Respones to "Shitty First Drafts."
I thought that “Shitty First Drafts� was a fairly interesting article, but I don’t necessarily agree with it. My first drafts are, by no means, superb, but I don’t think that they’re “shitty.� Most of the time, slight modifications to my first draft are sufficient for a decent second draft. However, this varies, and is dependent on how much time, and effort I put into my first draft.
In high-school, I only went through my first drafts in order to correct grammatical errors. A majority of the time, I would receive an A or B on these papers. College is severely different though. For instance, my first draft for this class was, in fact, a piece of “shit.� I mean, it was really horrible. The only thing that prevented me from rewriting it was “Shitty First Drafts.� “Shitty First Drafts� actually made me feel secure, and proud of my “shitty� first draft.
I also liked Lamott’s humorous anecdote regarding her experience at “California Magazine.� It’s nice to know that even professional writers can not just sit down, and type a masterpiece. In fact, she states that her first drafts were so bad that she would be embarrassed is anyone finds them.
Although I agree with Lamott, I don’t know if her theory of revision after revision is always true. I have had experience with this in the form of multiple choice tests. There are always one or two questions that I’m not entirely sure of, so I revise my answer about fifty times. By the time I hand in my test, there are tiny eraser rips on the scantron, and one would not be able to discern which bubble was actually filled in. Anyways, I never correctly answer these questions. Seriously, I’m never right. Maybe the aforementioned example is stupid; however, my best work is occasionally, not all the time, but occasionally, my first draft.
Comments
I have to agree with you, "shitty" is a fairly strong word for a first draft. It implies a thoughtless or unusable piece of work, which it is hopefully not. Lamott may approach essays like a brainstorm, writing until she can consider it complete, and then come back to it later. I personally correct and look over my drafts as I write them, and I've often turned them in and received a good grade. I don't know if this could be considered a first draft or not, but I don't beleive that all first drafts are by definition, "shitty."
Posted by: Miriam Levy | February 1, 2007 8:08 PM
Nick,
I couldn't agree more with your reaction to "Shitty First Drafts". It is not everytime that we write "shitty" first drafts. Sometimes, if we truly put a lot of time and thought into our first drafts, they can turn out really well, and actually do not change much before we turn them in to be evaluated. However, college is a bit different, as you said. In high school, it was more than O.K. to write a "shitty" frist draft, and barely change it before it gets turned in. However, I do not think we will be able to get away with that here at the University of Minnesota. There is a lot more expected out of our writing, and the only errors we should have in our final drafts are complex errors that take practice and perfection to fix. But I do agree with you completely that our first drafts are not complete pieces of "shit", but the article did give us a sense of relief incase we do end up producing a "shitty" first draft, that it is really O.K., because all good writers write them. Good entry! See you in class!
-Landyn Shanks
Posted by: Landyn Shanks | February 2, 2007 5:17 AM
I also agree with you that sometimes the first draft is the best one. But this happens only if we actually put effort in it. When I spend more time working on my draft I try to shape it like it is my final one. Seeing it as it has to be graded the next day helps me work harder and put more thought in it. Later on in my revising process I end up fixing only the structural mistakes and maybe adding a sentence or two.
Posted by: Denitsa | February 5, 2007 6:14 PM