The thought of dumping your first draft might sound or feel like a drastic and desperate thing to do. After all, you might have spent a lot of time tapping away at the keyboard and consumed many cappuccinos sitting in cafés. BUT! Consider this: your first draft won’t have been your best work. If you are doubting the advice to dump your first draft, then at least take a break from it, go back and read it after some time away from it, and try to approach the read as if it was somebody else’s book.

Well? Did you do that?

If you did then you are probably realising that what you have written could be better in a lot of ways. Maybe the characters aren’t what you want them to be, perhaps it’s something to do with the setting, or perhaps it’s just down to your writing itself. Whatever it is, you’ll probably benefit from dumping that first draft. Why? Because you won’t want to be influenced by anything in it when you write the next version.

With my new book, my first draft was all over the place. It had characters that didn’t need to be there, scenes that didn’t work, and the writing wasn’t detailed enough to give the situations their necessary atmosphere. So, out went draft 1.

Draft 2 was an improvement but I still felt deep down that there was something missing. So, out went draft 2.

Draft 3 was much better. I knew the characters more and knew how they would react. The settings had become clearer in my mind and it was easier to describe the buildings, gardens, houses, people, etc. The draft wasn’t overlong and full of blabber, and now it’s down to the editing stage, I have taken out one whole chapter, and merged two chapters into one.

The book is now at the stage of being bounced off friends / family for their opinions, and I wouldn’t have got to this stage if I hadn’t dumped those first two drafts.

Now … I realise this course of action might not be for everyone, but I think it should be considered depending on what you have written. My approach to each book has been radically different and this is the first time I’ve thrown away anything I have written. The other books didn’t call for it – they just needed editing. So, I would say if you feel deep down in your heart that what you have written isn’t fantastic – dump it and start again. It flushes out ideas and then you’ll be able to figure out what works and what doesn’t.