> [!tldr] Have a dumb tiny elf write your first draft. Then you fix it. (The elf is you.) **Elfing** is a creativity hack that recognizes *the key to good writing is good editing*. > [!todo] How to: > Imagine you're a dumb little elf who got paid $1 to churn out the worst "best" first attempt they could. > > 1. Start in *elf mode*. **Just write. Don't edit. Don't stop.** > 2. Finish an embarrassing, overlong first draft. > 3. Start your second draft. The first draft will be bad. You may throw away 90% of it. But it's *something*. > [!tip] [[Done beats perfect]]. This is an example of: - [[Creative Process Divergence then Convergence]] - [[Eat the Frog]] - do the hard thing first Director Zach Cregger gave this advice in an interview (see [[#Source]]). > [!question] Why? > Editing something to be good is easier than writing something good the first time. It's easier to recognize what's working after it exists than it is to make something that works straight out of the gate. > > Creating, like the engineering process, is iterative. **Get your first iteration done so that you can start your second**. > > This gets the story out of you. It Gets a lot of bad ideas out, too, but that's the point. When your fingers are moving faster than your brain it's easier to write authentically. When you're reading your own writing it is it's easier to approach it neutrally. You don't have to be attached to what you wrote, because the dumb tiny elf wrote it. A dumb tiny elf wrote this. Then I edited it. **** # More ## Source - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofODN8AAJpE&is=b-3UIIWSoATdLuHt [^1]: Even though [[Nobody Starts from Scratch]]