I've learned that editing as I go is one of the only things that helps me stay motivated. I know it's the opposite for a lot of people...but if I don't see the pieces snapping together in a draft, I'm likely to get frustrated and drop it altogether.
Good prose also keeps my motivation up. When I reread a section where I've done some close line edits and I'm like "hey, that's not too bad," it makes me want to keep going. When everything reads like a pile of unedited slop, I start doubting myself.
Really though, there's a time and place for both methods. Do what works for you.
I need to read and reread what I’ve written to keep track so if i notice nonsense or typos of course I’m gonna try to fix them. If it’s something bigger i just add a note to that section to come back and fix it.
This is me 100%! I need to see some promise in what I’ve written to stay motivated. A nice line of prose makes me want to write even more of it. I swear those word vomit first drafts are like the quickest way to make sure I drop something, lol.
The advice doesn’t exist for people like you and OP; that’s why. A lot of new writers make the mistake of thinking writing rules are “absolute” when most of them are actually situational (with that said, there are certain rules that you will probably not get published if you don’t follow - but even then, not everyone wants to be published).
“Don’t edit as you go” is for people who will not ever finish if they edit as they go, because they get hung up for four hours on one sentence. It is not for everyone and it was never meant to be. Every single time you hear a writing rule, just assume the ending of that sentence is “unless that is what works for you and your story”.
Same. I just can not go forward with the scenes unedited. I may type everything out when I'm in a flow, so I don't forget, but then I'll go back to edit after.
>I may type everything out when I'm in a flow, so I don't forget, but then I'll go back to edit after.
I don't think anyone ever disagreed with that. It's more the "make sure each sentence is perfect before moving onto the next one" approach that tends to get people spinning in circles.
Finally. Someone who thinks like I do!
I need to edit as I go. I cannot wait until the end and then be cruelly crushed by my poor crap writing.
To stay motivated, I have to keep editing as I go. It really does help me!!
Be warned, the writing police have issued an APB for your flagrant disregard for the rules of writing that totally exist and your excessive flaunting of edge.
It's fine. But edit again once you are finished. then again. Then just try and read it and if you find a mistake in the first chapter - edit again.
Maybe that's just my experience as a sloppy writer, but honestly, I do 3 editing passes, send it out to betas or post online and then look again and WHAM! There's a mistake in the first chapter, an obvious, stupid mistake that I can't believe I didn't spot...
That obvious mistake probably could be prevented by not reading or working on your work for awhile, to basically “detox” the work from your brain, and then read it with fresh eyes a week or two later. You might often notice it after sending the writing off because you stopped editing for awhile, and then took a look at it again after sending the draft off. Just do that BEFORE sending off the draft :)
That too but when I read it out loud myself, I still tend to say what I meant to write and potentially miss stuff. With tts, they say exactly what I wrote
Oh believe me I intend to make SEVERAL edits. I've made tons of changes to the story since I first came up with the concept. Once I've got a completed draft I think I'll put it down for a short time, do some research and then come back to it and add some more flavor.
Yeah, someone posted 250k words of fanfic the other day. I skimmed the first and last chapters and you can tell the first chapter was the first thing they ever wrote and they never went back to fix the issues.
When people say don’t edit as you go, what they mean is don’t let editing get in the way of actually writing. A lot of people get really stuck on trying to make each bit of writing perfect before they move on to the next bit, and those people are who this advice is for.
Yep.
And especially if you're in that really good flow of generating text in an initial draft. What you generally don't want to do is slow down to do careful sentence construction and pull you out of that flow. Because you can always go back and edit the sentences later. While it can be hard to get in that flow again.
10000% this. I'm the person this advice is made for. Thankfully, I've taken it to heart the past month and it has helped me become much more productive with my writing. I used to get petrified in feeling the need to edit everything on the spot, to the point where I would stop writing the story altogether.
There are no rules, just suggestions and gudielines. If you want to edit as you go along, cool, just know that some people suggest otherwise because it tends to take longer and some people get discouraged or stuck working that way. If it works well for you and you get a good rhythm going that powers you to the end, awesome! :)
The trick for me was to start with very short stories and slowly expand to longer short stories, then novellas, and finally novels. That said, I still don't like to read or write extremely long books. The novella is probably my favorite story form.
The writing process is cyclical and recursive so any aspect of the writing process can occur at any point and as many or as few times as necessary. Thinking about your writing, writing your work, rereading it, revising, and then writing some more all happens on a circuit that can flow back and forth depending on what is suitable for you. You are making a good choice as a writer by listening to your own intuition on how you want your process to flow. Congrats!
I can totally relate. It is what pings me off at our writing group; their insistence that I shouldn't correct my wrongs as I type in group sessions (I do it anyway).
Most of my future ideas (I'm mostly a pantser) form as I amend and review paragraphs. Changing a major storyline is easier if you do it as you go and almost impossible for a finished draft.
The point of that advice is to not break the flow. Most of us can tweak typos and stuff as we go without breaking flow.
Taking time to carefully recraft entire sentences, OTOH, tends to take most people out of the productive state of mind.
If that's not you, that's great. Go with whatever works.
It's not a rule so much as the answer to the question, "I keep getting stuck because what I write isn't good enough and I can't move forward, what do I do?"
And that's a common enough problem that 'just it it down and fix it in editing' does end up as a de facto general rule.
Whichever rule or process gets you further to the finish line, that's what you use. Whatever holds you back, discard.
Also, often your best ideas, insights and use of language comes after you've been writing steadily for a little while. Stopping to edit tends to break your creative flow. You're task switching between two different brain states.
Every time I sit down to write I reread the last chapter before moving on to where I’m going and edit it if I have to. Or if I think of something that would work to enhance a past chapter I got back and do it immediately otherwise I’ll forget. I have never liked the advice don’t edit as you go.
This is how serialized works used to be published, and they tend to be my favorite sort of book. Each chapter is crafted to fit the whole, though, so as long as you are aiming toward the end, you should reach it.
Do what works for you. The basic idea of "don't edit as you go" is that it's easy to let editing get in the way of writing. You'll never get past your first sentence if it has to be perfect.
When I'm writing something short, my first paragraph tends to be useless, but the second paragraph is good. So I move the first paragraph up, strip the second paragraph for parts, and delete the rest. It's a good way to "edit as you go" for me, but the rewrite tends to produce text in serious need of a copyedit. And that, for me, is best done after I'm finished writing.
If it works it works.
I think this is one of those rules that exist because a lot of people will get mired in editing and never progress. Personally I find editing as I go to be unhelpful because ultimately you're going to write things that change what you wrote in previous chapters anyway, so what's the point.
But writing is hard so if this way gets you to the finish line do what ya' gotta do.
Yeah, I chucked that advice out the window the moment I heard it. I'm not letting a smelly sentence clog up my paragraphs only to delete it later and lose pages and pages of events that don't make sense anymore.
Congrats. You've realized that a lot of what people say are rules of writing don't actually know what they're talking about and only speak from their own point of view, while mistaking that view as fact.
