Why every draft should include a graveyard
It’s not about channeling The Cure or connecting with your inner Goth. It’s about creating better drafts by burying and memorializing your “best” ideas.
Do you include a graveyard with every draft when writing copy?
Digging a grave for your ideas…
In The Proof is in the Process // mise en place I talk about my general process for approaching virtually any piece of copy. But I didn’t dive into the graveyard. I feel like it’s the unsung hero of any draft. The thing is… in over a decade of copywriting and marketing - I’ve never come across the “industry standard” method for drafting copy or thinking through messaging. There’s no true template for good communication - longform or short. That’s a good thing. Otherwise, we’d all write, think, and create the same way. Still, one element every draft should include is a graveyard, packed to the brim with fresh bodies, ripe for re-animation. Here’s why:
Because we’ve all been there. Everyone knows there’s no such thing as a perfect first draft. After researching, questioning, and ruminating, you end up with half-baked ideas, brilliant starts to dead-end finishes, and some really unfortunate puns.
It’s no secret that editing is one of the hardest aspects of writing. And I’ll be honest - I hate saying goodbye to good ideas. That’s why I put them in the graveyard where their potential isn’t lost*.
Whether it’s a headline, a helpful anecdote, or a paragraph that isn’t quite needed — the beauty of writing is how lightbulb moments, even the ones that whisper “I’m not ready yet,” can be easily resurrected.
This doesn’t just make repurposing content and generating new ideas easier, it adds new fuel to brainstorm sessions, where memorialized ideas that “could have been” receive a new perspective and a new opportunity to see the light of day.
*Important note: In creative graveyards, re-animation is a welcome and celebrated phenomenon.
The copywriter’s graveyard is a matter of infinite hope. It makes editing an exercise of observation and reflection - not of ruthlessly “killing your darlings.”
“The secret is in the line”
Despite all of his fauls, Charles Bukowski said it best. Because producing a great message — whether it’s a poem or an email — all comes down to work.
When he was working to get published, he mailed away countless poems, many of which were never published and never returned. He estimated hundreds were lost. His only response was to move forward. Word by word. Line by line. By breaking down his deeply personal craft into its smallest pieces and narrowing his focus. Line by line, he built monuments. To booze. To women. To writing. To his cat.
While he’d be sickened by buzzwords and (likely) banned from twitter, his simple advice underlines why a “graveyard” for your draft can be so powerful: because no line goes to waste.
After all, the best ideas always come back to life.
That’s what graveyards are all about, right? To bring potential back to the surface. Not just in the sense of a decaying hand, punching violently through the turf, but by laying ideas to rest so they can be remembered. I’ll admit: I never want to be buried in a graveyard. Put me in the ocean (Viking funeral preferred) or one of those “urn trees” they covered in Wired. Whatever you call it, the greatest hope and potential for any final resting place is to ensure that a memory isn’t lost - that the glimmer of its potential still has some shine. And as our friend Dr. Malcolm of Jurassic Park reminds us….
