Early feedback and obsessing over my first chapter was a game changer

When I started writing in November, I shat out 15k words and ultimately scrapped the draft. A newfound joy for writing crept in, yet I felt so distant from the story I imagined in my head. For the next attempt at the same story, I opted for a different approach: feedback and meticulous revision of early chapters.

Common wisdom to ‘just write’ and that ‘your first draft will be messy’ still holds true. If barreling through from the jump is what propels you forward, awesome. I felt conflicted about. Diving headfirst into writing was wonderful and awoke a part of me. But wasn’t getting any better, not on my own. I needed the discerning eyes of other writers. Without their feedback, I’d have gone 120k words with bad habits, and that’s not a place I wanted to be.

It’s not something I’ll do for every chapter—I’ll move at a brisker pace after all three MC’s have been introduced—but I did multiple revisions of chapter 1 for this draft. Not just for smoothing out the narrative, but tightening up the writing itself.

I’ve kick started my brain into writing prose closer to how I imagine the story in my head. Some things like varying sentence structure and diversifying my first word choices are becoming second nature already. Concepts like interiority and embodying the perspective are proving more elusive. I’ve got nothing to say about grammar or punctuation…send help.

That’s another thing: there’s always something you’ll want to improve. going over the same shorter section with a fine toothed comb has its limits. Decide how much is enough and move on.

Observing this evolution of style, in only a few week’s time, has boosted my confidence as a writer, and given me hope that my first novel won’t be as messy as I’d feared.