Look, as No Film School’s resident screenwriter, I have written thousands of articles on writing advice. But this is the most important one.
I’ve worked in Hollywood for 13 years and talked with a lot of writers and directors who are much more successful and better at the job than I am.
And every time I ask them for a piece of advice or what they tell young writers or even writers of every age, they say the exact same thing to me…
“The only piece of writing advice that matters is just to finish.”
Let’s dive in.
A Bad First Draft > No Draft At All
‘The Dark Knight’CREDIT: Warner Bros.
I’m going to start with the only thing you really need to take away from this column: Give yourself permission to write a bad first draft.
Because no matter what, the most valuable tools a writer has are finished works.
That means that the most important piece of advice is just to finish what you start.
That’s it. That is the only piece of writing advice that truly matters, because without it, nothing else can happen.
Why This Is the Foundation for Everything
Every other famous piece of writing advice—”show, don’t tell,” “kill your darlings,” “find your voice,” “write what you know”—is all about actually rewriting a finished draft. And you cannot revise a blank page.
The single greatest obstacle for any writer, from a novice to a Nobel laureate, is not a lack of good ideas; it’s the paralyzing fear that the words won’t be perfect.
That fear holds you back from starting and finishing, and it will stop your career and your career aspirations in their tracks.
Even if your first draft is the worst script you’ve ever read, you have the foundation to make it into the best. Every writer goes through this and has to deal with this stuff.
Oscar winners to idiots all write first drafts that need a lot of work.
The thing that separates them is how hard they work on it and how dedicated they are to reworking.
Oh, and all those Oscar winners have all FINISHED a project.
What to Do With A First Draft
Once you have that finished draft, then all the other advice comes into play.
- Now you can “show, don’t tell” by turning that clumsy summary into a vivid scene.
- Now you can “kill your darlings” by deleting that beautiful paragraph that does nothing for the plot.
- Now you can “find your voice” by refining the sentences until they sound like you.
- Now you can edit, which is where most writers agree the real writing actually happens.
But first, you must have something to edit. So, give yourself permission. Be cringe. Write the cliché. Use the placeholder word. Mix your metaphors. Just get to the end.
Finish it.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