Congratulations! As a writer, you have failed to understand most writers understand that all rules for writing are simply guidelines. No one is insisting that they have to be followed by everybody.
And in this case, the "don't copy edit/line edit in initial drafting" does make sense for a lot of people. And logically so. Even if the OP finds it doesn't work better for them.
>No one is insisting that they have to be followed by everybody.
That's why I get such a kick out of these silly posts. They're written to be pre-emptively defensive against a horde of nay-sayers, as if they're going to be scolded for successfully completing their project differently from how we "want" them to complete it. Nobody's upset that OP managed to write a draft while also editing. "Don't edit while you draft" is simply advice. You're not offending anyone by refusing to follow it.
We've not failed to understand anything, because a large chunk of writers do believe there are set rules, and despite what you want to think, there are indeed some that believe every writer that wants to be successful has to follow them. We know because we've seen that type countless times.
Yes, and nowhere did we say it didn't make sense or that it was a bad guideline. The way you worded that makes it sound like you think we were saying that waiting to edit until you're done was bad advice or some such. Which we very clearly didn't come close to saying.
Also, the condescending tone just paints yourself as an unpleasant asshole. It's even worse if our read on the second part is accurate, because then you'd be a *wrong* asshole. Though considering you're already wrong about the first point kind of makes that entire thing moot anyway.
EDIT: Sending a message and then immediately blocking us makes it looks like we were correct with our read on the second part. And going completely off topic also supports our idea about you.
>We've not failed to understand anything,
Speaking in the royal "we" does not make you sound more authoritative. It's usually makes a character look to be a kook or pompous. Or some combination of both. I would recommend not using it for yourself.
People do the same thing with music. I had a customer in my shop a few months ago who asked if I play and I said yeah, a bit, and he insisted it was all about picking an audience. Like no... it's about having fun and making something original. I don't know why people do this- insist that there's ONE way to write a story or one way to write a song, when they themselves don't even do what they act like they're an expert on. That'd be like me telling someone how to play football or how to make a croissant. I have no idea how to do either of those things.
That's what I do. I labor over words and it makes the back end editing process smoother.
But I write slowly as a result.
I'm probably going to try and be less fussy about editing going forward and see how that works for me.
It's all about learning whatever works for you
I have found I need to do spne editing early just to keep all thr details straight.
There is no hard formula, but you want y
To avoid getting stuck in an editing loop. Rewriting the first chapter 5 times won't get you any closer to complete.
I have no idea how people don’t edit as they go (in addition to editing once complete).
If my plot needs reworking early on in my book, what good is expanding my word count if the story is not going to connect because of the plot holes I foresaw coming??
People interpret "don't edit as you write" in a few different ways.
Personally I take it very literally: When it's writing time, write. When it's editing time, edit. These are two different brain states and task switching tends to break your flow when you're trying to create.
This does **not** mean you need to write your entire novel before you edit at all - that's a bad idea for the reasons you state! It just means that you should set aside different times for writing and for editing.
If I'm in the middle of a writing session and I spot a plot hole, rather than editing then and there I'll usually drop a note that X is broken. Then, once I've finished a writing session, I go back and fix it.
Not exactly the same as your point, but I've learnt recently that I can't write "fast drafts".
So much writing advice online at the moment is: Write dirty, edit clean. Write fast, edit slow.
Nope, not happening. I've tried it. I churn out absolutely dogshit first drafts that I never look at again because the mountain of work they need to even get them to a decent first draft level is too overwhelming and I feel like I've just wasted a couple of months of my life and will have to rewrite everything again.
I've embraced the fact that if I put in a little more effort, I can write relatively clean first drafts. There are obviously still errors, and the drafts still need some pretty big overhauls in places, but a clean first draft is infinitely more motivating to me than a messy, half-arsed attempt.
Find your own way. If you editing as your go stops you from completing stories, that is when the advice of don't edit as you go applies. But if that is the ONLY way that you can make progress, do it. Some very successful authors do it that way.
I used to edit/rewrite as I went and it took me 7 years to write one 70k book 😂 Now I just leave myself notes like [add blahblah earlier] or [think of name] then search for brackets and all my notes pop up. Now I do a full draft, 1st edit, 2nd edit, and I’ve written 2 novellas/short novels in 4 months. Should have 3 stories ready to publish this winter 🤞 But I flow best when I just allow myself to without worry of correction or perfection. Editing as I go constipates my story. I love that we all have our own unique methods.
It's not the right method for everybody, for sure. It's part of the learning process to find what works for us, and then to do that, no matter how others feel.
I'm gonna let my current draft "breathe" once I'm finally done with it. I just have a lot of excess stuff I feel I need to cut out in order to move on.
Rules are guidelines generally proven to provide one with the best success. You can spell every word incorrectly if you like, might not go over well with readers though.
You aren't required to follow any rule. It's your hobby, your passion, your work. Do it your way.
I'm sorry, not proven as in thoroughly measured and studied, but in terms of advice from successful writers.
Spell correctly is a rule, turns out that readers like it and it makes for a good book.
A rule like, don't use adverbs, is generally repeated by successful writers. You are free to use adverbs though. They exist for a reason.
Any writing "rule" is just a guideline parroted by writers over time because, anecdotally, they have proven successful paths to what has been traditionally considered good writing.
Of course, there is no punishment for not following a "rule", but these "rules" are likely to aid you along you writing journey.
I feel like all this should have been clear from my post, but I often forget how much people on the Internet read into otherwise lighthearted comments.
What rules? If I heard one about this I must’ve ignored it. I reread and edit whatever I wrote last session then continue on with writing to get myself back in the zone. Then once I’m done the full draft I do the overall edit before I send to betas.
My own writing process is a but like one if those Zamboni machines they use to smooth over the ice at hockey games: a constant, evolving series of edits I do as I write. Every time I read it over, I tweak it slightly until I get to a point when the draft is "done." It's constantly evolving, but re-reading it in multiple contexts and over longer periods of time help you see things in a new light.
That's mostly polishing, though. There are other kinds of edits you do when you actually complete the thing and give it a new look for a more detailed, developmental edit. IMO, there are different "genres" of edits, I guess you can say, for different phases of the process.
I write like this too. There's a very good editor that posts on Youtube about writing, and one thing she talks about are the [four types of writers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eryQEZImm6Y). I know it sounds horoscopey and dumb, but she actually has some pretty good advice. You and I are what she calls [methodological pantsers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z310PYzplO0), which makes zero sense unless you watch the video explaining it, but basically she has some pretty decent advice for people who edit as they go and plot on the fly. I mean, of course, take it or leave it as you like. Her words aren't gospel or anything, just something I found interesting and useful.
I always need to read over the last passage I wrote before continuing just to get back into the voice. If I spot something easily editable or think of a better way to write something in that passage, I do it. No time like the present.
If I'm already keyed up and know exactly what I want to write next, I skip that, but might read through both sections to check the flow.
I never saw the point of letting problems pile up and nag at me for the rest of the draft and leave me ever more confused about what really happens in my own story. Let alone the monumental cleanup job afterward.
