Draft Writing: How to Write Your First Draft

Whether you’re writing to land your dream job, get an A+ in your class, or tell an important story, it might take you many drafts to get to that perfect piece of writing—and the first draft is often the hardest.

With the right approach to draft writing, though, you can alleviate some of this blank page-induced anxiety and begin to get your best ideas down. Use these tips for writing a first draft to get off to a great start.

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What Should Be Included in Your First Draft?

Your first draft, otherwise aptly known as a “rough draft,” is your place to sketch out your ideas. No matter if you’re writing a novel, a school paper, or a business letter, the first draft is an opportunity to understand materials you have to work with—it’s a chance to better grasp what you think about your subject before you sharpen, shape, and organize these ideas into a polished final product.

When it comes down to it, no two first drafts are quite alike. Sometimes you might come to table with more fully formed thoughts and opinions on your subject and leave your draft writing session or sessions with a nearly completed piece, something that requires only minor changes. Other times, your full first draft might seem shapeless and be full of notes for further exploration, requiring you to dig into more research or take some time away to think things over.

Regardless, you can approach your project with the following tips on how to write a first draft, and you’ll be well on your way toward a well-developed piece of writing.

Start with Structure

Before you start drafting your brilliant ideas, it may help to begin with some big-picture thinking and planning.

Consider the type of writing you’re doing and the structure that it requires. For instance, if you’re writing a cover letter, consider the general structure that your letter will take. Over the course of the letter, you will want to express your interest, relate your experience to the job description, provide examples of your past successes, and close with a call to action. If you’re writing a research paper, you will need an introductory paragraph and thesis statement, an essay body that provides evidence in support of that thesis, and a conclusion that sums it all up.

With this idea of the overall structure of your project in mind, you can better understand which parts of your piece you know how you will complete, as well as where might be the best place to start. So, for example, if you’re beginning a research paper and have yet to determine a working thesis, you can skip your introduction in favor of developing your evidence and analysis to see where it leads you.

Just Write

No matter where you ultimately decide to start, the name of the game for first drafts is just getting things down on the page. So, for the sake of efficiency, try to eliminate anything extra that might stand in the way of you and the plain act of writing. If you’re easily distracted by the web or bogged down by online research, close your browser, turn off your Wi-Fi connection, or set aside your smartphone. If you’re always searching for the perfect word, put away your dictionary and thesaurus. Worried about getting things into the right format? Turn to a pre-made writing template that takes care of that for you so you can focus on writing.

Write Out of Order

In line with this focus on the act of writing is the strategy of writing out of order. As we write, sometimes our minds head to unexpected places. During your first draft, you should follow your thoughts down these new paths. If a new idea for later on in your piece comes to mind, feel free to jump to that place and capture those new thoughts on the page while they’re fresh. Likewise, if you hit a dead end in one part of your essay, move forward or back to another place where you have more to contribute.

Leave Holes to Fill

To become a better writer of first drafts, an essential skill you’ll need to pick up is being okay with placeholders. In those moments that your forward momentum starts to wane, or you need a particular detail or data point that you don’t have in front of you to support your idea, simply leave yourself a note and keep moving. The comment feature that word processors like Microsoft Word and Google Docs have is particularly useful for moments like this: Simply add your comment—whether it’s about your lack of an idea or your inkling of an idea you haven’t fully formed yet—and you’ll know exactly where to find your place during your next time through your piece.

Walk Away

Once you’ve exhausted your energies toward a first draft or, say, reached the end of the story you’re trying to tell, always be ready to walk away. While a deadline might limit the amount of time that you’re able to take away from writing, taking a break after your first draft—whether it’s hours, days, or even weeks—can be very helpful. Not only will it help to preserve your energy, but it might help you come to your writing with fresh ideas.

For many writers, the experience of reading your old writing and feeling as though the words on the page were written by someone else is a familiar one. As strange as it may seem, this sensation is what you’re trying to achieve by walking away from your first draft. This new perspective and bit of distance can enable you to see the material anew and take your writing to new, exciting, and more effective places in your next drafts.