c/first-draft-freakouts

My first draft hit 50,000 words and I'm kind of freaked out

I was just trying to get the story down, you know, no editing. I opened the doc today and the word count was 50,217. I never thought I'd write that much on a first pass, it feels like a real book now. The problem is, I know at least 15k of it is pure garbage, like side character rambles and weird scene repeats. Has anyone else hit a big word count milestone and then immediately felt overwhelmed by how much needs fixing?

I paid a guy $200 to 'edit' my first chapter and got back a few commas changed

Found him on a freelance site, said he had ten years of experience. He sent it back in under an hour with almost no notes, just a couple of punctuation tweaks. Anyone know a good way to find a real editor who actually gives hard feedback?

I used to think my first drafts had to be perfect before anyone saw them

Last month, I shared the first 500 words of my fantasy novel in this group, shaking the whole time. I thought it was a mess, but the feedback pointed out a cool magic system I didn't even know I'd built! One person said, 'Your world feels lived-in, even in this rough state,' and that changed my mind completely. Now I see the first draft as just the raw material, not the final product. It was a huge relief. How do you guys get past the fear of showing unfinished work?

My writing group buddy in Austin said my main character sounds like a 'sentient spreadsheet' and now I can't unsee it

I used to think my first draft had to be perfect before anyone saw it

I wrote a fantasy chapter six months ago and thought the dialogue was great. My writing buddy read it and said, 'This sounds like a history book, not people talking.' I rewrote it last week, just letting the characters argue like real people, and it's so much better now. How do you know when to stop polishing a rough draft yourself and just show it to someone?

My writing group buddy called my main character 'a cardboard cutout with a sword' and I can't decide if it's helpful or just mean.

We were workshopping our fantasy novel first drafts at the library on Tuesday. Mark read my chapter, looked up, and said exactly that. He pointed to a line where my hero just announces his tragic backstory to a stranger for no reason. I felt my face get hot. Part of me wants to scrap the whole chapter, but another part thinks he's right and I need to show the pain instead of telling it. Has a piece of blunt feedback ever actually saved your draft, or does it usually just make you want to quit?

Wasted $60 on a 'plot generator' app that gave me a story about a sentient potato running for mayor

I thought my fantasy novel needed a prologue until a beta reader called it 'info-dump city'

I cut it and started with chapter one's bar fight instead, and the pacing is way better. Anyone else ditch a prologue and find it fixed their opening?

I thought writing every single day was just busywork, but my messy draft says different

For years, I heard other writers talk about the 'write every day' rule and I always brushed it off. I figured my method of waiting for big chunks of free time on weekends was fine. Then, about three months ago, I got stuck on a chapter in my draft and decided to try the daily thing as a last resort, even just for 20 minutes. I set a timer on my phone and did it. The first week was rough, but by the second, I noticed I wasn't starting each session cold. I was picking up threads from the day before without that awful warm-up lag. My draft is still a total mess, full of notes like 'fix this later' and 'bad dialogue,' but it's 40 pages longer than it was. The story actually feels like it's moving forward now, even on the bad days. Has anyone else had a writing habit they fought against that actually worked out?

My first draft was a mess until I tried the 'reverse outline' trick

I had a 50,000 word draft for my fantasy novel that felt all over the place, so I printed it out and wrote one sentence for each scene on index cards. Seeing it all laid out on my floor in Seattle showed me three whole chapters that didn't move the plot forward at all. Has anyone else tried a method like this to fix a draft that's gone off the rails?

I thought the 'kill your darlings' advice was just cruel writer talk

I had a whole chapter about my main character's childhood dog that I loved, but it didn't move the plot forward at all. After three beta readers said the same thing, I cut it and the next chapter flowed way better. Has anyone else had a scene they loved that just had to go?

PSA: My neighbor yelled 'kill your darlings' at his cat and it clicked for me

He was trying to get his cat, Mr. Whiskers, off the kitchen counter in Seattle. He kept shouting that phrase. I realized I've been holding onto a 15-page prologue in my draft that does nothing. It's my darling. I need to cut it. Anyone else have a weird moment that made a writing rule finally make sense?

I used to think my first drafts had to be perfect right away

My friend Carla read a messy chapter I wrote at a coffee shop in Seattle and just said, 'This is a great start, now tell me what you're trying to say.' That simple question made me stop trying to fix every sentence and just focus on the story. It changed how I write from the first word. Has anyone else had a friend give you that one piece of advice that flipped a switch?

