- Be fearless. Your first draft is for throwing it all on the page, no matter how ugly it may seem.
Writing the first draft is like giving birth. It's hard, painful, and scary. Don't worry about pretty words and perfection, just get your story out of your head and onto the page. The polishing comes later.
Elegant words don't make a story. Whenever I see a book described as "lyrical" my radar goes up. A book has to be more than a collection of descriptive words. It has to make you feel something inside. A truly great book can change your life.
- Finish your work. The great majority of writers abandon their work somewhere in the middle.
The second half of a book can be brutal. This is where you can begin to question everything. You may suddenly feel that your work is awful, that you have no talent, that there's no hope of it ever being published.
Keep going. Perhaps take a break, but don't leave it too long. Once you stop writing, it's hard to pick it up again.
- Once you have finished your work to a point where you need another opinion, show it to someone.
That someone should not be a spouse, a close friend, or anyone that will be unable to be completely objective. You don't need flattery at this point. You need cool, unbiased, constructive criticism.
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