Alright, I already know half of you are firmly against me here (without even asking the question). But I find that if I don't edit and reedit and edit again as I write each chapter that I hate the results so much I don't finish the book anyway. Even if it slows me down isn't it better to like my story and my characters and have them feel real to me so I can keep writing about them? Surely I'm not the only person who feels this way. And tell me there's still hope I'll be published someday even if I'm incapable of writing straight through.
Okay, I'm going to duck now. Fire away.
Jessi
Posted by WileyKat (Member # 652) on :
There is nothing wrong with editing and rewriting your work!
But....
Be aware that nothing you ever write will quite match up to your expectations - even the greatest writers and artists look at the finished work and go "well that bit's not quite right". You have to reach a point where the thing is as good as _you_ can get it.
Also, try not to go back and change odd words or sentences. By all means correct spelling and grammar, but if a scene is wrong, throw away the _whole_ scene and rewrite it without reference to the original. 'Tweaking' odd bits can result in an entire loss of flow and pace. YOu can always decide you were wrong and the original was better, or neither is right. But don't cut-and-paste - it never works
Regards
WileyKat
[This message has been edited by WileyKat (edited January 26, 2001).]
Posted by JK (Member # 654) on :
I disagree. When rewriting scenes that contain basic information needed, or an event or even sentence that I really liked, so long as you don't engineer the whole scene to get to that info or sentnce (unless that's the point of the scene), there is nothing wrong with keeping some of the old scene. Obviously you will have to edit it slightly to fit the new scene. Editting as you write is disasterous. It means you'll never get the story finished because you're constantly tweaking what came before. If I was honest with myself, though, I'd say that I do it all the time (guess I should practise what I preach). I wish I could just write the first draft and not have to edit. While I'm wishing, I wish I was famour and had money. JK
Posted by Jessi D (Member # 791) on :
OK so take this for instance. My current work started out with a prologue and was in the third person limited POV. Three chapters into it I realized that I HATED the way the main character came across. So I went back and rewrote the whole thing in first person POV. But then I couldn't use the prologue because, well just trust me it didn't work. So I had to do some more adjusting to get the relevant information out of the prologue and into the story itself. About this time I get a revelation about one of my other character's personality and motives, so I have to rewrite several of his bigger scenes because this revelation changes everything. Along the way, of course I can't help but clean up a few (yeah right) of my more glaring grammatical errors and awkward dialogue, but that's not really what takes up the bulk of my time.
To get to the point, <grin> maybe my version of editing as I go pertains more to the story itself than to my writing. I'm possibly just one of those people who can't stick to the original idea; I'm admittedly terrible about creating an outline that will survive more than an hour. It's the arguments with my characters and with the events of their lives that causes me to constantly scrap things and start over and to change again and again. But I believe that the results are worth the time delay, because if I don't believe in the book, how can I expect a reader to do so? After nearly throwing the whole thing in the trash at least ten times, I finally LOVE this story. I'm interested enough to keep it going, for my sake at least even if it doesn't get published.
So two more questions for those of you in the know... >>Do you think that there will come a point in the story where I know it well enough that it WILL just flow, making these beginning stages just that--a beginning?
>>Does anyone know if this gets better with experience, that after a book or two is under your belt the next flow better and better (excluding any inevitable periods of writer's block)?
Sorry, one more question. Are any of you actually able to sit down and have your story behave itself from start to finish? I'm just fascinated with the thought because it's so foreign to me and I'd like to know what the experience is like.
Jessi
Posted by JK (Member # 654) on :
Jessi, though I don't claim to be 'in the know', I think I can say this. No matter how much you write, writer's block will still be the bane of your literary existence. I understand how an outline doesn't survive too long, mine rarely does. I tend to just start writing, which allows me to see where I want this particular story to go. Once I know, I start again, keeping any interesting bits that came out of brain-fart draft for the real thing. I think there is a point in a story where it just starts to flow. I know that when I reached chapter ten of my novel, it started to flow pretty well for me. In fact it flowed so well I'm having trouble separating it neatly. In my experience, stories never behave themselves. JK
Posted by Hanrod Brightstar (Member # 656) on :
I find that certain scenes (often the first scene) HAS to be 'right' or the others don't work. Thorough editing, regardless of when it occurs, is a good thing if you end up with a finished story that works. I used to edit quite heavily as I wrote, but back in those days I usually wasn't writing from a plan. Now, though, I try and organise my scenes and what those scenes have to accomplish. This means that some of the editing is done at a later stage. I also find that editing is a good way to start a writing session. It gets you in the mood; warms you up for the task ahead.