Prisimpad: A Guide to Wattpad, Writing, and Whatever

ON WRITING: Forget Grammar, Just Write

With the title of this chapter, Grammar Nazi's everywhere are ready to burn me at the stake. Relax! Put down the gasoline and hear me out. I'm not saying never worry about grammar, just don't worry about it in a rough draft, well unless you don't have a grasp of basic grammar like how to use periods and question marks. That's a different argument all together. But assuming you do have a basic grasp then worry about the major grammar issues in the final draft. Grammar is easy to fix, even for someone like me who struggles with it due to a mild case of dyslexia. It's frustrating, but it can be fixed even if someone needs help to fix it.

There are things that you should do right the first time because of how basic they are: like dialogue tags, proper punctuation and spelling, and basic details to form a coherent sentence. Not doing so will piss off your readers if you're posting it on Wattpad, but grammar shouldn't stress you out while you're writing. Not in a first draft, or a second . . . worry about it in the final drafts. When all your rewrites and plot fixes are done, then focus on the structure and grammar.

Is that comma in the right place? Figure that out after you've finish re-writes.

Does that sentence make sense? Who cares! Worry about it later.

Should this paragraph be broken up? Wait until it's done!

Is that a run on sentence? Break it up in the final draft.

There is so much in writing that you have to worry about, but you also have to prioritize. If you don't, you'll be stuck on chapter one forever and never finish the book. Believe me, I know forgetting about mistakes is hard. One of my biggest issues with my dyslexia is word swapping. I'll know the difference between the word I want and the word I use, but I still often use the word I shouldn't use and don't notice until someone points it out no matter how many times I re-read something myself. But reality is, by the time I get through all the rounds of editing a book might need before I publish for real, that word swap might not be there because I might delete or change that sentence. So why spend the hours it takes me to catch them all (and it can take me hours and I still might not catch them all) in a first draft instead of getting that first draft finished?

If you're doing it right, you're going to rewrite the entire book at least once. Chances are heavy that mistake you see now, won't be there when you're done rewriting it. Why stress over fixing it if means you never finish a first draft? If it's an easy fix like spellchecking it, then go ahead and fix it right away. But if it requires serious thought, if you're agonizing over that error and how to fix it, then leave it alone. Move on.

It took me a long time to get to the point where I stopped worrying about my deficiencies with grammar, typos, and my dyslexic issues and focused on the story first. Good grammar doesn't mean jack if the story is crap. Now I won't be egotistical and say my stories are amazing, but I get them done. I finish that first draft. And that's what I'm trying to implore you to do if you're one of the people who get trapped in a loop of editing as you write. Some people can edit as they write and still finish a draft, to those people I say keep going. To those who can't, then stop worrying about it.

This chapter is going to be beating a dead horse because it's the only way I can think to drive it home.

Typos and grammar can be fixed. For some it'll take more effort than others, but it can be fixed. Character flaws, plot holes, world building deficiencies—those details are a lot harder for an author to catch on their own. That's a big part of the reason beta readers exist, to help the author catch those things. But they can still be fixed. Almost every flaw you find in a first draft can be fixed.

Unless it's a fatal flaw that kills the book then just write that first draft. Put your fingers to the keys, put the pen to the paper, put the chisel to stone for all I care. Just write. Put down the foundation and then build the house. The house is the grammar, the structure, the details which make your story work as a cohesive unit. You can't do any of that without a strong foundation first. So get that foundation.

Why spend hours or months or whatever trying to craft the perfect sentence if the rest of the story never gets finished?

Run your first draft through spell check for sure. If you don't at least do spell check then you're just being lazy. But don't spend hours of editing until it's done and you're trying to decide, once and for all, what stays and what goes in the next draft. Maybe do a read through or two after the spell check, but otherwise move on and finish that draft.

There are a couple of things I know my first draft will always have: dropped words, word swaps (particularly with homophones), weird sentences that even I don't know what they mean, misplaced commas, then/than being a little bitch, and a few others. Some of those will be related to the dyslexia, others are just weak grammar on my part. If I stopped to worry about those details every time I wrote a book, I'd never finish anything. For the most part, I can at least get my point across.

Your story wants to be told, so tell your story. Stop interrupting the characters to correct them, let those characters talk and run free. When they're done yapping their pretty little heads off, then you can correct their language. Though I will say if your grammar is really bad that your first draft isn't coherent, then don't be like me and post a first draft. Get the basics cleaned up before you share it, but still just write that first draft.

See, Grammar Nazis, this wasn't so bad. Was it? *grabs her gummy bears and hides from the impending "you're an idiot, Prisim" comments*