the middle of a scene. Tomorrow, you'll have an easy starting point instead of a blank page.

This technique removes the hardest part of writing—starting. Your brain will also continue working on the story subconsciously, giving you fresh ideas.

8. Track Your Progress

Seeing your progress is incredibly motivating. Whether it's a writing streak, total words written, or days until your target completion date, visualization helps you stay committed.

Hearth tracks your active writing time and streaks automatically, showing you the progress you're making day by day. Watch your draft grow from blank page to finished manuscript.

Common First Draft Traps to Avoid

• Research rabbit holes: Research enough to start, then keep writing. Mark details to verify later.
• Endless outlining: Planning is helpful, but eventually you must write. Discover your story on the page.
• Premature editing: Polish comes later. Right now, add words, don't subtract them.
• Waiting for inspiration: Professional writers write on schedule, not when the muse visits.
• Comparing to finished books: Every published book started as a messy first draft. You're not behind.

Related Resources

• Build Daily Writing Habits →
• Overcome Writer's Block →
• AI Tab-Complete for When You're Stuck →
• Track Writing Streaks →