#208: Write Like a Painter
The initial sketches that an artist does in preparation for a painting look almost nothing like the finished product. For writers, the lines are a lot more blurry. A draft — the first or the very last — is always just a bunch of words on paper.
When you’re reading a story, you may imagine the writer sitting at his desk, writing those beautiful sentences down exactly as you see them. But that rarely ever happens. What the author wrote down in the first draft has been rewritten and edited many times before publication. In fact, you probably wouldn’t even recognise the story by reading a passage from the first draft.
Writers and painters have a lot in common when it comes to the creative process. Here’s what you can learn about writing by watching painters at work.
Most painters start with a rough sketch. They erase it so it’s barely visible and do another one on top. Then they start blocking in the colours and adding more and more detail.
The initial sketches guide the artist’s hand later on when she’s adding new layers on top. Without the sketches, it would be very hard for the artist to create the image. Even though you won’t see it in the finished work, the sketch is an essential part of the process.
Think of the first draft as the initial sketch — something to guide you when shaping the story to its final form. By the time you’re finished, you may have removed, replaced or rearranged every single word. That doesn’t make the first draft any less valuable. The finished story wouldn’t exist without it.
The Importance of the First Draft
As I said, the first draft is critically important, but it also isn’t. The details aren’t important at all. A lot of the polishing and editing writers do while working on the first draft can be a waste of time. Often, you’ll have to cut entire chapters.
A painter won’t spend hours adding detailed shading to a sketch only to cover it with a layer of paint. That’d be ridiculous! As a writer, it’s much easier to fall into the same trap.
Painters use the initial sketches to set the perspective of the image and find the right shapes. Writing is much the same — the important things in the first draft are the broad strokes that will define the shape of the narrative. You want to get your main characters in and hit all the crucial plot points. But there’s no need to agonise about what does your protagonist order at Starbucks in scene 12.
That’s not to say that the details don’t matter. They can make or break a story, but they aren’t necessary when you’re working on the first draft.
It’s ok to leave things unfinished or keep writing even if you can’t decide or simply don’t know something. Skip it, wing it, do whatever it takes so you can keep going. The first draft just has to exist. You can fix anything later.
Many writers (myself included) spend way more time and energy on the first draft than is necessary. I’m not entirely sure why, to be honest. Perhaps our brain gets somehow confused because the first draft looks a lot like the final draft. They’re both just words on a page, and yet, they couldn’t be more different.
Hi, I’m Radek 👋. I’m a writer, software engineer and the founder of Writing Analytics — an editor and writing tracker designed to help you beat writer’s block and create a sustainable writing routine.
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#207: On Being Stuck, August 2021
#206: 4 Reasons to Keep a Journal, August 2021
#205: It’s just Writing, July 2021
#204: What Will Your Story Look Like?, July 2021
#203: It Will Take Longer Than You Think, July 2021
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