posted
I've been working on a story and I've found myself going back and editing the previous chapters. As a result, my work has slowed and I'm starting to doubt what I'm writing.
The most troublesome problems are continuity errors. When I write a piece of dialoge or create an event, I go back and correct any inconsistencies in the previous chapters.
When should you go back and revise? I've read in several books that you should just write until you complete a first draft and then edit/revise. Is that how most people do it? Are there any advantages to editing as you go?
posted
There're several recent threads on this topic. You can check them out here and here.
I think everyone will have their own process. You have to find out what works for you. I like to have a first draft written first before i start revising and editing. I do this for two reasons, first that I don't really know the story until I write the first draft--therefore, I'm wasting time editing it. Secondly, the more time you spend with your writing, the more you fall in love with it, and the harder it is to see clearly what needs to get cut.
I know some people edit as they go. This might save time if you're sure of where the story is. Donna Tartt of The Secret History wrote one sentence at a time, and purportedly did not move on to the second sentence until she felt the previous one was just right.
[This message has been edited by annepin (edited December 30, 2007).]
posted
You might want to have a separate file where you make notes of the changes you will have to make later. It's a lot faster than the actual editing, and keeps you from forgetting about it later on.
Posts: 932 | Registered: Jul 2001
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quote:35 Tellers of stories with ink on paper, not that they matter anymore, have been either swoopers or bashers. Swoopers write a story quickly, higgledy-piggledy, crinkum-crankum, any which way. Then they go over it again painstakingly, fixing everything that is just plain awful or doesn't work. Bashers go one sentence at a time, getting it exactly right before they go on to the next one. When they're done they're done.
Not like it is law, just made me think of this quote from Timequake.
[This message has been edited by halogen (edited December 30, 2007).]
posted
I tend to notice messups in internal continuity long after I've abandoned work on the story in question. No matter how often I go over it, there's usually something there that's wrong...
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posted
I do minor corrections, fixing typos and just mistyped words, etc. as I go to some extent because I re-read the previous days work before I start. I don't really consider that editing but it limits the amount I have to nit-pick later--not that I don't miss a huge amount.
Real revision is for after the first draft. In my experience all too often if you revise as you go, you never finish what you're working on. I've known people who spent years re-writing and revising their first chapter and never got past that. This isn't a trap to fall into.
[This message has been edited by JeanneT (edited December 30, 2007).]
posted
It sounds to me as if you need to plan your story a bit more, if you're discovering continuity problems as you go along. So write out just a few sentences about each scene or chapter (whatever makes sense to you) on note cards and put them in the proper order. That may help.
Something that helps me is to make a note in a different file whenever I add something to a character or setting or whatever. Some of the novel-writing softwares have handy-dandy folders already set up for this (WriteItNow and yWriter are the ones I've tried, although I mostly use Word and just keep the files mentioned in WriteItNow).
Something else that might work is to give yourself a deadline. Write straight through until that deadline (say at the end of a week, or two weeks or a month - whatever works for you). Then print it out and put those small sticky note tabs on each page where there's a continuity error. DON'T FIX THEM YET. Go back to writing your story/novel straight through, picking up where you left off. You've now reminded yourself of the continuity you WANTED (putting stickies on your wall or desk may help remind you of things too), so you may be able to stick with it better after reviewing the story in print (it looks a LOT different in print than on the screen, believe me).
I'm a seat-of-the-pants writer, and quite a do-it-yourselfer, so these are just things I've tried at one time or another that may work for you. What I do NOW is start each writing session by going back a few pages and reading what I wrote before to get back into the rhythm and flow of the story. I may do a bit of polishing while I'm there, but then I push on past it as far as I can go that day, or that writing session. Any changes or additions I make to characters, settings, incantations, spells, etc., are noted in the proper file in WriteItNow.
quote:It sounds to me as if you need to plan your story a bit more, if you're discovering continuity problems as you go along.
