Your first draft should be you telling the story to yourself. In the flurry of passion, the pressure to find the perfect words for every scene, moment of dialogue, or character description can often lead to writer’s block. I struggled with my perfectionism for years until I found a little trick that successfully helped me work around it. Placeholders. Placeholders are temporary stand-ins for elements you haven’t fully fleshed out or refined yet. They allow you to keep the momentum of your writing going without getting anchored down by the details.

8 examples where placeholders helped expedite my first draft:

 

1. Marking the “Why”

Before you put pen to paper or open that blank document on your computer, it’s important to ask yourself what you hope to achieve with your book. Are you writing to entertain, educate, inspire, provoke, or a colorful combination of things? Understanding your overarching purpose will guide your writing activities and sessions. This doesn’t need to be a well-composed sentence or paragraph. I use a short phrase that will remind me of my purpose and write it at the top of the page during my writing sessions. With my current WIP (work-in-progress), I use the placement holder [Ooey Gooey Feels] to help me keep a pulse on the romance style I want to feature in the novel.

2. Developing a Working Title

Formulating a working title that encapsulates the essence of your book will act as a guiding light throughout your writing process. When I craft my stories, it takes writing a significant chunk of the first draft before my mind composes a decent idea for a working title. Now, I create a title placement holder that describes the gist of my idea, like my current WIP dubbed [Vampire Pet].

3. Character Names

Instead of spending precious time brainstorming the perfect names for your characters, simply use placeholders like [Protagonist], [Antagonist], or even [Sidekick]. This keeps your narrative flowing without interrupting your creative flow. I prefer to use the distinguishing trait of each character in my character-name placeholders. For example, in [Vampire Pet], I refer to the love interest as [Vampire Daddy], an ode to the way he shepherds and nurtures the heroine.

4. Creating Mind Maps

I use a mind map to visually explore the elements connected to my initial idea. This helps in identifying potential subplots, characters, and themes that I can carry throughout the novel. Using placeholders in this step can allow your mind to play with multiple ideas without getting hung up on the particulars. In the case of [Vampire Pet], the ember of my idea was the shift in demeanor that [Vampire Daddy] has when he transitions from seeing [Mortal Femme] as prey to something to be cared for. I then wrote various scenes where they could meet, and this transition could take place. I also took liberties with how the transformation happened in my scenes to play around with their character dynamic. Because you’ll explore various scenes in this stage, using placeholders can help you word-vomit all your ideas so you can examine and select the concepts that best serve your “Why” without investing time boiling down details of ideas you may not use.

5. Molding Descriptions and Settings

When describing settings or scenes, the use of generic placeholders like [City Description], [Meet Cute], or [Fancy Steps in Castle] lets you focus on the core of a scene without getting sidetracked.I use placement holders in [Vampire Pet] to give me clues about what I intend to foreshadow or how I want the setting to tie into a greater theme.

6. Dialogue

Crafting authentic dialogue takes time, revisions, and the occasional spout of talking out loud to oneself. During your first draft, you can use placeholders like [Tense Dialogue], [Witty Banter], or the brief lines of dialogue that immediately come to mind. These placeholders allow you to capture the essence of the conversation without obsessing over vernacular or dialogue tags.

7. Plot Points and Subplots

As your story unfolds, you may discover new possible plot points or subplot points. Instead of halting your progress to fully develop them, you can use placeholders like [Plot Twist] or [Reveal New Detail]. This ensures you don’t lose sight of your initial storyline while allowing room for organic growth and intentionality during the next stages of drafting.

8. Emotional Beats and Themes

In emotionally charged scenes or scenes that explore overarching themes, you can use placeholders to identify what will need fleshing out later without sacrificing the emotional depth of your idea. When drafting my first chapter ideas for [Vampire Pet] I used placement holders like [First Look], [First Smell], [First Touch], and [First Thought] to experiment with emotional resonance and rhythms. When I organically had specific ideas, I would include those. But if I didn’t have an immediate thought, I used placeholders, so I didn’t get bogged down with trying to complete the masterpiece before laying down the foundations.

Final Thoughts

Remember, the primary goal of the first draft is to capture the essence of your story. Refinement and polishing will come with subsequent revisions. By incorporating placeholders into your first draft, you give yourself the freedom to explore and experiment without the pressure of perfection. Embrace the flexibility that placeholders offer, and let your creativity soar this year.

Because every word counts.

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