Writing Basics: The First Draft

Your first draft doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s.

Yes, there’s a time and place where you need to be able to share your ideas with editors, developers, playtesters, and so on.

And, yes, it’s worth reading up on how other people draft and outline and process their work, to see if those techniques are useful to you.

But your FIRST draft doesn’t have to be anything more than a starting point. I, at least, never worry too much about what the final product is going to be when starting my first draft. I throw ideas at the page, and see what sticks. Often I have half-finished sentences I abandon because my brain finds something better.

Maybe you work that way. Maybe you don’t.

Just don’t let concern about your first draft being *right* sideline you from WRITING.

You can fix, change, revise anything you want in a second draft.

But only if the first draft happens.

About Owen K.C. Stephens

Owen K.C. Stephens Owen Kirker Clifford Stephens is a full-time ttRPG Writer, designer, developer, publisher, and consultant. He's the publisher for Rogue Genius Games, and has served as the Starfinder Design Lead for Paizo Publishing, the Freeport and Pathfinder RPG developer for Green Ronin, a developer for Rite Publishing, and the Editor-in-Chief for Evil Genius Games. Owen has written game material for numerous other companies, including Wizards of the Coast, Kobold Press, White Wolf, Steve Jackson Games and Upper Deck. He also consults, freelances, and in the off season, sleeps. He has a Pateon which supports his online work. You can find it at https://www.patreon.com/OwenKCStephens

Posted on October 3, 2019, in Business of Games, Game Design, Musings and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment.

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