It's been hard for me to balance between not enough planning and too much planning. I overplanned another story. I started it in 2000 and finally scrapped it because I never got around to actually writing. This story actually began when I wrote an action scene without any background and context. I liked it, so I took an old idea and worked the action scene into it.
I made an outline, so I know the main plot, but there are little things that I think of as I'm writing that cause the previously written parts to require modification.
posted
When that happens I make a note in a file I keep for that and keep on writing. That is what revision is for.
Posts: 1588 | Registered: Jul 2007
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posted
Using Kurt Vonnegut's definitions, I'm a swooper. I don't edit until it's done. But that's me. You have to find a style that works for you. If it weren't for computers I'd be a very frustrated writer. The ability to cut, paste and save drafts has been a huge help.
posted
My daughter just had a thought on this. She said you should fix continuity problems by forcing the current material to match what you've already done. She doesn't suggest this as a hard and fast rule, but her point is that, sometimes (maybe most of the time), using what happened before in ways that you hadn't thought of when you wrote that previous section can make for a more interesting story and a tighter plot. It might be worth trying.
Posts: 932 | Registered: Jul 2001
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quote:...fix continuity problems by forcing the current material to match what you've already done...
I usually try, but sometimes I really like the idea, but it requires some foreshadowing or else it doesn't work. For example, I know there's going to be a fight at some point according to my outline. As I'm writing the fight, I think that it may be a good idea for the guy to have some sort of weapon (something I didn't think of during the outlining). If he suddenly produces something that's out of character or wasn't mentioned previously, then I have to go back and add it somewhere to explain it.
posted
I'm joining the conversation a bit late, but here's my answer to the original question. For my novel, I knew from past experience that the only way I was going to finish it was just to get the bare-bones of the whole novel down and then come back and revise by fixing continuality errors, filling in description, fixing the dialogue to make it sound better, making sure I find the best words for the job, etc. My third revision is for spelling, grammar, and any continuality errors I missed. I read my work out loud while doing this stage. When that's done, I send it out to my first reader, who checks it for grammar, spelling, and confusing descriptions. I revise, then send it out to my second reader to check for logic errors, pacing, etc., then revise based on what he says. If I can find more readers, I then let them have a go at it. I look for things they all comment on and make sure to fix them, then consider the other comments one-by-one.
Then it's the stage for querying/submitting. I've never received editing comments from agents/editors yet on my short stories or novel, but I'm not sure I'd make the changes suggested unless I happened to agree with them. What one editor might not like another might.
Also, it's been a year since I finished the third revision on my novel, and I've learned a lot of "nuances" stuff about writing since then. I'm actually reading through it again right now and making some very small changes (adding or changing a word here or there--only one or two per chapter) that I think will help make a huge difference. I guess I'm unlike most writers, but when I'm done with a story, I'm done--I really don't want to be eternally working at it. The only reason I'm giving my novel this final once-over is because I feel from the agent responses I have been getting that it's almost there. A little tweaking using what I now know might make all the difference.
That all being said, I should also mention that I write in a rather wacky way. I usually get story ideas in one moment of inspiration, and I know then the beginning scene and the climax/end. Then I take a few days to work out the major points in between. Then I write the first scene, the last scene, and then any scene I very well feel like working on next. I write notes in red right in my manuscript saying [establish that Rica has her sword with her] or whatever to help tie everything together.
The advice to force the current material to match what I've already done has no relevance in this style of writing since often times I haven't done previous scenes yet. Besides, I often like my "second or third ideas" better as they are more unique than what I first imagined. I was just writing a scene today where the wording made me realize that a slightly different ending would play off this dialogue and make the whole ending stronger. Sure, I could keep this dialogue and not change the ending since it's a not a major thing. But shouldn't we always go with what makes our writing stronger and more unique, whether it's sticking to the original story line when we want to get sidetracked or it's going for the unique twist on the idea you already had? As several published authors once told me, go with whatever works for you--no matter how odd it sounds.
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As several published authors once told me, go with whatever works for you--no matter how odd it sounds.
