do good writers always get it right the first time?

Answer 1

You mean like with no editing?

Heck no. A good writer needs an ever better editor. Take T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland. It was practically written by Ezra Pound if you look at the amount of editing Pound did.

There are a bunch of writers with terrible grammar and spelling. I copy edited at a newspaper for several years, and most of the award-winning writers could barely piece together a grammatically correct sentence let alone a well structured article.

Answer 2

Good writers know it's almost impossible to get it "right" the first time. Writing is a process. The first draft is just that, a draft. A good writer then goes back and makes changes where they are needed. Anyone who claims they get it tight the first time all the time is a hack.

Answer 3

I think good writers are the ones who are willing to do something different, innovative, off the beaten path. Just like any job, it take practice over and over again. If you are thinking about writing, or in the middle of doing it, let your creativity take charge and follow behind it. Writing is an art, it speaks differently to everyone, it will never send the same message twice to anyone.

One thing I don't like about some writers/authors, is the choice of words they use. Writing needs to be clear to the general audience, if not, you will loose people's interest.

Answer 4

Of course not. Look at any of the famous writers. They've all written a flop at some point in their career. It usually takes a few tries to get it right, and even then people all have their own tastes and opinions.

Answer 5

Ernest Hemingway wrote that the first draft is Sh--.* However his estate published a first draft manuscript of his anyway (True at First Light ). The review isn't all that great and ends with this:

"Authors can agonize and fantasize, but sometimes a story resists its birth. The writer can complete the manuscript, can tweak it and tease it and rub at it. But editing a manuscript that is going nowhere is like flogging a dead horse. Ernest Hemingway knew he had no story in True at First Light worth pursuing. Too bad his estate didn't agree. "| July 1999

Answer 6

Oh no. Good writers write and rewrite and go over and check and then leave it lay for a while and then come back to it and check it again, change it again and add/remove/ reword...

Good writers are people who question themselves and others and learn from other good writers.

Answer 7

Nope. I don't know an author in this world who doesn't have a fragment or two of something they started and tossed aside sitting in their desktop. Most have gone through at least one book that they would NEVER show to anyone!! Then there are drafts - you do many of them and when you reread what you wrote, you say "What the #$%^ was I thinking when I wrote THAT?" Lastly, there are editors. It's their job to make sure we get it right. We may not always agree with editors, but they do a heck of a job. God Bless them every one. Pax - C

Answer 8

No, but sometimes, when the second or third effort becomes a bestseller the earlier effort becomes salable.

For example John Grisham could not sell his first novel until AFTER he had sold The Firm and The Pelican Brief. It is my opinion that first novel, which he couldn't sell until after he became a bestselling author, A Time To Kill, is the best thing Grisham has ever written.

Doc

Answer 9

No, they learn by experience.Books reflect the phases a writer is going through.

Answer 10

Hardly ever. Don't worry about perfectly nailing every word. Get the narrative thread out and go back to clean it up later. If your work is destined for publication, an editor will have their way with it eventually. Don't sweat it.