posted
thisll take a few, even chunks of neurons to completely digest, bare with me.
newbie writer, yours truly. sorta newbie, 12 years in a personal introvertive mode of writing. never did the writergroup thing. writing was just too deep on the personal level.
now, i'mmabout 164k's deep into my work, I often end up in what some of us programmers call "Deep Hack Mode", <refer to the new hackers dictionary for a more robust definition> where youre just completly focused and whats going on with what you write.
So focused, that you tend to ignore bugs.
I can't do it. Blanking out my head and pretend that I've seen my work for the first time. Hell, Sometimes I can't write, because I end up reading all 164k's without even knowing it. Can't blank it out, as soon as I read the verse, I know whats next, whats connected. I've got this picture of the plot in my head just running subconsciously or automatically.
Is this bad?
its solipsistic, and I wanna find a solution. anyone got any ideas?
posted
You can not see yuor own mistakes. Period. You can not. The story came from you--you will read over things and your mind fills in the perfect picture.
Editors used to do this job, now crit groups are your best source for finding the things that need to be fixed. And if you are lucky you will get an agent that hacks away at your stuff--not fun but it will sell your book.
posted
Shawn's right. The closest you can come to objectivity about your own work is after a time away -- the longer the better. Take a hiatus from your 164K's. Volunteer for KP or something. If you can't go cold turkey, start another writing project. Granted, the time-distance still won't be as good as another pair of eyes, but it'll help.
(Quite frankly, I'm terrified to read the novel-length story I wrote ten-plus years ago, but I know I'll bite the bullet eventually. I want to be fully rested before I try that. )
Regarding re-reading your own work, I notice that when I change something that has already survived multiple re-readings by me, I stumble at subsequent readings as I tend to read it the old way instead of the new and improved version. Trust me. Writers can't win on this. Get outside readers.
posted
Your 'deep hack mode' is probably the best thing for you. Go ahead, write out the whole thing without looking back at what you've written. Just let it go. Then when you've finished it go back over it and take out or rewrite anything that you don't think is good enough. If you can, take a break first - I've heard it said that some well known novelists will leave their first draft for a whole year before going back and looking at it again. That helps you to be objective about it. If you can't wait a year, fine - do whatever you can.
With a short story I wrote I left it a month, and then when I came back I could see a lot of ways to improve it.
Once you've had that first look through it, that's the time to get somebody else to look at it, before you make any 'final' changes.
posted
I actually tend to have the opposite problem, when I'm close to my work (i.e. actually in the process of writing it) I see all kinds of errors. Then, when I get back to a piece I barely remember writing, I think it was actually written by some genius who amuses himself by sneaking into my room and writing down utterly brilliant passages of perfect prose on my computer while I'm not looking (and *(&^ it, most of the stuff isn't finished!).
But I think these guys are right. Just write it, then let it cool a bit, and let some other people (whom you trust) tell you what it seems like to them, what potential it might have that you haven't exploited, what flaws are evident to them that you have missed.
posted
I am with Jules and Survivor on this one. In fact I am sort of jealous of you. Let me just reafirm one thing write write write. Dont be critical mistakes are good that is why there are second drafts. Don't nag yourself while you write. I do, and I wish I didn't. Just put those blinders on and go into 'deep hack mode' or whatever that sort of tapping into onex creative side is the authors most valued tool. DON'T QUESTION IT!!!
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If you can't go cold turkey, start another writing project. Granted, the time-distance still won't be as good as another pair of eyes, but it'll help.
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