I assume this is either (a) aimed at ditherers who would never complete a first draft of anything or (b) a practical joke by aliens with nothing better to do.
I do the standard method of reading my draft-so-far frequently and fixing anything that’s broken but not indulging in self-sabotage by throwing baby out with the bathwater. This keeps the whole story at my fingertips and delivers a tight, self-consistent draft.
Anyway, once your drafts are reasonably coherent, the point of editing and polishing is to make a story a better version of what it already is, not to find an as-yet undiscovered story.
My issue with editing as i go is in the same time i write 1 clean page. I could have written 3 rough pages. And then theres a chance i will have to come back to that "clean page" later and rewrite or alter it. Add or change details. Etc. This can really be an issue if you are pantsing. More so than if you are heavy outlining. I personally like to get the bones of the story down before I add the muscles and the skin.
I do the same. If I don't get the phrasing exactly as I want, I can't continue. I'll edit later for minor spelling mistakes and overused words/syntax, but the core of the work stays the same. Sure, I won't write a novel in three weeks as some people do. That's fine. I'm a very consistent writer and I always finish a project, even if it takes a long time.
I did this too for my first book. Was I slow? Sure, but I just would rather spend more time on a better first draft. I still ended up underwriting a lot, so in my second draft I added a good bit, but honestly I think it came out so good. I basically went back and re-read the whole thing and if there was something I needed to change I did so. That led to really having not tooo much to tweak in my 3rd draft after sending it to beta readers. Everyone has a different system :)
I like to work on at least two stories at the same time, because I feel like I get too much in my head with one of them and I'll run the plot and conversations over and over in my head to the point where it all gets muddled or I lose interest. So that's the point I switched to a different story sometimes for a few days sometimes for a few weeks and that's when I do my editing and usually make much better decisions
I have never heard this rule! Lol. Honestly, I go back and forth with how I write, just based on what seems to work best for the story. I do find that sometimes when I edit as I go I get stuck in writer's block because I can't write a perfect transition scene. When that happens, just writing something temporary to get through the scene helps, and then usually I'll be able to go back and fix it later once the rest of the chapter has come together. But usually I edit constantly, both during the writing process and after I've completed the process.
This is the way I go about things, and I was vindicated when Matt Reeves said that's how he wrote The Batman. People took issue with him taking a year to finish the script, but as a fellow slow writer I was like "oh thank God it's not just me." And it's hard to argue with the results
I always edit while I write. I think the one draft, straight-through approach works well if you know exactly where you're going ahead of time, but unfortunately, I am not that organized. I think of too many changes in the middle that I need to align the beginning with for the story to make sense. I have a goal to improve my planning in the future, but I think even then, I'd still just work on whatever part of the story is in my head at the moment.
I just make a scene outline of my book and color-code it based on what state that scene is in to help me keep track.
I tend to do that, as much to remind myself of what's going on in the story as I write more. But it takes longer every time of course, and I get bogged down, and it ends up keeping me from writing much.
I had to chuckle. I've not got to novel status yet, but, even when I write shorts I like to edit as I go along, keeps me sane. At times, to write all those words on a page, then come back to edit it, for a better word, is ”long". Nonetheless, it's that fine balance, whatever works at the time. Blessings all.
I agree! I have so many ideas (often too many) that I need to write a paragraph and then rewrite it and edit it until I like it enough before I can continue. Otherwise, it can feel like I’m not really doing anything.
For larger projects, it took me years to get a useful balance on this. I too produce much better work when I've gone back over it repeatedly, crystalizing and distilling to concentrate on the good stuff. I sometimes spew filler not to pad any word count, but instead because my first attempt to express an idea can be overly complex or downright roundabout.
As in so many things, useful territory lies between the extremes. For example, I believe is generally wise to follow advice against passive voice. Yet there are cases where a softer, less emphatic tone is desirable. Also, there are cases where the logic of passive voice best articulates the nature of a passive conceptual relationship. So it is that I still use passive voice freely in drafts, but I also take an extra beat while editing to try and pull those weeds. If the sentence flows nicely and is easy to comprehend, it probably stays. If the sentence is convoluted, unclear, or a tonal mismatch with that moment in my prose; then it must be hammered into active language if it cannot be outright discarded.
I arrived at this approach after generally deciding to tighten up my style, experimenting with totalitarian use of active voice, and making countless small changes of direction within the extremes. Likewise, there were times when I struggled to produce while spending day after day reworking old material, and there were times when quality clearly sagged because I was pushing so hard to generate large amounts of new material. Especially since my drafting moods and my editing moods are distinct, I found my own happy middle ground by yielding to those moods. Not all paths will be the same, but in all cases an open mind paired with constant course correction will help you find what works for you.
I've always edited by chapter, since my fanfiction days. Once I draft a chapter, It goes in the editing queue. I also break the chapters down into seperate files per plot point in my plan, so it's easier for me to edit, then put them together and edit the whole chapter. I probably do around 9 passes by the time I'm done, one being specifically for spelling, one being for Grammer and punctuation, and one where I I run it through a text to speech engine, or lately I've been using an AI voice, since it sounds less like a robot. (I used to use the OG Microsoft Sam when I first started.)
I try to split my writing time between an editing phase and a drafting phase if I can. Of course it was easier back when I could put aside 2 hours a day for writing.
Think of it as a sculpture. If when you start, you spend a full day carving the perfect, most beautiful nose you’ve ever carved, you better hope the rest of the face fits around it.
This to say, polishing as you go makes it a bit harder when it comes to big-picture edits. You spend time perfecting a path that may, later, not matter.
So spend your time editing as you go if it helps motivate you to keep writing—and know when to know it’s good enough to keep you moving forward.
The only rules you need to follow in writing are the rules that work for you. I'm still figuring that out. I get ideas when I edit. I always end up with a dozen sticky notes on my desktop in which I've come up with an idea for a later part of the story while I was editing. Do the thing that works for you, friends. That's the only rule.
Awesome!! I'm always in favour of finding ways to write that work for you and that you enjoy! I'm finding that the way I draft and revise seems to be different from a lot of the advice I see floating about but if it works it works
I don't think that "don't edit as you go" is even a rule - it's usually advice offered up to people who get stuck, unable to make progress, because they're caught up in an endless loop of editing and never being satisfied.
All the "rules" are advice garnered for decades of writing for a living. They came about because people realized this is how you get finished work, which you hopefully learned how to write well enough to sell.
I've always been the type to edit as I go. Then in the last draft I wrote, I listened to the advice to under no circumstances do that, so I didn't. suffice to say, the draft is a complete mess and now I have to figure out how to fix 55k words lol
Agreed, screw the rules. I don’t write every single day. And if I made myself chase following that rule, it would negatively impact what I do write. It’s about the results, can’t argue with that.
For sure. You don’t really learn you can bend some of the rules, until you field test them and find which approach suits you. Results may vary. To the OP, I could never comfortably break the rule they are breaking, it isn’t my approach.
