Be extravagant

This weekend, I started watching Roxanne Gay’s Masterclass. In the third or fourth video, she’s talking about her writing process— the various ways she comes up with ideas and how she knows what to write about.

But it was what she said about first drafts that’s really stuck with me:

“First drafts should be extravagant.”

You know those quotes that just knock the mental wind out of you a little bit because something finally clicks or reframes a way you’ve been thinking?

That’s what this quote did for me. I’ve always thought about first drafts as messy brain dumps, ‘shitty rough drafts’, or something to be reined in.

But I like this framing so much better.

You should go all out for your first draft. Get it all on the page. Go down all the rabbit holes. Go on tangents. Go wild. Explore all of the options, because it’s what you’ll use to shape your piece later.

Be extravagant, so your writing can be excellent.