Like this:

Every now and then I attend workshops in which I am forced to write for three minutes from a prompt that draws virtually no story from me.  Such prompts can take the form of a bunch of unrelated words that should never appear in the same novel let alone on the same page like “chrysalis, gun powder, athlete’s foot, schizophrenia and acidophilus.” Or they can be an unlikely premise such as, “A fire ravishes your apartment building. You are the only survivor and are forced to take custody of your deceased neighbor’s pet aardvark.”

I write my heart out.  I really do.  For three full minutes, I am convinced that my banter with my new aardvark is pitch perfect.  That I’ve made a strong case for an OTC athlete’s foot medication (made from gun powder, acidophilus and the chrysalis of a rare African butterfly), which has been discovered to cure schizophrenia.  I think, “See Kirsten – you should push yourself more often.  Look how talented you are!”

And then we have to read aloud.

This is the point when it becomes obvious that my classmates have seen this prompt before – that I’m the only one who didn’t cheat.  Because what they read is good.  They have fresh imagery, innovative symbolism and three-syllable verbs.  Some of them receive applause.  I, on the other hand, get a reaction only from my teacher.  And it’s usually delivered two octaves above her normal voice.  “…Interesting….OK…Who has another?”

I wish I could blame the prompts.  But the truth is, my first drafts have historically been terrible.  That is, until I attended a prompt-free workshop that suggested the Rule of Ten (which I believed was first created by John Vorhaus, but lots of people have ripped it off as I’m doing now, so I can’t be sure).

The idea is that for every one great idea a writer has, he has nine crummy ones.

Your first several ideas are usually cliché — you’ve plagiarized from books or movies without even knowing it.  So every time you have to make a decision, write out ten ideas.  Your only decent idea should be somewhere near the end.

I am not kidding when I say this saves me hours of revision in each scene.  I use this technique on almost every page to decide anything from defining character motivation to determining who goes in a scene to choosing setting.

Do you have any tricks to write a better first draft?  Please share it in the comments.

P.S. I know this is technically only one technique and not ten as the title insinuates (but does not promise if you read closely!).  But Barbara of Writing Time just taught me that the easiest way to get a reader’s attention is to put a number in the headline and I wanted to try my new trick.  The number one just didn’t impress.  Question is – did it work?