- Long
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- Nov 07, 2020
Drafts Quotes
Because nothing good starts on the first page.
These Drafts quotes come from writers on messy first attempts and the Good work hidden inside years of rewriting.
- Last Updated on Aug 01, 2026
- Good
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- Nov 07, 2020
First drafts are never any good - at least, mine aren't.
- Good
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- Nov 07, 2020
Most development doesn't make it to series. So you want the writer and director to have a really good experience with development because, if it doesn't work out, you want to work with them again. You have to know their work really well, know the drafts really well, and when you give notes, you need to have really thought them through.
- Computer Screen
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- Nov 07, 2020
Recently a study proved that working from a larger, less cluttered computer screen increases concentration. I could have told them that. And yes, I write first drafts with a mechanical pencil and a yellow legal pad. There's good reason for this primitive behavior: I am a crackerjack typist. My hand moves far more quickly than my brain.
- Early Work
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- Nov 07, 2020
Most of my early work was done on typewriter. And the only way to iterate drafts was to re-type it.
- Make
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- Nov 07, 2020
I usually do at least a dozen drafts and progressively make more-conscious decisions. Because I've always believed stories are closer to poems than novels, I spend a lot of time on the story's larger rhythms, such as sentence and paragraph length, placement of flashbacks and dialogue.
- Character
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- Nov 07, 2020
One of the things I noticed more in this draft than in any recent drafts was the importance of the character issue. Players who had baggage, like Justice, fell much farther than his talent dictated. But a lot of coaches didn't want to take the chance.
- Process
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- Nov 07, 2020
It's a debilitating process, working with the studios. With the length of time it takes for drafts and development deals, your enthusiasm is gone before you're ready to make the film.
- Me
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- Nov 07, 2020
It took me years of attempts and failed drafts before I finally wrote the elegies I needed to write.
- Luck
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- Nov 07, 2020
I write first drafts by hand. Never do I open an umbrella inside the house. I don't predict wins or losses. I used to stand on a certain piece of rug if my brothers and husband were watching football and their team got in trouble - but now the luck went out of that rug. If a circle is involved, I try to go clockwise.
- Blind
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- Nov 07, 2020
The bottom line is that I like my first drafts to be blind, unconscious, messy efforts; that's what gets me the best material.
- Maintenance
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- Nov 07, 2020
Second, there were the discussions and drafts leading up to the White Paper on Employment Policy of 1944 in which the UK government accepted the maintenance of employment as an obligation of governmental policy.
- Day
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- Nov 07, 2020
I kind of stay away from the mock drafts and stuff. It's hard, obviously, in this day and age with social media... so I might look at it for a quick second, but if it's not one of the 32 teams, it's not important.
- Getting
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- Nov 07, 2020
The first drafts of my novels have all been written in longhand, and then I type them up on my old electric. I have resisted getting a computer because I distrust the whole PC thing. I don't think a great book has yet been written on computer.
- Fan
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- Nov 07, 2020
I get a lot of fan mail addressed to Bilbo and sometimes Sir Bilbo - it's hardly ever addressed to Ian Holm, in fact. My business manager drafts the replies, and then I pop in to the office and sign them, 'Bilbo!'
- Good
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- Nov 07, 2020