The Fast Rough Draft: Why the Writer Needs to Let it Out

The rough drafts sounds like what it is. The writer is not trying to change the world or make thousands of dollars with the rough draft. We are trying to get the story out. We can write a fantasy novel, a newspaper article, or even an essay, and we will have to deal with the rough draft. This essay will focus on making the process easier, how we should judge this work, and when to edit the piece again into something publishable.

To make the rough draft easier we can do a myriad of things. Perhaps we are confused on where to start. A good strategy is to write as we do research (if research is involved), to start to flesh out the thesis-our main point. We can take the notes we want to incorporate, write them on note cards, and then figure out where we want to go with it. Even fiction writers are known to have a note card for every page of the work. This allows us to go through each note card, and jot down the next idea or sentence that we have.

We will be ready to write the draft after we have jotted a couple sentences for each note card. The note cards are just ideas; we can change them. The rough draft will come to us, page-by-page, easily if we know the thesis or theme of the work. If we are writing a paper on drug addiction, we need to have a thesis that corresponds not only to drugs, but to the notes we have taken. Once we have a good thesis, the note cards will begin to work for us. A fiction writer can take a different approach. Perhaps they only write down one sentence for each page. More is better, but this can still work. We develop our theme, what we want to say, and explore where the words take us. No place is it better to explore than in the novel or short story.

Judging the piece we wrote with speed may come up with many errors. We spelled things wrong, had poor grammar, but, as long as the theme or thesis is there, we are in good territory. Spelling and grammar are the easiest fix for any piece. All we need is a second eye or a good book on grammar like "Elements of Style."

We edit with the eye for a good grade or publication. The best writers are good editors. The fast rough draft will have many correctable mistakes. We make it easier by allowing the flow of words out and coming to conclusions afterwards.

In the final analysis, a rough draft should be fun. We can be talented writers if we let the page speak, let the thesis explain, and allow the trained eye to pick up on mistakes.