Writing the rough draft of your novel can be a little difficult, especially if you are following a guide that you found online. Writing a draft can never have a one-size-fits-all approach, in fact, it is the worst approach you can have. Every plot is just as unique as the author writing it, so trying to make it fit inside a box is not going to give you many advantages. Some approaches can help certain genres, but it cannot work for every novel.

A solid rough draft is like a backbone to your story. The better the rough draft, the quicker you can get the novel finished and ready for publishing. To help you write the best rough draft, there are certain tips that you can try to make it work for you and your novel.

Always Start With a Goal in Your Mind

Before you even begin writing, set a goal for yourself to follow. The goal could be something as simple as setting a time limit for yourself in which you are going to try your best to write or it could be a target of a number of words that you are going to write. Set your writing sessions at a time that you know you are going to be most creative and energetic. Most importantly, you need to set a deadline for the rough draft. You need to set a limit to the days you are going to work on the rough draft; it can be a day, weeks or even a month, but you need to give yourself a deadline. If you think you are falling short, you can always increase the deadline.

Create Your Outline First

Writing a rough draft can be exceptionally difficult if you don’t have an outline to help you. Speed writing will be pointless if you don’t know where your story is supposed to go. You will need to have a little structure to your story before you start writing because it will make the writing process much easier and smoother. You will not have to stop every few minutes to think about what you should do next because you will already have it all down. Of course, you can deviate from the plan, but you will have the basic layout of the story and you can always make changes to it as you go.

Make it Simple

The rough draft is going to be the first draft of your story, so you should not add any subplots or any plot twists. You can always add the details to the story as you start finessing it, but the first draft is always going to be simple. This will help you to lay down the most basic plot of your story, make it easier for you to see where the main characters are going, and if you need to tweak them a bit to make them stand out more.

Always remember that the rough draft is basically going to work as a layout for your story. You can be a little loose with the way you write, have some creative limits and basically have an easier time laying the groundwork down before you start finessing it and move into the second draft.