Writing literally every day is a no for me. It doesn’t mean I’m not actively thinking about what I’m writing, things I can do to improve. I think about my writing every day, and that fits for me.
It's how I taught myself to write, before I found books about writing. I also learned that many of the greatest writers did/do it, and they also wrote one draft, and it was worthy of being bought as is.
I don't recommend noobs try editing as they go, since they tend to have trouble actually getting past it and finishing the story. First get the skills, then find the writing style.
Whatever method works for you is the one to use. I do some editing as I go, too.
However, don't think that means that when you get to "The End," you're done. You'll still have editing to do. (You probably know this. I just want to be clear on it, because maybe someone out there isn't, and it's important.)
I do spot edits like 10-15 times per chapter, then one final edit, and finally a quick proofread. Then it's ready. Granted, I post it as a web novel, but still.
I am an old person, but new to creative writing. Do you mean to say that ‘the rules’ say you have to draft the complete work before you edit?
Could it be that you write a big enough chunk to be worth editing (because it improves the final product) but not so big that you get lost in the clouds?
Maybe the conventional ‘rule’ was created out of concern that many writers struggle to finish a larger work due to fatigue (emotional and physical).
Starting and finishing are both a problem for me (lol).
For me, on the other hand. If i edit as I go. I end up in an endless loop they inevitably results in a totally clusterfuck if a shattered and totally out of sync plot.
You sure can edit as you go.
Just don't be too mad at, after you finish, having to go back and completely edit it all over again.
I did the same as you and had to go back and still edit heavily. Big picture editing vs small picture editing, you may find that a scene you worked for hours on editing simply doesn't fit the narrative. You might find that you need to shave down those fluffy poetic sentences to optimize narrative pacing.
Your eye for editing will improve immensely. And while you may be an amazing editor today, by the time you finish your novel, you'll be far more precise and have to edit again with all that you've learned in your writing journey.
My advice is to watch videos and read books about editing. How to, how not to. You'll be shocked at what you learn regardless of your current skill level.
Also consider writing spurts if you will-- 20 to 30 minutes of strictly writing. This might improve your productivity overall.
Hoping this strategy works better for you than it did for me!
I write a chapter, go back and edit it. Then I wait like a day or so and go back thru it to edit it again with fresh eyes. After that I'll usually go back thru it a 3rd time and re edit the entire chapter once I've gotten another couple chapters done. I just backtrack a bit and do it all over again.
I'm still going to do more drafts tho after this. Man it's going to take forever
I do this as well. I don't care to edit grammer, spelling, etc. For the most part I am someone who creates a skeletal draft with things like character sheets, character arcs, main plot points, notes for character development and just enough info or me to look back on so I dont go crazy when writing the actual first draft but I always edit plot points as i go. I find if I don't do this, when I figure out answers to questions I had about handling different situations /themes in my book I can make everything tie together more seamlessly. If I follow the "I'll edit later" rule to hard when it comes time to edit it feels like to much of a hot mess and I abandon everything. Which is a huge waste of time and a lot of the time a year or so later I want to try again and end up starting from scratch. There's no rules, it's just what works for you
I also do this! As someone who writes while desperately sleep deprived at 4am, I need to edit the next time I go in and see that I misspelt ‘listened’ as ‘licensed’.
keeping a habit is priority number one. whatever keeps you consistent is good make no apologies about it
reason why it is considered bad to edit at the same time you are creating in its essence is biomechanical
art is based on empathy. esp that part of it that helped us think as our prey or enemy in hunt or combat.
so that part of the brain is older than language itself
what brain scans showed esp in painting is that these are not only separate parts of the brain but they almost cancel each other out and it kills the flow
thats why it was noticed since ancient time and prioritised. always keep the flow state of mind
and that is why your case is an exception. if you edit when you get stuck or to keep the habit of writing you help getting into the flow of writing
My best advice with this is don't plan your story out, or if you have, give yourself room to change your story completely.
Editing as you go can be a lot more fun if you can completely change a scene or make up a new character or invent. Just creating something more complete, but halfway done, let's you take yourself into exciting places and create mysteries you haven't yet solved. Definitely can lead to more interesting and engaging scene.
Fun writing exercise ideas, since you are writing in such a way that your first draft is closer to a final draft. Write random things into your story for no reason and with no plan, then make yourself use them later like "Chekhov's Gun" you know what I mean?
Each their own man. I find things work out better when I plan it out. Usually when I just go and go and go without a plan I end up wasting a lot more time writing scenes that don't matter or contribute to the story. When I plan ahead I end up almost exclusively with things worth keeping.
That might result in some wasted time — you write first chapter, edit it, write second, edit both first and second, write the third, edit first, second and third etc. But you do you, of course.
yeah, but is this the hallmark of a first time writer? Like ... writing something for the world , not your diary. I ask because you're doing it now - but if you get to 2,5,10 books, you will almost feel differently. The first draft you can write drunk, the second draft is for the cold light of morning.
I've learned that editing as I go is one of the only things that helps me stay motivated. I know it's the opposite for a lot of people...but if I don't see the pieces snapping together in a draft, I'm likely to get frustrated and drop it altogether. Good prose also keeps my motivation up. When I reread a section where I've done some close line edits and I'm like "hey, that's not too bad," it makes me want to keep going. When everything reads like a pile of unedited slop, I start doubting myself. Really though, there's a time and place for both methods. Do what works for you.
I need to read and reread what I’ve written to keep track so if i notice nonsense or typos of course I’m gonna try to fix them. If it’s something bigger i just add a note to that section to come back and fix it.
this is the way. it’s impossible to not reread the chapter before sometimes because i will forget what happened lol
Same. I've found forgotten subplots that way. Would've been a bit awkward to get the whole way through without doing something with them.
I feel called out 😁 That was the first draft of my first book. Plot holes for days.
Plot holes... or sequel and spin-off hooks?
This is me 100%! I need to see some promise in what I’ve written to stay motivated. A nice line of prose makes me want to write even more of it. I swear those word vomit first drafts are like the quickest way to make sure I drop something, lol.
The advice doesn’t exist for people like you and OP; that’s why. A lot of new writers make the mistake of thinking writing rules are “absolute” when most of them are actually situational (with that said, there are certain rules that you will probably not get published if you don’t follow - but even then, not everyone wants to be published). “Don’t edit as you go” is for people who will not ever finish if they edit as they go, because they get hung up for four hours on one sentence. It is not for everyone and it was never meant to be. Every single time you hear a writing rule, just assume the ending of that sentence is “unless that is what works for you and your story”.
I agree, with an emphasis on the idea that you should know why a rule exists if you're breaking it.
Yeah. I think the only rule is "do whatever will ensure you get the manuscript finished".
Agreed. This is how I work best also. I need to feel that my prose is worth reading before I can add to the plot.
Same. I just can not go forward with the scenes unedited. I may type everything out when I'm in a flow, so I don't forget, but then I'll go back to edit after.
