Summary

The article advocates for saving all drafts and discarded pieces of writing to improve the writing process and provide future inspiration.

Abstract

The article emphasizes the importance of preserving every iteration of one's writing, arguing that even discarded drafts have value. It suggests that saving previous versions allows writers to track their progress, revisit ideas, and potentially integrate earlier content into future work. The author points out that every writer, regardless of skill, goes through a process of editing that often involves cutting large portions of text. Instead of deleting these sections, the author recommends keeping them in a separate folder for later use. This practice not only helps overcome writer's block but also ensures that no written word is wasted, as past work can serve as a repository of ideas and inspiration for new projects.

Opinions

The author believes that deleting large portions of writing is a normal part of the editing process but suggests that these sections should not be discarded permanently.
Saving all versions of writing is seen as a method to ensure that the editing process is aligned with the writer's vision and can be reversed if necessary.
The author asserts that even sections of writing that seem unusable at the moment can become valuable in the future, serving as a source of inspiration or content for new work.
Keeping a repository of past writing is considered beneficial for overcoming creative challenges such as writer's block or a lack of ideas.
The author implies that every piece of writing, no matter how small or seemingly irrelevant, represents a personal investment of time and effort and therefore deserves to be preserved.

Why You Should Save Every Bit of Your Writing

The simple method for improving your writing process

Photo by Maksym Kaharlytskyi on Unsplash

Being a writer is not just about writing. Before any work can be deemed as completed, we have to scrutinize our work and edit it to perfection before it can be published.

As a result of our editing, there are many times where we will have to change entire portions of our writing, delete huge chunks of writing and go through numerous rewrites.

You may have rewritten a scene in your book because it failed to show the character growth that you were aiming for. Or you could be on your 5th version of your blog post just because you couldn’t find the oomph necessary for your conclusion.

In the worst-case scenario, you might even be near the ending of your 2000 word article or your 300-page manuscript before pausing and thinking this to yourself:

“This isn’t working out. I should just delete this and move on”

And then that particular piece of work gets tossed aside, never to see the light of the world again.

All this is part of a normal writing process. Any good writer that tells you that they have never thrown a huge chunk of their writing away before is simply lying. Unless that person happens to be a reincarnation of Apollo (but let’s be honest with ourselves, I’m pretty sure even the god of poetry has poems he decided to stop working on).

But before you go ahead and delete your next piece of work, I have something to tell you.

You shouldn’t be deleting them.

You should be saving them instead.

“But you said that everyone has work that should be put aside? How am I supposed to write better pieces if I don’t delete words that don’t fit into my work?”

I’m not telling you to not edit your work. Instead, I’m encouraging you to save those huge chunks that would have otherwise ended up in the digital landfill.

When you are planning to make significant changes to a story, I am suggesting that you make a copy of the work to save somewhere before you edit.

By keeping the original, you will be able to compare the pieces of work when you are done editing. This helps you to ensure that you are on the correct path and that you are making changes that are in line with your final vision.

If you decide that your edits took your writing in the wrong direction, you will be able to reverse any changes with ease. Making it easier for your writing to progress.

For longer pieces of work, you will be able to compare to various versions of your previous works. By having your older drafts to refer to, you can decide to include some portions of your previous writing into the final draft. While this seems trivial, having the ability to work in portions of your various drafts actually helps tremendously.

As we spend more and more time working on a long story, we sometimes tunnel in and become obsessed with certain details. In turn, other aspects might be left aside, underdeveloped and worse, edited out completely. By having the capability to look back at your original versions, you will be able to spot things that you have missed out, allowing you to weave them back in.

For other pieces of writing that I have completely lost hope on (those little projects that get tossed aside), I keep them in a folder titled “Things I am giving up for now”. Often, shreds and snippets of unused writing (paragraphs I took out of blog posts, chapters in stories that I find redundant, etc.) find themselves here as well.

This little folder (okay, it is actually a pretty big folder now) has become my go-to-folder when I’m facing issues in my writing. Be it a writer’s block or a lack of ideas for my next project, I often end up finding bits and pieces of inspiration from here. If I am lucky, I might even find huge chunks of usable writing that I can use in my current project.

Yes, saving your little pieces of “useless” writings might seem like a small issue. But all these pieces of writings are words that you have poured your heart and soul into. By keeping them safe and accessible, you are valuing your writing.

After all, word documents don’t take much space on your computers and laptops. What’s the harm in trying out a harmless piece of advice that might become useful and help you along the way in the future.

So, before you press backspace on a large chunk of text in the future, remember these words you read on a random Medium post. And maybe you’ll be able to reuse and revive those words again as you continue to write.

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