How to Finish Your Zero Draft
We've probably all been there: a great story idea lights a spark and you crank out a handful of scenes, totally engaged. Then, something mysterious happens, and you discover that you can't finish this draft. You can't figure out how to solve the problems you've created in that burst of inspiration. You're stuck.
Maybe you have the knowledge you need, but you don't know how to apply it to this story, this time. Maybe you're completely at a loss. You review all the conflicting, confusing advice you've come across in your writing career:
You must outline your story before writing.
Outlining will kill your creativity and ruin your story.
Write to market.
Write only from your heart.
Use this mathematical formula for a perfect story.
Break the rules of that last formula.
Follow the Hero's Journey and use the monomyth to your advantage.
Following the Hero's Journey reinforces patriarchal and colonizing bullshit.
After not finding useful or practical expert advice for your unique story and writing process, you realized you weren't just lacking information and stuck; you were losing the desire and energy to move forward with your draft. So what then but to quit?
This is the danger zone. Floor is lava, beware! Stagnation here will suck you and your manuscript under for good.
But you don't have to become an example of a writer with another unfinished manuscript. Even successful authors suffer a lag in energy and solution-focused thinking now and then, and we can learn from them, the true experts.
At Pages and Platforms, we're authors like you, and we've talked to thousands of other writers over the years. We've gathered some valuable tips and techniques for getting that initial draft completed, and we're offering them here to you. The suggestions are not a to-do list. These are options from which you can pick and choose. Please keep these ideas in mind as you read:
Use these suggestions in any order you choose.
Try the suggestions that intrigue you.
Discard the suggestions that don't make sense for your process.
Trust your gut.
What works for one writer won't necessarily work for another.
What works for you on one manuscript might not work for the next.
Define or Redefine "First Draft"
At Pages and Platforms, we don't often use the term "first draft" because we've found writers have widely varying ideas of what it means. To reduce confusion, we divide what many refer to as the first draft into two different stages or products, your zero draft, and your professional draft.
Zero Draft
The zero draft is the beginning stage where you get all your ideas out on the page. It might begin with an outline if that's what works for you. Or it's more likely a combination of freewriting, character sketches, backstory, images, storyboards, random scenes and ideas, summaries of scenes you want to write, etc. The zero draft is where you get all the heart and soul, butterflies, blood, and cigarette butts onto the page in one way or another.
Anne Hawley describes creating the zero draft as analogous to backing a dump truck onto a building site with all the lumber, nails, tiles, and bags of concrete. My zero drafts are not even at the stage of building materials. They look more like hauling in giant trees with all their dirt and grubs still attached. They're a mess of more potential than clarity.
Your zero draft is complete when you have the semblance of a beginning, middle, and end on the page. You also know your basic story arc and your protagonist's primary change throughout the story. Now revisions can begin as you prepare for your professional draft.
Professional Draft
This draft comes after your zero draft. Your professional draft is when you bring all the critical elements of story structure into place. It's where you ensure your story is working in terms of the protagonist's desire, stakes, and change arc. You also verify that each scene reflects a straightforward premise, that there is a drive toward the emotion your reader expects to feel, and that you've included the story-specific characters and moments your reader expects.
To learn more about constructing your professional draft, please refer to the Story Path course in the Happily Ever Author Club.
This article focuses on finishing your zero draft.
Accept the Multiple Draft Process
You already know that writing a manuscript is not a one-draft process. The movie image of an author who types and types and stacks up pages until they type "The End," then sends it off to their happy publisher is a myth. You will probably work through a minimum of five drafts or passes through your story and will more likely do ten or twelve. That may seem overwhelming but consider that each pass you do gets easier and faster.
Embracing a multi-draft process allows you to put less pressure on yourself to create your zero draft, to have more creative freedom, exploration, and innovation as you write. With multiple drafts, you don't have to get it all right the first time around. You can't do it all in one draft. So try and enjoy the stages as much as you can. Start with the zero draft and work toward the professional draft and subsequent passes.
Identify As a Writer
I'm always surprised to see how many people tell me they are "trying to write a novel" but can not say, "I am a writer." You may or may not be a published author yet but, if you are writing a novel, you are a writer. Can you say it out loud? Try it. Keep saying this until it feels right.
Confront Fear
Maybe you're afraid of rejection, ridicule, failure, success, or being ignored. I could create a list of writers' fears a mile long. But that would be boring because fears, in general, are dull. They label what you think are your weaknesses, and then you spend years or your entire life arguing for them.
However, acting in the face of fear is both interesting and inspiring. I'm not arguing for being fearless. We have fear for a reason. It protects us from dangers such as crime, natural disasters, sharp falling objects, etc. We need fear. And we need bravery.
Being brave is not about being fearless; it's doing something despite the fear. It's saving a child from a burning building, asking for a promotion, and risking termination, and it's leaving an abusive relationship despite the possibility of backlash.
In writing, fear doesn't serve you or your reader. On the contrary, it prevents you from doing your best work, the reason why it's YOU writing the book in the first place, and it (more times than not) prevents you from completing your work.