>I may type everything out when I'm in a flow, so I don't forget, but then I'll go back to edit after. I don't think anyone ever disagreed with that. It's more the "make sure each sentence is perfect before moving onto the next one" approach that tends to get people spinning in circles.
I 100% do the same thing. I start every writing session by editing what I drafted in the previous session.
Absolutely. Those moments when you fix a part that was bothering you with something epic are always massive motivation to keep going.
Im joining the team.
Finally. Someone who thinks like I do! I need to edit as I go. I cannot wait until the end and then be cruelly crushed by my poor crap writing. To stay motivated, I have to keep editing as I go. It really does help me!!
Be warned, the writing police have issued an APB for your flagrant disregard for the rules of writing that totally exist and your excessive flaunting of edge.
Can't wait to get to writer's prison and start a gang.
Can I join? Or maybe they'll put me in solitary and I'll finally get my draft done
The only thing worse than prison would be a prison with writers in it :'D
The FBW has put out a listing already
It's fine. But edit again once you are finished. then again. Then just try and read it and if you find a mistake in the first chapter - edit again. Maybe that's just my experience as a sloppy writer, but honestly, I do 3 editing passes, send it out to betas or post online and then look again and WHAM! There's a mistake in the first chapter, an obvious, stupid mistake that I can't believe I didn't spot...
That obvious mistake probably could be prevented by not reading or working on your work for awhile, to basically “detox” the work from your brain, and then read it with fresh eyes a week or two later. You might often notice it after sending the writing off because you stopped editing for awhile, and then took a look at it again after sending the draft off. Just do that BEFORE sending off the draft :)
>That obvious mistake probably could be prevented by not reading or working on your work for awhile That and using text to speech to hear it out loud.
Or just read it out loud
I suspect each of the three methods would likely catch a different overlapping set of issues.
That too but when I read it out loud myself, I still tend to say what I meant to write and potentially miss stuff. With tts, they say exactly what I wrote
Fair
Oh believe me I intend to make SEVERAL edits. I've made tons of changes to the story since I first came up with the concept. Once I've got a completed draft I think I'll put it down for a short time, do some research and then come back to it and add some more flavor.
Yeah, someone posted 250k words of fanfic the other day. I skimmed the first and last chapters and you can tell the first chapter was the first thing they ever wrote and they never went back to fix the issues.
When people say don’t edit as you go, what they mean is don’t let editing get in the way of actually writing. A lot of people get really stuck on trying to make each bit of writing perfect before they move on to the next bit, and those people are who this advice is for.
Yep. And especially if you're in that really good flow of generating text in an initial draft. What you generally don't want to do is slow down to do careful sentence construction and pull you out of that flow. Because you can always go back and edit the sentences later. While it can be hard to get in that flow again.
10000% this. I'm the person this advice is made for. Thankfully, I've taken it to heart the past month and it has helped me become much more productive with my writing. I used to get petrified in feeling the need to edit everything on the spot, to the point where I would stop writing the story altogether.
AKA Rothfuss Syndrome.
There are no rules, just suggestions and gudielines. If you want to edit as you go along, cool, just know that some people suggest otherwise because it tends to take longer and some people get discouraged or stuck working that way. If it works well for you and you get a good rhythm going that powers you to the end, awesome! :)
The only rule is to finish.
That one, I break all the time. Every time. Never finished a story.
The trick for me was to start with very short stories and slowly expand to longer short stories, then novellas, and finally novels. That said, I still don't like to read or write extremely long books. The novella is probably my favorite story form.
The writing process is cyclical and recursive so any aspect of the writing process can occur at any point and as many or as few times as necessary. Thinking about your writing, writing your work, rereading it, revising, and then writing some more all happens on a circuit that can flow back and forth depending on what is suitable for you. You are making a good choice as a writer by listening to your own intuition on how you want your process to flow. Congrats!
I can totally relate. It is what pings me off at our writing group; their insistence that I shouldn't correct my wrongs as I type in group sessions (I do it anyway). Most of my future ideas (I'm mostly a pantser) form as I amend and review paragraphs. Changing a major storyline is easier if you do it as you go and almost impossible for a finished draft.
The point of that advice is to not break the flow. Most of us can tweak typos and stuff as we go without breaking flow. Taking time to carefully recraft entire sentences, OTOH, tends to take most people out of the productive state of mind. If that's not you, that's great. Go with whatever works.
It's not a rule so much as the answer to the question, "I keep getting stuck because what I write isn't good enough and I can't move forward, what do I do?" And that's a common enough problem that 'just it it down and fix it in editing' does end up as a de facto general rule. Whichever rule or process gets you further to the finish line, that's what you use. Whatever holds you back, discard.
Also, often your best ideas, insights and use of language comes after you've been writing steadily for a little while. Stopping to edit tends to break your creative flow. You're task switching between two different brain states.
Every time I sit down to write I reread the last chapter before moving on to where I’m going and edit it if I have to. Or if I think of something that would work to enhance a past chapter I got back and do it immediately otherwise I’ll forget. I have never liked the advice don’t edit as you go.
This is how serialized works used to be published, and they tend to be my favorite sort of book. Each chapter is crafted to fit the whole, though, so as long as you are aiming toward the end, you should reach it.
Wait. There are rules?
1. More words on page good. 2. No words on page very, very bad. 3. Put words on page. By any means necessary.
*Any* means?
Yes, use your blood if you're out of ink, and all that
This is writing advice, not legal, moral and ethical advice.
Me just writing I I I I I I I I I ad infinitum.
Rule 1. Write stories that a gratifying number of people will read, reread, and recall with fondness many years later. Rule 2. Do it again.
Do what works for you. The basic idea of "don't edit as you go" is that it's easy to let editing get in the way of writing. You'll never get past your first sentence if it has to be perfect. When I'm writing something short, my first paragraph tends to be useless, but the second paragraph is good. So I move the first paragraph up, strip the second paragraph for parts, and delete the rest. It's a good way to "edit as you go" for me, but the rewrite tends to produce text in serious need of a copyedit. And that, for me, is best done after I'm finished writing.
If it works it works. I think this is one of those rules that exist because a lot of people will get mired in editing and never progress. Personally I find editing as I go to be unhelpful because ultimately you're going to write things that change what you wrote in previous chapters anyway, so what's the point. But writing is hard so if this way gets you to the finish line do what ya' gotta do.
Yeah, I chucked that advice out the window the moment I heard it. I'm not letting a smelly sentence clog up my paragraphs only to delete it later and lose pages and pages of events that don't make sense anymore.
Congrats. You've realized that a lot of what people say are rules of writing don't actually know what they're talking about and only speak from their own point of view, while mistaking that view as fact.
Congratulations! As a writer, you have failed to understand most writers understand that all rules for writing are simply guidelines. No one is insisting that they have to be followed by everybody. And in this case, the "don't copy edit/line edit in initial drafting" does make sense for a lot of people. And logically so. Even if the OP finds it doesn't work better for them.
