Official Permission Slips for Your First Draft
Tiny, practical first draft tips for anyone embarrassed to write a book, stuck halfway, or quietly asking why writing is so hard.
You may be embarrassed to write a book. You may suspect the first draft has been assembled by a raccoon with a biro. This is normal. The first draft is the version where you find the story by bumping into furniture in the dark.
If you want more little story tools like this, InkJaw has prompt packs, character builders, cheat sheets, and creative toys at InkJaw.com. Bring your half-page. Bring your suspicious notebook. We have biscuits, spiritually.
1. Permission to write the bad sentence
Your first draft does not need to sound bookish. It needs to exist. Write the plain, clunky version so your future self has something to improve.
Try this move:
1. Say what happens.
2. Say what the character wants.
3. Add one awkward feeling.
Applied example:
First draft line: “Nina goes into the kitchen because she wants to ask her dad about the letter, but she is scared he will lie.”
Later version: “Nina found him in the kitchen, buttering toast with the careful attention of a man avoiding a letter on the table.”
The first one did its little job. It wore the municipal cardigan and got you across the room.
2. Permission to move slowly and still be writing
Slow progress counts. A paragraph counts. A scene note counts. A Tuesday evening sentence written while the kettle makes noises from 1987 counts.
Use the tiny-scene method:
Write only the next small action. No grand plan required.
Applied example:
Today’s whole job: “Write the bit where Priya sees the suitcase under the bed.”
Draft it badly if needed:
“Priya kneels down. There is a red suitcase under the bed. It is not hers. She says, ‘Mum?’ but nobody answers.”
That is a scene seed. It has a person, a discovery, and a problem. Very official. Stamp it.
3. Permission to leave the weird halfway pages alone
Halfway through, many drafts become soup with names in it. Do not stop to fix every lumpy page. Mark the problem and keep going.
Use square brackets as a polite little flag:
[Make this argument sharper]
[Need a better reason for him to leave]
[Add joke here, not the sad trumpet kind]
Applied example:
“Tom leaves the party because [need a better reason than ‘felt odd’]. Outside, he sees June putting a silver key into the drain.”
You kept the story moving. Future you can return with a torch, a sandwich, and slightly more authority.
Write the messy version first, then make it less alarming later.