So stop being boring and chuck the fears associated with your writing off your desk.
Dump the Idea That Writing Is Always Hard
Writing can be hard. Maybe you like difficult things. Perhaps you enjoy puzzles and thrive on the rough patches. But if that's not you, know that you can change your thinking and your writing process experience. You don't have to suffer or succumb to the stereotype (a false one) of the drunk, depressed, or tortured writer.
For some tips and tricks on changing your mindset and reducing your writing struggle, check out the content from Sue Campbell distributed throughout the Happily Ever Author Club. Many emotions arise in the writing process: joy, excitement, surprise, satisfaction, pride, catharsis, etc. With some changes in your mindset, the feeling of struggle is optional.
Get the Words on the Page (Pantser or Plotter)
"Okay, Rachelle," you say. "That's fine and good, but it doesn't exactly tell me how to get words on the page." And you're right. So let's dig into the part where you're putting black words on that ominous white page.
You've read in many places that there are two types of writers, pantsers and plotters.
Pantsers
Writers with the “pantser” label are known for their ability to jump into writing, to allow their stories to "write themselves" by following ideas, characters, and the engaging plot lines that develop as they write. As a result, they may end up writing a completely different story than they expected when they first sat down.
Plotters
Writers with the “plotter” label are known for their commitment to outlining before they begin writing a story. They map the path from their inciting incident to their midpoint shift to their climatic event and to the resolution. They know their general plot before they start writing chapter one.
Are Pantsers and Plotters So Different?
Some writing experts imply that there’s a war between these two groups, one on either side of a picket line throwing metaphorical tomatoes at the other side.
It's just not true. At Pages & Platforms, we think all writers fall on a pantsing/plotting spectrum, and that a rigid writer on either end of the spectrum probably won’t finish a book without visiting some of the techniques from the other side.
As an editor, my experience has been that my clients who call themselves pantsers most enjoy writing into a story. They tend to focus on the process and journey of writing. Interestingly enough, once pantsers put all the building materials on the page, they end up spending the most significant percentage of their time in the revision process applying structure to the story material.
They need this time to get their story to "work;" to make sure their protagonist has a clear and believable change arc; their scenes fit and flow together, and their global story problem is both clear and resolved by the end.
My clients who call themselves plotters tend to enjoy most the process of figuring out the story puzzle, of putting a plan together before starting a project. They tend to focus more on efficiency and results. And, you guessed it, plotters end up spending most of their time and frustration in the revision process as well. Only they differ from pantsers in the revision process because they spend their time getting life, heart, and soul into the already working plot.
My clients who move easily between plotting and pantsing may or may not finish their books faster than those who don't. However, they report the most enjoyment in the overall process of writing a book. Their ability to free-write, review, rewrite and revise looks more like a dance (at least from the outside). There is a rhythm that keeps them from getting bogged down. They know that to complete a draft, they have to be flexible, and redefine every obstacle as an opportunity to innovate.
Whether they start by plotting or by pantsing, they know that it's time to look at their story from the other perspective when they get stuck. When that perspective stalls, they know they can switch back.
The Wisdom of the Pantsers for Plotters
To start drafting a story, you don't need to have everything figured out. You can start with an idea, a character, a question. Then, you can start writing and see what comes of it. Write until the words begin to slow or until you get stuck, and then take a step back and ask yourself, "Okay, what's this story really about? Do I have an emerging Story Type? Do I have an idea of what the climactic scene will be? (This is the big clue as to what kind of Story Type you have).
From there, your path might start to clear. If not, permit yourself to take the story in another direction, to keep exploring. There is nothing wrong with writing your way into a story, even writing an entire draft and then stepping back and asking, "Does this work? What do I have here? Can I make this work by redrafting? With an outline? With the help of an editor?"
The Wisdom of the Plotters for the Pantsers
To complete the draft of a story, you need to know where you want your story to go. As an analogy, you don't head off to the beach without knowing you need to go in a particular direction to get there. Likewise, stories have specific patterns, and there is no need to completely reinvent story structure as you try to complete a draft.
Instead, use the wisdom of those who have come before you and put structure in your story before you're led astray with tangents, unnecessary plot developments, and repetitive actions.
Use Story Types, genre conventions, and the essential core moments from your favorite stories as a starting point for considering your story trajectory. Then, innovate as needed for your specific story.
How to Use the Wisdom of the Plotter and Pantser to Complete Your Zero Draft
Begin where the energy and passion take you. If you get excited about outlining a story first, do it. If you want to write your way into a story or an idea, start there. Keep going until that no longer feels right, until you start getting frustrated with your progress, or you feel that niggling sense that you've gone off course.
Take a deep breath and try looking at your story from the other side of the spectrum. What would you tell yourself to do if you were your editor? Do it or don't. Give yourself some grace because this is hard work, no matter your approach.
Ask Yourself Some Difficult Questions
If you're having trouble figuring out where your story is going, what your protagonist's arc is, what your antagonist's motivation is, etc., ask yourself the following:
Character Desire
What are my protagonist's primary desires? What do they want? What do they need to do to get what they want?
