Rethinking the Shitty First Draft
George Dila’s approach of the first draft differs greatly from Anne Lamott’s approach. Mr. Dila’s drafts are executed with the mindset that the paper has already been thought out and the words are formulating strong sentences in an excellent sequence that will result in a strong paper at the end, because the so called ”revisions” are being made mentally while the ideas are flowing through his stream of consciousness. Miss Lamott’s drafts are considered the “child’s draft”; meaning the ideas are thrown down and revised later on, which will create a second draft, third draft, and however many more it will take to perfect those ideas and tonal characters. For myself, I concur with the one draft approach and not making it “shitty.” George Dila brings up a few excellent points in his article, “Rethinking the Shitty First Draft”, which all coincide with my strategy for drafting an essay.
Trying to put together the pieces of a puzzle always seemed difficult to me. However, I have always understood things better visually. Those features definitely oppose one another, but I can totally understand why. As I perceive things, they start to click. The first 50% of a puzzle is all blank space and I am lost. However, once I see the picture being drawn out, I can bring everything from point A to point B. This corresponds with my writing method. I can jot down ideas, but then I won’t remember how I got those ideas. If I formulate the ideas into sentences from the start, I can really get a move on things and push for an excellent paper. George Dila poses an excellent example in building a house using Anne Lamott’s “pour-it-all-out” strategy. “The builder has all his materials on site. He begins pouring cement for the foundation, it is uneven and the cement is somewhat watery, but he can’t stop to fix it. He begins hammering the walls up. They are cockeyed, and a bit shaky, but no problem, he can fix them later. He begins working on the roof. Oops. Forgot the electrical wiring. Well, he’ll get it later.”
Mr. Dila claims that if you are careful, cautious, mindful, and prepared from the start, you can finish with the masterpiece you wanted. The layout of a paper is the foundation for the final product. Your writing from the first sentence can not be “shitty.” Why would you want multiple “shitty” sentences to follow? It’s better to make revisions as time goes on throughout the paper. If you end up finding yourself lost, take it back to square one and build that foundation to be even stronger.