For a long time, I never realized how important completing a first draft was until I listened to Jason Segal. Because I worked as a stand-up and booked seasons for my theatre troupe, I had the artificial deadline of the empty stage to fill. If I didn’t write, my fellow actors and I would be turned into a mime troupe, something witches transform princes into so parents at dinner parties are forced to mumble that their child “works in the arts.”
The actor/writer Jason Segal was being interviewed on NPR’s Fresh Air program (That’s right, I listen to public radio and I will pepper it casually throughout dinner party conversations when I’m not saying that I write for a mime troupe). And to paraphrase, he said - just get a first draft, it doesn’t matter how good it is. You can work with a first draft. But you can’t work with nothing.
Additionally, producers, editors, actors, whomever, can read a script and give suggestions if something isn't working. But you can’t budget half a movie. You can’t trace half a character’s super objective as an actor. You can edit half a novel, but what would be the point if it never gets finished?
A script can be reworked if it’s not working, but it can’t be reworked if it’s not written.
I have to remind myself of this when I’m stuck on an outline, or partway through a novel that feels like a trudge. Just get to a first draft. You can show it to people. Things can be redacted, reshaped, rewritten.
This is why a feature of my program is getting a first draft finished. Because with something in your hand, you can go forward with the writing process, knowing you’ve completed at least one stage of the journey.
I hadn’t dealt with incomplete first drafts because the performance pushed me to complete the first draft and have my team help me rewrite. But after I moved to solo writing for screen, there was no guarantee things would be produced. I had to find the motivation within myself. This was tougher than I originally imagined. It was even tougher when I moved to novel writing. Now the process stretched before me like a deadly desert. I set even smaller goals: just finish a chapter.
Just for today, can I complete one sentence, one chapter, one draft, and be able to show my work?