Character Change
How does my character change from the beginning of the story to the end? What forces the change? Why is/was my character so resistant to that change?
Story Stakes
What are the stakes for my protagonist? What do they most have to lose and to gain?
Antagonistic Force
What are the obstacles preventing my protagonist from getting what they want? What primary conflict must my protagonist confront to either fail or succeed in obtaining their desire? What character most embodies that conflict? Are they the primary antagonist?
Setting
Which setting will provide me with the most opportunities for the character to change, confront obstacles, and come into conflict with other ways of thinking or behaving? Am I using my setting to create a challenge for my protagonist?
Characters
Which characters are my protagonist's primary supporters (allies) and opposition (hinderers)? Do I have at least one of each? Am I confusing the reader with too many of these characters? If so, can I eliminate or combine some of these characters into one?
Situations
What situations might my protagonist confront that make getting what they want difficult? What combination of setting and characters best amplifies these challenges?
Reader Emotion
How do I want my reader to feel when they put down this book? How can my characters' actions evoke these emotions? How does my story need to progress to evoke these emotions?
Do you have to have all these figured out to create a zero draft? Absolutely not. Most writers don't. But asking yourself these questions, or at least being aware that these are questions you will eventually need to answer, is a good start and might be just the push you need to sit down and write the challenge you're facing on any given day.
Silence the Critic
The critic inside your head is useless at the zero draft stage, where the focus is on exploration and amassing content. Being critical of yourself and your writing creates frustration and a lack of confidence. It leads to decreased writing focus, motivation, and productivity.
Engage the creative side of your brain and suppress the analytical. Unfortunately, our little human brains can't open to the muse and to the editor's mind simultaneously.
You’ll have all the tools, techniques, and support you'll need to write future drafts with different focuses. But without the zero draft, you'll have nothing to work with. You must create something to edit later.
The best way I've found to help me implement this idea is to buy a cheap notebook and to write in a big black marker on the cover, "SHITTY DRAFT." This warning label lets me relax and write whatever comes to my mind in the notebook because I don't have to worry about someone picking it up and deciding I'm a terrible writer based on the contents.
Allow yourself to make mistakes. No one is going to judge you for your zero draft.
For more info on how to silence your inner critic, check out Episode 2 of the Pages and Platforms Podcast.
Be Prepared for Negative Thoughts to Try to Alter Your Plans
Your brain will act up to try and prevent you from finishing your zero draft. It will say things like:
Stop and edit what you’ve already written before moving forward.
Your writing sucks.
Writing is too hard.
There are more important priorities than writing.
Do the dishes.
Walk the dog.
Just quit.
Listen to this lying brain once, and it will intervene again and again with a little more strength each time. So keep your butt in the chair and your hands on the keyboard and ignore the lies you try to tell yourself.
Read (a Lot)
Read in your chosen marketing genre, Story Type, and intended reader's age range. Compare and contrast at least two books similar to the one you want to write.
For example, suppose you are writing a queer Action YA story in a historical setting. In that case, you'll want to read other books that meet the same criteria, such as A Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue and Aristotle and Dante Conquer the World. You will find apparent similarities and differences in each novel’s story arc, setting, and secondary character outcomes. How do these books compare to yours?
Please don't let a fear of being unoriginal stop you from studying stories in your area by established authors. And certainly don't let that negative mind tell you, "It's already been done, so why bother?" Understanding the foundations of the craft is basic professionalism. Also, the more you study, the more the concepts will start to feel as if they come naturally to you.
Putting It All Together
Now you have the knowledge you need and know how to apply it to your zero draft process. You've seen that the advice from the experts and gurus is hit and miss depending on who you are and how you write. And you now know that you use whatever technique, tip, or trick that helps YOU move forward with your draft. You've gained some valuable and practical advice to help you get unstuck. And I hope this article has helped reinvigorate your desire and energy to complete your draft.
Remember, stagnation will suck you and your manuscript under for good. Keep working. Mix and match these suggestions, use them all, or use just one. Cultivate flexibility in your approach, and don't be afraid to put aside, at least temporarily, the practices that don't work for you. Trust your gut—your subconscious mind—and be open to what the muse assigns. If you’re willing to switch tactics whenever the need arises, you'll enjoy the path to your finished manuscript
Want to Learn and Experience More?
If you’re ready to learn more about writing your zero draft, do a deep dive into how to write your professional draft, learn how to talk about your story, and figure out how to market your story, please join us in the Happily Ever Author Club.
Anne Hawley and I host a weekly Q&A session where you can ask specific questions about your story. You can chat with us and other community writers on our Discord forum. You’ll gain access to the whole Story Path course over the first several months, and you’ll get new monthly content from us on writing and editing.
Membership in the Club also gives you access to our twice weekly write-ins to help you create time and focus for your writing projects.
For the Happily Ever Author Club, that’s not even counting the great marketing materials, webinars, and workbook, or the weekly book marketing Q&A session with Sue Campbell, an expert in the marketing and mindset aspects of your writing career. It’s amazing.
I hope to see, get to know you, and support you in the HEA community.