When I first began writing stories for Nifty, my very first gay themed stories ever, everything that you see in the Nifty Archive are all first drafts. For the first two or three years, in fact. I didn’t have a whole lot of space, didn’t have a lot of privacy, and I didn’t have a lot of time. Plus, I was working out how to write and format using HTML code for the very first time, and even though I had a pretty good idea how to structure and put a story together...to say that I had no real practice with that particular aspect of writing that much and that often would be a severe understatement. So I would try to get my thoughts together, take my little notes in tiny little handwritten phrases and abbreviations (I was still terrified of having somebody read it over my shoulder or figure out what I was doing)...and when I had the time, I would sit down and type and entire chapter, and sometimes an entire story, in the body of an email. Then I’d go back over it really quick to see whatever big mistakes I could catch with my eyes through a super quick scroll through, and then I’d send it off and pray for the best. Hehehe, and there it was...my rough draft.

And they were ROUGH! Believe me!

But I was truly grateful for every last one of them. I still am to this day. Of course, on the site, I went back through a great deal of those stories to fix them up, and still find mistakes here and there that still need correcting so they’ll read better. Then, of course, I really put my nose to the grindstone and work even harder for the ebook versions to make sure that they come off as being a more professional effort. But if any of you guys are just starting out or are looking for a way to go back to your roots and revamp your style and dedication from scratch, going back to those rough drafts can really benefit from keeping this a constant part of your writing process. Not just for practice, but for the many lessons that it teaches you along the way.

After all this time, I still think that there’s perfection in imperfection. So let’s figure out how this works.

When it comes to your rough drafts...there is one rule that you want to keep in mind. And it sounds simple, but it really isn’t. So expect to slip up every now and then. That rule is...’Don’t get it right...get it done.’ The reason I say that is because any one of us can easily end up spending the next ten years trying to write the perfect story...and it’s not going to turn out to be perfect anyway. So what are we doing other than wasting time, you know? That’s just me being honest here. The first goal is to have a finished project under your belt, right? Ok then! Figure out where you’re going to start, where you’re hoping to finish, and what major events of your story are going to be strategically placed between the two sides. After that...start writing. Don’t overthink it...just get started, and stay disciplined long enough to get it finished. You don’t have to rush yourself or write until you burn yourself out...just relax, let the ideas come to you, and write them out to completion. But don’t stop and retrace your steps over and over again during your rough draft. That will take forever, and can sometimes frustrate you into a state of perpetual writer’s block. So don’t do it if you can help it. This part of the process is all about your deepest feelings and your initial gut instincts right now. There will be plenty of time for editing and adding and subtracting and tweaking everything else later on. For right now though, learning to push yourself forward to a completed rough draft without putting unnecessary pressure on yourself to create something revolutionary, sentence to sentence, can actually be a really liberating exercise. And it’s one that I miss every once in a while.

One of the major pluses that a writer can get out of appreciation of the rough draft writing process is the fact that you get a literal view of how your story is going to read and how it ends. You can actually look at it in its entirety, and examine it as something more than a few floating thoughts floating around vaguely in the back of your mind. Finish it and make it something solid. Something concrete. Read it. See what’s missing. See what needs changing. Figure out what’s weakening your narrative and get a feel for what parts you can strengthen with just a few extra sentences. This is the best time to get your truest emotions and ideas out there...and then study that landscape, first hand, to improve it and make it even better. You will b able to clearly see places for added detail, opportunities for character growth, and discover places where you obviously began to get off track or wander into territory that you didn’t need to be in for the sake of telling the story you want to tell. Having an actual blueprint laid out in front of you helps you see the flaws in your work, and it provides a vision of your story that you can clearly analyze and fix to better represent what you had in mind. Try it out a few times. You’ll see what I mean.