Just tried writing my first chapter out of order and it actually worked

I was stuck on the opening scene for my fantasy novel for weeks. On a whim last Tuesday, I skipped ahead and wrote a big action scene from chapter five instead. In about two hours, I had 1,200 words down, and it showed me exactly what my main character was fighting for. Going back to the start, I finally knew the right tone to set. Has anyone else broken their own process like this to get unstuck? What part did you jump to?

My whole second act just fell apart because I tried to outline it in Scrivener for the first time (which was a mistake, I think).

Just found out most first drafts are only 20% of the final word count

I was reading an old interview with Stephen King in The Paris Review and he said the first draft of 'The Stand' was way shorter than the final book. It made me stop stressing about my messy 50k draft, knowing it's just the raw material. Has anyone else had a draft balloon or shrink that much in edits?

My word count hit 100,000 and I realized my main character has no job

I was celebrating finishing the first draft of my fantasy novel when I checked the stats. The file said 100,042 words, which felt huge. Then it hit me: my hero has been on this quest for six months in the story, but I never gave him a way to pay for food or a place to sleep. He's just been wandering around, and I wrote it all without noticing. Has anyone else missed something this basic for that long?

Can we talk about how I used to rewrite every sentence before moving on

My writing partner in Austin finally told me to just type 'TK' and keep going, and I finished a chapter in two days instead of two weeks. Anyone else have a trick that broke their perfectionist loop?

Shoutout to the person who said to write the bad version first

I was stuck on my opening scene for like a week. I wanted it to be perfect right away, so I kept deleting everything after two sentences. Then I saw a comment here that said 'just write the worst, dumbest version you can think of to get it down.' So I did. I wrote a version where my main character literally tripped over a rock and said 'oof.' It was terrible. But having that awful thing on the page let me see what I actually wanted. I spent the next two days fixing just that one scene, and now it's the strongest part of my draft. That one piece of advice saved me from quitting. Has anyone else tried the 'write it badly on purpose' trick for a tough section?

My writing group told me to cut my whole first chapter

I shared a 4,000-word opening for my fantasy novel last month. One member, a published author named Carla, bluntly said it was all backstory and the real plot started in chapter two. I was defensive but tried her advice, cutting it down to a single 500-word scene. She was right. The draft is way tighter and starts with action now. Has anyone else had a piece of advice that felt wrong but totally fixed a draft?

Serious question, I tried writing my first draft by hand versus just typing it out.

Typing felt fast but messy, while writing it in a notebook in the park last week forced me to slow down and actually think about each sentence. The handwritten version needed way less editing later. Anyone else find that changing your drafting tool makes a huge difference?

My protagonist just hit 100,000 words and I'm pretty sure 80,000 of them are just him thinking about soup

I was doing a word count on my fantasy novel draft and the number genuinely shocked me, because the plot has barely moved forward since chapter three. My main guy is supposed to be on a quest for a magical gem, but he keeps stopping at taverns to internally monologue about the quality of the stew. Has anyone else written themselves into a corner this deliciously pointless?

Someone in here told me my main character was 'a cardboard cutout with a sword' and honestly, it hurt but they were right

My barber said my first draft looked like a 'good haircut from a bad angle'

I was getting a trim yesterday and mentioned I was stuck on a story. He said, 'Let me see that thing,' and read a page on my phone. He pointed at a messy paragraph and said, 'This is like a good haircut from a bad angle. The shape is there, you just gotta move around it.' It hit me that I was too close to see the structure. Has anyone else had a non-writer give you the exact advice you needed?

My fantasy novel's opening chapter got shredded by my writing group, and honestly, it felt amazing

I brought the first 2,000 words of my epic to my local group on Tuesday, expecting gentle praise. Instead, Jane pointed out my main character had no clear goal, Mark said the magic system intro was an info-dump, and they all agreed the tavern scene was a cliche. For about five minutes, I wanted to crawl under the table. But then something clicked. Their notes weren't mean, they were specific. They actually cared enough to be brutally honest. That direct feedback gave me a real roadmap for my rewrite, something vague compliments never could. Now I'm staring at a messy document full of their red comments, and I'm weirdly energized. Has anyone else had a critique that initially stung but ended up being the best thing for your draft?