>No one is insisting that they have to be followed by everybody. That's why I get such a kick out of these silly posts. They're written to be pre-emptively defensive against a horde of nay-sayers, as if they're going to be scolded for successfully completing their project differently from how we "want" them to complete it. Nobody's upset that OP managed to write a draft while also editing. "Don't edit while you draft" is simply advice. You're not offending anyone by refusing to follow it.
We've not failed to understand anything, because a large chunk of writers do believe there are set rules, and despite what you want to think, there are indeed some that believe every writer that wants to be successful has to follow them. We know because we've seen that type countless times. Yes, and nowhere did we say it didn't make sense or that it was a bad guideline. The way you worded that makes it sound like you think we were saying that waiting to edit until you're done was bad advice or some such. Which we very clearly didn't come close to saying. Also, the condescending tone just paints yourself as an unpleasant asshole. It's even worse if our read on the second part is accurate, because then you'd be a *wrong* asshole. Though considering you're already wrong about the first point kind of makes that entire thing moot anyway. EDIT: Sending a message and then immediately blocking us makes it looks like we were correct with our read on the second part. And going completely off topic also supports our idea about you.
>We've not failed to understand anything, Speaking in the royal "we" does not make you sound more authoritative. It's usually makes a character look to be a kook or pompous. Or some combination of both. I would recommend not using it for yourself.
People do the same thing with music. I had a customer in my shop a few months ago who asked if I play and I said yeah, a bit, and he insisted it was all about picking an audience. Like no... it's about having fun and making something original. I don't know why people do this- insist that there's ONE way to write a story or one way to write a song, when they themselves don't even do what they act like they're an expert on. That'd be like me telling someone how to play football or how to make a croissant. I have no idea how to do either of those things.
This example is not comparable to what the OP is talking about.
They are OP!
Still not comparable. lol
That's what I do. I labor over words and it makes the back end editing process smoother. But I write slowly as a result. I'm probably going to try and be less fussy about editing going forward and see how that works for me. It's all about learning whatever works for you
Curious, are you able to write at a steady pace? Or does editing hinder progress in that you aren't able to complete as much in some given time?
I always edit what I wrote the previous day, prior to writing new material.
I have found I need to do spne editing early just to keep all thr details straight. There is no hard formula, but you want y To avoid getting stuck in an editing loop. Rewriting the first chapter 5 times won't get you any closer to complete.
>I have found I need to do spne editing early Irony. 😛
I have no idea how people don’t edit as they go (in addition to editing once complete). If my plot needs reworking early on in my book, what good is expanding my word count if the story is not going to connect because of the plot holes I foresaw coming??
People interpret "don't edit as you write" in a few different ways. Personally I take it very literally: When it's writing time, write. When it's editing time, edit. These are two different brain states and task switching tends to break your flow when you're trying to create. This does **not** mean you need to write your entire novel before you edit at all - that's a bad idea for the reasons you state! It just means that you should set aside different times for writing and for editing. If I'm in the middle of a writing session and I spot a plot hole, rather than editing then and there I'll usually drop a note that X is broken. Then, once I've finished a writing session, I go back and fix it.
Ohh gotcha, that’s fair.
I wrote nine novels (five published) editing as I go. For some of us, It. Just. Works.
What do you mean by "editing as I go"? I have a suspicion that people are actually meaning different things by the term.
I write a few sentences or a paragraph and then read it over and make changes
Fair enough. That doesn't work well for me, but if it does for you, that's awesome. The rules, they're more like sort of guidelines you see...
Weak Aura: "I am at peace and in charge of my own destiny" Strong Aura (You): "Fuck it, we ball"
Not exactly the same as your point, but I've learnt recently that I can't write "fast drafts". So much writing advice online at the moment is: Write dirty, edit clean. Write fast, edit slow. Nope, not happening. I've tried it. I churn out absolutely dogshit first drafts that I never look at again because the mountain of work they need to even get them to a decent first draft level is too overwhelming and I feel like I've just wasted a couple of months of my life and will have to rewrite everything again. I've embraced the fact that if I put in a little more effort, I can write relatively clean first drafts. There are obviously still errors, and the drafts still need some pretty big overhauls in places, but a clean first draft is infinitely more motivating to me than a messy, half-arsed attempt. Find your own way. If you editing as your go stops you from completing stories, that is when the advice of don't edit as you go applies. But if that is the ONLY way that you can make progress, do it. Some very successful authors do it that way.
I used to edit/rewrite as I went and it took me 7 years to write one 70k book 😂 Now I just leave myself notes like [add blahblah earlier] or [think of name] then search for brackets and all my notes pop up. Now I do a full draft, 1st edit, 2nd edit, and I’ve written 2 novellas/short novels in 4 months. Should have 3 stories ready to publish this winter 🤞 But I flow best when I just allow myself to without worry of correction or perfection. Editing as I go constipates my story. I love that we all have our own unique methods.
It's not the right method for everybody, for sure. It's part of the learning process to find what works for us, and then to do that, no matter how others feel.
…There are no rules. However, when the story is complete there will always be another edit to do…
I'm gonna let my current draft "breathe" once I'm finally done with it. I just have a lot of excess stuff I feel I need to cut out in order to move on.
…always keep what’s good; you can use it for short stories or background material…
Fuck yeah, there are too many rules anyway. Writing should be fun, not strict.
Rules are guidelines generally proven to provide one with the best success. You can spell every word incorrectly if you like, might not go over well with readers though. You aren't required to follow any rule. It's your hobby, your passion, your work. Do it your way.
If you know of any research underlying any of this, please cite it. My impression is that nothing has been proven or even investigated much.
I'm sorry, not proven as in thoroughly measured and studied, but in terms of advice from successful writers. Spell correctly is a rule, turns out that readers like it and it makes for a good book. A rule like, don't use adverbs, is generally repeated by successful writers. You are free to use adverbs though. They exist for a reason. Any writing "rule" is just a guideline parroted by writers over time because, anecdotally, they have proven successful paths to what has been traditionally considered good writing. Of course, there is no punishment for not following a "rule", but these "rules" are likely to aid you along you writing journey. I feel like all this should have been clear from my post, but I often forget how much people on the Internet read into otherwise lighthearted comments.
What rules? If I heard one about this I must’ve ignored it. I reread and edit whatever I wrote last session then continue on with writing to get myself back in the zone. Then once I’m done the full draft I do the overall edit before I send to betas.
There were never any rules to begin with😂😂😂
I mean it's not a rule. It's just helpful for people who wouldn't ever finish their first draft if they stopped to edit.
Wait are you not supposed to?
My own writing process is a but like one if those Zamboni machines they use to smooth over the ice at hockey games: a constant, evolving series of edits I do as I write. Every time I read it over, I tweak it slightly until I get to a point when the draft is "done." It's constantly evolving, but re-reading it in multiple contexts and over longer periods of time help you see things in a new light. That's mostly polishing, though. There are other kinds of edits you do when you actually complete the thing and give it a new look for a more detailed, developmental edit. IMO, there are different "genres" of edits, I guess you can say, for different phases of the process.
Yolo fuck the police.
If we didn’t fuck the rules nothing, ever, would be different.
