Podcasts › Fiction Writing Made Easy with Savannah Gilbo
#250. Why Your First Draft Doesn't Match the Book in Your Head (with Gala Russ)
What's in this episode
A book coach who's written 15 novels pulls back the curtain on what's really happening when your messy first draft disappoints you. Ever finished a chapter, read it back, and realized the words on the page don't match the story in your head? There's a name for that. It's called the “taste gap,” and it often shows up among serious, lifelong readers. In this episode, I sit down with book coach and publishing strategist Gala Russ (who's written 15 novels) to talk about the taste gap, what a first draft is supposed to look like, and why messy writing is the whole point. This one's for you if you've studied writing for years but still struggle to finish your first draft. Because the taste gap closes when you practice writing more than researching it. Here’s what we talk about: [04:41] Why no number of finished pages ever makes you feel like a real writer, and the loaded questions non-writers often ask that get inside your head. [13:55] What a real first draft actually looks like behind the scenes and why a scrappy, hodgepodge, messy manuscript is usually a good sign.[19:04] The taste gap explained: why being an avid reader who knows what ‘good’ is can make your own draft feel like the w