What Comes Before the Zero Draft? Exploring the Negative Draft

Using Generative AI to Discover What You Don’t Want

Writers often discuss the zero draft—a rough document where they begin shaping their ideas. Anne Lamott calls it the “shitty first draft.” But what if getting to that point feels impossible? Before reaching the zero draft, writers can try something new: the negative draft.

A negative draft helps writers clarify their ideas by reacting to what does not work. Generative AI plays a valuable role in this process, not by writing for the author but by providing material to evaluate, reshape, and reject.

What is a Negative Draft?

Many writers think they must know exactly what they want to say before they begin. But clarity often comes from recognizing what doesn’t work as much as from identifying what does. The negative draft is a step between planning and drafting—a way to generate material to react to. Sometimes, you don’t know what you want until you see what you don’t.

Creating something you’ll largely reject was once too laborious to consider, but GenAI makes it possible. AI-generated output is not a draft in any real sense—it’s a probability-driven response with no understanding of meaning—but it provides a starting point. Now you’ve overcome the blank page problem and you have something to respond to. It’s a start!

Why use a Negative Draft?

At its core, the negative draft is an experiment. Input your notes or a rough outline into a GenAI tool and get full sentences or paragraphs in return. The output may be generic, imprecise, or simply wrong. You may get a rambling summary masquerading as an argument. You may get ideas that are flat, oversimplified, conflated, or distorted. Whatever you get, you will notice how you feel about it because you didn’t create the text yourself. Since you have no attachment to the AI-generated text, you probably won’t try to salvage it. Feel free to delete this text and write something better. Noticing and reflecting on your reaction is the point. Now that you can see what needs to change, change it.

The reaction to the AI-generated text clarifies what fits and what does not; what aligns with the argument and what distorts it; what seems weak and what seems supported; what feels authentic and what feels cold or robotic. By making these distinctions, writers clarify their own thinking before moving into a full draft. Every reaction is information about what you should do next.

Responding to AI-generated text may even remind you of what do know. Instead of shouting “NO!” at the screen, articulate the rule or principle that GenAI got wrong and include that nuance in your own draft. This interaction reinforces your understanding and strengthens your work. Rejection is progress.

But remember, if you keep any part of the negative draft, review it critically, reject, reshape, rework it and make it your own. Aim to use no more than 10-20% of the text you’ve received.

How the Negative Draft Works

The concept of the negative draft is rooted in the idea that clarity often arises through trial and error. This approach works for a few reasons:

1. Breaking Creative Blocks: Writers often get stuck because they feel pressure to get things right on the first try. A negative draft removes that pressure.

2. Refinement Through Reaction: Rejecting weak ideas, vague phrasing, or poor structure sharpens clarity. Engaging with concrete content is easier than working with abstract, undeveloped ideas.

3. Clarifying Values and Priorities: Seeing what doesn’t work forces writers to grapple with their goals, ultimately clarifying what matters.

By making rejection an intentional part of the process, the negative draft helps writers develop stronger instincts for what makes writing effective. Frustration—“This isn’t what I wanted!”—becomes an opportunity.

Using AI Without Letting AI Take Over

Good writing is built on critical thinking. So even though GenAI may seem like an easy way to overcome the blank page, try not to think of it as the answer to creating a first draft.

Writers must have an idea of what they’re looking for before, then determine whether they’ve found it. This is why it is key to wrestle with idea formation before using GenAI. Without this intellectual effort, GenAI is not responding to you—you’re responding to GenAI.

The negative draft stimulates reflection through rejection. It is meant to prompt additional human thought before writing. Thinking and planning will help you move on to the real first draft.

Moving to the Zero Draft

After working through the negative draft, writers reach the zero draft—the first version that we can truly call writing. The zero draft is written with intent, shaped by the writer’s own decisions, and structured with a real audience and the full rhetorical situation in mind. It reflects conscious choices about purpose, topic, angle, voice, style, and tone. While still rough, it is human, authentic, and intentional.

The zero draft is an important milestone because it marks the point where the writer has figured out what they want to say. The AI-generated text that once served as a provocation is discarded, having served its purpose as a tool for generating something to respond to, but now, the writer is in charge.

The First Draft and Beyond

Once the zero draft is done, the writer moves on to create a first draft. This first draft should feel structured, intentional, and complete, but it will still need more work.

The next drafts follow a recursive process, including revision for clarity, editing for precision, and proofreading for accuracy. The writer strengthens arguments, improves sentence structure, and enhances coherence. Revision improves logic and argumentation. Editing improves clarity and style. Proofreading eliminates typos and formatting issues. Each step moves the document closer to its final state.

Conclusion

The negative draft is just one approach among many. Some writers will find it helpful; others may move directly from research and outlining to drafting. Either way, the goal is the same: to reach the zero draft, where the writer begins making concrete writing choices.

Strong writing comes from deliberate choices about what to include—or exclude. By making rejection part of the process, the negative draft transforms uncertainty into insight and hesitation into progress. Ultimately, the best writing comes from the writer—not from AI, but from careful thought, revision, and refinement.

When you have a first draft and you’re ready to edit, try WordRake. It’s algorithmic editing software that retains your structure, content, and meaning, while improving your writing at the sentence level. Try it free for 7 days.

About Ivy B. Grey

Ivy B. Grey is the Chief Strategy & Growth Officer for WordRake. Before joining the team, she practiced bankruptcy law for ten years. In 2020, Ivy was recognized as an Influential Woman in Legal Tech by ILTA. She has also been recognized as a Fastcase 50 Honoree and included in the Women of Legal Tech list by the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center. Follow Ivy on Twitter @IvyBGrey or connect with her on LinkedIn.