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Why your first draft may actually be spot on

By Andrew Boulton

October 7, 2014 | 4 min read

Some rules are entirely worth following. Do not blithely approach any animal whose teeth are longer than a child’s toothbrush. Do not borrow pants. Do not go to a friend’s Halloween party dressed as his recently deceased cat.

And then there are rules so flimsy they shouldn’t legitimately be termed ‘rules’. One such, cough, rule, of copywriting I frequently see is when young writers are instructed never to be satisfied with a first draft. Instead they must continuously dissect and ultimately dismantle what they have written. The premise for this seemingly counter-productive exercise is that reevaluation always equates to improvement. I politely disagree. I less politely say ‘bums to all that’.

One of the biggest failings I see in copywriting is the inability to distinguish between productive, purposeful editing and tinkering. To simply instruct a writer that a first draft is unacceptable regardless of it’s quality or clarity is irresponsible. Far from being a ragged and incomplete first attempt, it is entirely conceivable that this initial effort, when the brief is fresh in the mind and inspiration is as yet undiminished, could actually produce the most effective solution.

Before I’m showered in indignant spittle and chewed flecks of Polo mint, I’m not for a second saying that reviewing that first piece of writing isn’t essential. What I am proposing though is that rather than editing with the assumption that improvements must be made, the process of editing should first look to identify what works well.

Just as copy can improve through intelligent editing, it can quickly lose it’s potency and purpose if edited with the kind of anxiety and self-doubt that insists things cannot be right, or even close to right, first time.

What we have is something of a culture where copywriters are afraid to submit their early efforts without having first agonised over the exactitude of every element. Worse still, a copywriter probably (understandably) fears they will somehow be considered slapdash or indifferent if they come back quickly with the definitive answer to the brief.

Again, bums. If much of what we write is striving for a sense of natural, conversational clarity then logic suggests there is a certain merit in that initial, spontaneous stream. The more we consider what we have written, the more we adjust and interfere with that primary vision then the bigger the danger of diluting that thread of authenticity.

Do read that first draft through. Do take time to consider it. Do edit. Do question your choice of words and structure. But don’t assume, as is the word in the playground, that first is the worst. Now that’s a better rule. And if you’ve ever been ejected forcibly from a Halloween party by an angry and grieving former friend, then you’ll know that some rules are just worth sticking to.

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