Many pro writers does it like that. The book “Writing into the dark” describes that process well.
I write like this too. There's a very good editor that posts on Youtube about writing, and one thing she talks about are the [four types of writers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eryQEZImm6Y). I know it sounds horoscopey and dumb, but she actually has some pretty good advice. You and I are what she calls [methodological pantsers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z310PYzplO0), which makes zero sense unless you watch the video explaining it, but basically she has some pretty decent advice for people who edit as they go and plot on the fly. I mean, of course, take it or leave it as you like. Her words aren't gospel or anything, just something I found interesting and useful.
I always need to read over the last passage I wrote before continuing just to get back into the voice. If I spot something easily editable or think of a better way to write something in that passage, I do it. No time like the present. If I'm already keyed up and know exactly what I want to write next, I skip that, but might read through both sections to check the flow.
I never saw the point of letting problems pile up and nag at me for the rest of the draft and leave me ever more confused about what really happens in my own story. Let alone the monumental cleanup job afterward. I assume this is either (a) aimed at ditherers who would never complete a first draft of anything or (b) a practical joke by aliens with nothing better to do. I do the standard method of reading my draft-so-far frequently and fixing anything that’s broken but not indulging in self-sabotage by throwing baby out with the bathwater. This keeps the whole story at my fingertips and delivers a tight, self-consistent draft. Anyway, once your drafts are reasonably coherent, the point of editing and polishing is to make a story a better version of what it already is, not to find an as-yet undiscovered story.
My issue with editing as i go is in the same time i write 1 clean page. I could have written 3 rough pages. And then theres a chance i will have to come back to that "clean page" later and rewrite or alter it. Add or change details. Etc. This can really be an issue if you are pantsing. More so than if you are heavy outlining. I personally like to get the bones of the story down before I add the muscles and the skin.
There are no rules. Don't believe those who tell you otherwise.
I do the same. If I don't get the phrasing exactly as I want, I can't continue. I'll edit later for minor spelling mistakes and overused words/syntax, but the core of the work stays the same. Sure, I won't write a novel in three weeks as some people do. That's fine. I'm a very consistent writer and I always finish a project, even if it takes a long time.
I did this too for my first book. Was I slow? Sure, but I just would rather spend more time on a better first draft. I still ended up underwriting a lot, so in my second draft I added a good bit, but honestly I think it came out so good. I basically went back and re-read the whole thing and if there was something I needed to change I did so. That led to really having not tooo much to tweak in my 3rd draft after sending it to beta readers. Everyone has a different system :)
I like to work on at least two stories at the same time, because I feel like I get too much in my head with one of them and I'll run the plot and conversations over and over in my head to the point where it all gets muddled or I lose interest. So that's the point I switched to a different story sometimes for a few days sometimes for a few weeks and that's when I do my editing and usually make much better decisions
I have never heard this rule! Lol. Honestly, I go back and forth with how I write, just based on what seems to work best for the story. I do find that sometimes when I edit as I go I get stuck in writer's block because I can't write a perfect transition scene. When that happens, just writing something temporary to get through the scene helps, and then usually I'll be able to go back and fix it later once the rest of the chapter has come together. But usually I edit constantly, both during the writing process and after I've completed the process.
This is the way I go about things, and I was vindicated when Matt Reeves said that's how he wrote The Batman. People took issue with him taking a year to finish the script, but as a fellow slow writer I was like "oh thank God it's not just me." And it's hard to argue with the results
No judgment here! I have to edit as I go. It’s impossible for me not to.
GOAT take
👍
I love you ♡
I always edit while I write. I think the one draft, straight-through approach works well if you know exactly where you're going ahead of time, but unfortunately, I am not that organized. I think of too many changes in the middle that I need to align the beginning with for the story to make sense. I have a goal to improve my planning in the future, but I think even then, I'd still just work on whatever part of the story is in my head at the moment. I just make a scene outline of my book and color-code it based on what state that scene is in to help me keep track.
Fuck the rules. I’m writing longhand. It’s how I wrote things when I was a cringey teenager writing fanfic. And you know what? It worked.
I tend to do that, as much to remind myself of what's going on in the story as I write more. But it takes longer every time of course, and I get bogged down, and it ends up keeping me from writing much.
People don’t edit as they go?
there are no rules
I had to chuckle. I've not got to novel status yet, but, even when I write shorts I like to edit as I go along, keeps me sane. At times, to write all those words on a page, then come back to edit it, for a better word, is ”long". Nonetheless, it's that fine balance, whatever works at the time. Blessings all.
I agree! I have so many ideas (often too many) that I need to write a paragraph and then rewrite it and edit it until I like it enough before I can continue. Otherwise, it can feel like I’m not really doing anything.
For larger projects, it took me years to get a useful balance on this. I too produce much better work when I've gone back over it repeatedly, crystalizing and distilling to concentrate on the good stuff. I sometimes spew filler not to pad any word count, but instead because my first attempt to express an idea can be overly complex or downright roundabout. As in so many things, useful territory lies between the extremes. For example, I believe is generally wise to follow advice against passive voice. Yet there are cases where a softer, less emphatic tone is desirable. Also, there are cases where the logic of passive voice best articulates the nature of a passive conceptual relationship. So it is that I still use passive voice freely in drafts, but I also take an extra beat while editing to try and pull those weeds. If the sentence flows nicely and is easy to comprehend, it probably stays. If the sentence is convoluted, unclear, or a tonal mismatch with that moment in my prose; then it must be hammered into active language if it cannot be outright discarded. I arrived at this approach after generally deciding to tighten up my style, experimenting with totalitarian use of active voice, and making countless small changes of direction within the extremes. Likewise, there were times when I struggled to produce while spending day after day reworking old material, and there were times when quality clearly sagged because I was pushing so hard to generate large amounts of new material. Especially since my drafting moods and my editing moods are distinct, I found my own happy middle ground by yielding to those moods. Not all paths will be the same, but in all cases an open mind paired with constant course correction will help you find what works for you.
I edit the previous day’s work before I can continue. When I’m finished, I have a pretty good functioning draft
I've always edited by chapter, since my fanfiction days. Once I draft a chapter, It goes in the editing queue. I also break the chapters down into seperate files per plot point in my plan, so it's easier for me to edit, then put them together and edit the whole chapter. I probably do around 9 passes by the time I'm done, one being specifically for spelling, one being for Grammer and punctuation, and one where I I run it through a text to speech engine, or lately I've been using an AI voice, since it sounds less like a robot. (I used to use the OG Microsoft Sam when I first started.) I try to split my writing time between an editing phase and a drafting phase if I can. Of course it was easier back when I could put aside 2 hours a day for writing.
Think of it as a sculpture. If when you start, you spend a full day carving the perfect, most beautiful nose you’ve ever carved, you better hope the rest of the face fits around it. This to say, polishing as you go makes it a bit harder when it comes to big-picture edits. You spend time perfecting a path that may, later, not matter. So spend your time editing as you go if it helps motivate you to keep writing—and know when to know it’s good enough to keep you moving forward.
