The first draft is the most important, and arguably the most difficult step when it comes to writing an essay. Since it is such a vital step in the process, writers have come up with numerous ways to tackle it. Dila and Lamott are writers that have contrasting views when it comes to what a first draft should look like. Lamott believes that, “The first draft is a child draft, where you let it all pour out and then let it romp all over the place”. Lamott advocates for the idea that the in the first draft, your ideas do not have to make sense. She believes that you should just get all of your ideas on paper, no matter how out of place or bad you think they are. In contrast, Dila summarizes his point by saying, “When I have completed what some might call the first draft of the story, it will have already been revised hundreds of times. It will be a competent story at this point, but still open to some revision, to polishing, to “tinkering”. But it will not be shitty. It will not be a mess”. Dila believes in the idea that a first draft should be polished and should already have clear and coherent ideas that do not require much change in the transformation to the final esssay.
I resonate more with Dila’s perspective on first drafts because I believe that good drafts lead to better essays. I understand what Lamott is saying, but when converting a “shitty” first draft into an essay, there are lots of gaps to fill in order to meet the requirements for the paper. This is the main difference between making a “shitty” first draft and a “fine” first draft. In a “fine” first draft, the points are already specific and clear, so the writer can put all of his or her time into refining the writing and making it higher quality. In a “shitty” first draft, the points are not clearly made yet and the analysis needs lots of work. Instead of editing a specific and clear draft, writers of “shitty” drafts first have to make their argument. This is not a good idea because there can be many mistakes found as they are attempting to craft their argument and the paper will turn more into a second draft than a final essay. In an ideal world, all of my drafts would be specific “fine” drafts with a strong base. However, sometimes I end up going with Lamotts approach as a result of my laziness.