Another advantage of completing a rough draft before going back to re-edit and scrutinize over every word you’ve written, is that (for most creative minds) it inspires confidence and strengthens your spontaneity when it comes to your fiction. It most definitely does for me. See, even now, I have a habit of reading my own words and thinking about them as I’m writing. But I’m my own worst critic, which is a huge bias that is constantly working against me. I keep thinking that I could word something differently, or write it out better, or I should stop and wonder if I need this sentence or not...and I keep going back over the same paragraph over and over and over again...and you know what I discovered? Most times, I would have bee better off just following my first instincts and just writing it the way I had it the first time. I mean, sure...I might come back later and change it if I truly think that it’s best for the story...but more often than not, when I’m writing, I do so in the moment. Spontaneity is key. That’s when all of the ‘right’ words just spill out of me with little to no effort at all...and they’re usually just right to fit the emotion that I’m trying to convey during that part of the story. It might have flaws and imperfections...but at least it’s honest. In the purest way that it can be honest. So...sometimes, trying to come back and review the text with more of an analytical mind kind of ruins what made it flow and feel the way it did originally. And that’s a huge disadvantage in my book. Because if my stories are all about feeling something real, then trying to artificially mold it into something that it isn’t, spoils the effect. Am I right?

What is one of Comicality’s MAJOR rules when it comes to your writing? Be comfortable doing it. Be inspired. Does squinting your eyes and staring at a blank screen and feeling like it’s harder to think up what to say next than it is to just shut your laptop down and go watch TV instead sound ‘comfortable’ to you? Listen...your heart is speaking to you. Right there in that moment. What is it saying? Keep it simple, straightforward, and ‘comfortable’. For me, when I get in a certain zone...writing my feelings out all at once feels like a huge release for me, and not a chore. Now, it’s really hard for me to not slow down and backtrack to rewrite something to make it sound better...so I won’t claim that I don’t do it. But I try to curb that habit as best as I can and get my emotions out while that inspirational fire is in me. Because, for me, it’s the emotional connection that lasts longest with my audience. And I want to capture that more than anything. I can straighten out the mechanics of it all later on.

So if I get in a verbal fight with someone, and it’s raining outside, and my bank account is empty, and I’m hungry but don’t have any food in the fridge...I might sit down and relay that message to everyone reading. In a fictional way, sure...but with real life emotion lacing every word. I just keep writing out all of my deepest frustrations, and it’s like I can feel the knots in my stomach slowly beginning to unwind as I pour a great deal of myself into the story and let go of it. I just want to capture the fire of it all...and when I’m done, and the other side of my brain is ready to take over again...then I can go back later and fix up my spelling errors, my writing mechanics, add a little something, take a few things out, and edit with an open mind that isn’t so emotionally biased. THAT’S when I’m able to get everything right. That’s when I try to make it look good with a little spit and polish so I don’t sound like a total madman to my audience. Hehehe!

But, at least now I have a visible framework to work from, and I was still able to get those feelings out of me while they were still fresh. There’s nothing more daunting for me than trying to breathe life into stale emotions. That’s why I’ve always been so incredibly hurt whenever I’ve written a story with my whole heart and it gets erased or lost or my computer crashes. Because all of those spontaneous, truly special, emotions can’t ever be recreated in the same way ever again. Those moments are gone for good. It would be like finding out that your wedding photographer had the lens cap on the whole time, you know? It sucks. However, if you can capture those feelings in the moment while they’re still potent in your rough draft, knowing that you can always go back and fix it later if you have second thoughts about anything, it makes writing it out to completion a much more relaxing experience in my opinion.

Like I said before...when I just write and let the words flow through me without putting too much thought into how it’s going to translate or look to other people...I can sit here and write all night long. Even when it comes to these shorter writing tip articles, I get in a frame of mind where everything just seems to come out right. Of course, I also have nights when I second and third guess myself, hehehe, and I end up putting certain topics off until later or tossing them out completely. So don’t think that this is going to make writing any easier for any of you. And even if it could, it would make the editing process that much harder afterward. So it balances out.

But think about it some time. Give it a try. Throw your analytical thoughts to the side and just write. Take what you’re feeling, what you’ve got in your heart and in your head, and just type it out with a stream of consciousness that you don’t have to worry about polishing up until you’re done getting your feelings out on that keyboard.

Don’t get it right...get it done!

Hope this helps! Happy writing to you all! And I’ll seezya soon with another dose of whatever tidbits and breadcrumbs I was able to pick up along the way on my way to getting where I am now, and where I hope to be in the future. Sky’s the limit, after all! Later!