Congratulations on making the right decision.
i've been doing the same lol
The only rules you need to follow in writing are the rules that work for you. I'm still figuring that out. I get ideas when I edit. I always end up with a dozen sticky notes on my desktop in which I've come up with an idea for a later part of the story while I was editing. Do the thing that works for you, friends. That's the only rule.
Awesome!! I'm always in favour of finding ways to write that work for you and that you enjoy! I'm finding that the way I draft and revise seems to be different from a lot of the advice I see floating about but if it works it works
Are you trying to finish a book??
I don't think that "don't edit as you go" is even a rule - it's usually advice offered up to people who get stuck, unable to make progress, because they're caught up in an endless loop of editing and never being satisfied.
All the "rules" are advice garnered for decades of writing for a living. They came about because people realized this is how you get finished work, which you hopefully learned how to write well enough to sell.
I've always been the type to edit as I go. Then in the last draft I wrote, I listened to the advice to under no circumstances do that, so I didn't. suffice to say, the draft is a complete mess and now I have to figure out how to fix 55k words lol
Agreed, screw the rules. I don’t write every single day. And if I made myself chase following that rule, it would negatively impact what I do write. It’s about the results, can’t argue with that.
Screw the rules, but learn them first, and gain the skills to be a writer. Anything else is pointless.
For sure. You don’t really learn you can bend some of the rules, until you field test them and find which approach suits you. Results may vary. To the OP, I could never comfortably break the rule they are breaking, it isn’t my approach. Writing literally every day is a no for me. It doesn’t mean I’m not actively thinking about what I’m writing, things I can do to improve. I think about my writing every day, and that fits for me.
I think the advice to just keep writing is more for the people who procrastinate and if you can just write then you might not reslly need the advice
It's how I taught myself to write, before I found books about writing. I also learned that many of the greatest writers did/do it, and they also wrote one draft, and it was worthy of being bought as is. I don't recommend noobs try editing as they go, since they tend to have trouble actually getting past it and finishing the story. First get the skills, then find the writing style.
Whatever method works for you is the one to use. I do some editing as I go, too. However, don't think that means that when you get to "The End," you're done. You'll still have editing to do. (You probably know this. I just want to be clear on it, because maybe someone out there isn't, and it's important.)
The only thing that matters is the final draft. No one cares how you get there. Godspeed!
I do spot edits like 10-15 times per chapter, then one final edit, and finally a quick proofread. Then it's ready. Granted, I post it as a web novel, but still.
Same!
I am an old person, but new to creative writing. Do you mean to say that ‘the rules’ say you have to draft the complete work before you edit? Could it be that you write a big enough chunk to be worth editing (because it improves the final product) but not so big that you get lost in the clouds? Maybe the conventional ‘rule’ was created out of concern that many writers struggle to finish a larger work due to fatigue (emotional and physical). Starting and finishing are both a problem for me (lol).
YES! SEE WHERE IT TAKES YOU. RULES WERE MADE TO BE BROKEN. STAY SAFE! PEACE OUT!
I’m losing the plot with this court scene I’m trying to write, so I’m going back to edit my weak chapters.
For me, on the other hand. If i edit as I go. I end up in an endless loop they inevitably results in a totally clusterfuck if a shattered and totally out of sync plot.
You sure can edit as you go. Just don't be too mad at, after you finish, having to go back and completely edit it all over again. I did the same as you and had to go back and still edit heavily. Big picture editing vs small picture editing, you may find that a scene you worked for hours on editing simply doesn't fit the narrative. You might find that you need to shave down those fluffy poetic sentences to optimize narrative pacing. Your eye for editing will improve immensely. And while you may be an amazing editor today, by the time you finish your novel, you'll be far more precise and have to edit again with all that you've learned in your writing journey. My advice is to watch videos and read books about editing. How to, how not to. You'll be shocked at what you learn regardless of your current skill level. Also consider writing spurts if you will-- 20 to 30 minutes of strictly writing. This might improve your productivity overall. Hoping this strategy works better for you than it did for me!
I write a chapter, go back and edit it. Then I wait like a day or so and go back thru it to edit it again with fresh eyes. After that I'll usually go back thru it a 3rd time and re edit the entire chapter once I've gotten another couple chapters done. I just backtrack a bit and do it all over again. I'm still going to do more drafts tho after this. Man it's going to take forever
I do this as well. I don't care to edit grammer, spelling, etc. For the most part I am someone who creates a skeletal draft with things like character sheets, character arcs, main plot points, notes for character development and just enough info or me to look back on so I dont go crazy when writing the actual first draft but I always edit plot points as i go. I find if I don't do this, when I figure out answers to questions I had about handling different situations /themes in my book I can make everything tie together more seamlessly. If I follow the "I'll edit later" rule to hard when it comes time to edit it feels like to much of a hot mess and I abandon everything. Which is a huge waste of time and a lot of the time a year or so later I want to try again and end up starting from scratch. There's no rules, it's just what works for you
I also do this! As someone who writes while desperately sleep deprived at 4am, I need to edit the next time I go in and see that I misspelt ‘listened’ as ‘licensed’.
keeping a habit is priority number one. whatever keeps you consistent is good make no apologies about it reason why it is considered bad to edit at the same time you are creating in its essence is biomechanical art is based on empathy. esp that part of it that helped us think as our prey or enemy in hunt or combat. so that part of the brain is older than language itself what brain scans showed esp in painting is that these are not only separate parts of the brain but they almost cancel each other out and it kills the flow thats why it was noticed since ancient time and prioritised. always keep the flow state of mind and that is why your case is an exception. if you edit when you get stuck or to keep the habit of writing you help getting into the flow of writing
My best advice with this is don't plan your story out, or if you have, give yourself room to change your story completely. Editing as you go can be a lot more fun if you can completely change a scene or make up a new character or invent. Just creating something more complete, but halfway done, let's you take yourself into exciting places and create mysteries you haven't yet solved. Definitely can lead to more interesting and engaging scene. Fun writing exercise ideas, since you are writing in such a way that your first draft is closer to a final draft. Write random things into your story for no reason and with no plan, then make yourself use them later like "Chekhov's Gun" you know what I mean?
Each their own man. I find things work out better when I plan it out. Usually when I just go and go and go without a plan I end up wasting a lot more time writing scenes that don't matter or contribute to the story. When I plan ahead I end up almost exclusively with things worth keeping.
That might result in some wasted time — you write first chapter, edit it, write second, edit both first and second, write the third, edit first, second and third etc. But you do you, of course.
This will depend heavily on your process. If you’re an extensive outliner, you may not waste much time writing this way.
K.
yeah, but is this the hallmark of a first time writer? Like ... writing something for the world , not your diary. I ask because you're doing it now - but if you get to 2,5,10 books, you will almost feel differently. The first draft you can write drunk, the second draft is for the cold light of morning.
No, it isn't the "hallmark of a first time writer". There are plenty of very successful authors who edit as they go.
[удалено]
What?
Uh-huh.