Crossroads of sorts

[Venusian Broon]

I know that this question does not have an answer (or at least the answer will be the one that suits me best, whatever it is) however I'd like to hear what other people who have written a manuscript think is the best course, in their experience.

I'm a couple of short chapters away from finishing off the first part of my WiP. It'll come in at ~50k words and is really quite self contained from the rest that I have yet to write.

Now originally I was going to plough on and finish off the other parts before editing the whole lot in anger. But a little niggling thought in my head is suggesting that I edit what I've written so far.

Partly because it's self-contained and as I've been working through it I've been adding thoughts and 'notes in the margin' about previous chapters to incorporate or change things. So these ideas are still quite fresh. Also I have a captive Beta reader that is actually looking forward to reading it (well family has to be useful for something, yes?), but I won't give him a first draft....

...but is it much better to just leave it a good length of time, so that when I do eventually get back to it, many months from now, I'll be completely fresh to the writings (many, no doubt) failings?

I deliberately write a first draft just to get everything down, however clunky or difficult it is; always put something down and move on, as I know I will very probably be re-engineering quite a lot of it. (And I think I will get better writing as time goes on, so I don't like agonising hours over a paragraph when there are screeds of empty pages waiting to be filled.)

So what would you do? Plough on regardless or Edit? Or perhaps do both?

 

[James Beam]

...but is it much better to just leave it a good length of time, so that when I do eventually get back to it, many months from now, I'll be completely fresh to the writings (many, no doubt) failings?

I suggest you do exactly that.

You're far too close to it now.

 

[Christopher Lee]

I second Mr. Beam. File it away for a few months, get a new project going to take your mind off it, and then re-read it again when the time comes.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

It depends how long you've taken to write it, VB. If it's been over a lot of months, I'd be inclined to go back and have a tidy, check things are where you need them and you have it all fresh in your mind before tackling the next part. If it's been recent, you could plough ahead, especially as the story might change and you could end up editing bits you're going to change anyway.

helpful, that, wasn't it. I have myself a lovely fence today...

 

[alchemist]

Any books I've read on this subject suggest waiting for 4-6 weeks before editing, so you can look at it with fresh eyes. I did that, and used the time to work on some short stories.
I don't know yet if it was a good idea, but it certainly didn't do any harm.

 

[HareBrain]

I'm pretty certain you're not going to get away with only one edit. I'd tidy it now while the changes you want to make are fresh, and then put it aside and come back for another edit later.

 

[Bowler1]

I do a bit of both as per HareBrain. If you have ideas for editing do them while you remember them, then put away and plow on with the rest of the story. Once the rest of the story if finished the plot may have varied a little and the first section might need changing/more editing.

However, there will be no right answer to your problem, everyone is different.

 

[Venusian Broon]

I'm pretty certain you're not going to get away with only one edit. I'd tidy it now while the changes you want to make are fresh, and then put it aside and come back for another edit later.

Oh absolutely, could be many edits. Have written many shorts so I am fully aware of my limitations in early drafts .

I'd use some sort of sculpting metaphor here, say making a statue of a person*, the first draft it hacking out a suitable sized piece of marble, roughly getting into approximate shape and making sure it doesn't have any deep faults.

Next sequence of edits are all about getting the main bits, so that you can see the legs, head and the main features properly, slowly getting better and better detail.

The final sequence is then polishing.

And then once it's finished, no doubt loads of people will say - 'like the body, but I'd only buy it if the head was different'



*Not being a sculptor I have no idea if this how you go about it. Possibly.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

If you think there might be important changes in the editing of the first part, I would work on that first, before writing the second part. Otherwise, the second part could prove to be all wrong later. Just don't let yourself get caught up in continuous editing of the first part so much that you never get around to the second part.

I speak from current experience, here.

I wrote the first 50k words of my WIP and then didn't touch it for a year. When I got back to it, fairly recently, I found myself stuck in a loop of tweaking with no clear idea how to move on. For future reference, I found my way out by sending some of it to a couple of fabulous people whose commentary showed me the path. But if I had tried to write the second part before that, it would have turned out useless, as the recommended editing led to a number of important changes in the first part.

On the other hand, if you can see your way clear to the end right now, and don't think you'll be changing anything that will affect the second part in a major way, then get it out while you still can!

 

[Jo Zebedee]

good advice, TDZ, and somewhere I'm forcing myself from at the mo. Chap 1-6 are there, 10 on mainly missing. So, I'm having to grit my teeth and get on with things, and not keep tweaking. I need a keyring or something that says write! don't tweak.

 

[Venusian Broon]

For me the plot has been carefully constructed, so I know quite accurately how many chapters I will need and where each chapter goes, what is described and what happens. It's logical* and shouldn't change very much at all.

The only major changes would be if I felt I needed to add more story for some of the characters. Or I suppose hacked stuff out because it was redundant or unnecessary.

I feel that the next edit, whenever I get around to it, is really to tie down moods and get the style of each chapter in reasonable shape -for example this chapter has to be mysterious, this chapter has to really reflect the etiqutte of my protrayed society etc... and also really start thinking about the language and getting that much better.

I think from all the responses so far, it is a loud and clear 'Carry on forwards!'

Right, I'm going to be sad and say that I have to rush off and watch Eastenders.


*At least logical for me.

 

[allmywires]

good advice, TDZ, and somewhere I'm forcing myself from at the mo. Chap 1-6 are there, 10 on mainly missing. So, I'm having to grit my teeth and get on with things, and not keep tweaking. I need a keyring or something that says write! don't tweak.

This is me. Good Lord I'm awful. Always going back to change things. i get about 20k in and have a ideas spike about how awful what I'm currently writing is and how much of a better idea this new, shiny thing is...

Anyhow, yes, I'd say get cracking. I think the tone is something definitely to do after you know exactly what's happened afterwards and what you want to foreshadow etc.

Enjoy 'Enders I've been watching sporadically since Heather copped it and I still can't figure out whodunnit...

 

[Gumboot]

My method is always the same as HareBrain and Bowler1; as soon as I finish a self-contained part I go back through and do a clean-up, then I put it aside and leave it for a while, continuing on with other stuff, then go back and do more serious edits later.

 

[Warren_Paul]

I'll add my thoughts, even though they have already been mentioned.

My advise is to go back and edit now, incorporate your fresh thoughts into it, and then pass it on to a beta reader.

Then, while a beta reader is working through that part of the book, start planning the next section and figuring out how your edits change what's still to happen - because by the time you have redrafted the first part, you will likely have ideas that change some of the overall story.

I'd wait for the beta reader(s) to send you back their comments before writing any more though, incase they make comments that might change your plans, again. - good excuse to take a breather and relax for a few weeks.

 

[Coragem]

Personally, I would edit now and pass it to your reader. And then I would edit it all over again after a break, with the reader's feedback to inform the second edit.

I don't know what your goals are, but I think most of us want our writing to be of a standard with the best out there. Perhaps there are rare geniuses out there, but for me reaching a high standard means editing and editing again.

Coragem

 

[Venusian Broon]

Personally, I would edit now and pass it to your reader. And then I would edit it all over again after a break, with the reader's feedback to inform the second edit.

I don't know what your goals are, but I think most of us want our writing to be of a standard with the best out there. Perhaps there are rare geniuses out there, but for me reaching a high standard means editing and editing again.

Coragem

I don't know anyone who claims they just write out perfect prose on their first draft, but that definitely is not me.

I suppose the thing here is, I think I'd rather edit a full draft of the complete work because then it's much easier to see what's missing and what is superfluous, as all of the unknowns have been set down in some form, so that I can really concentrate on focusing hard on getting the best possible language for the ideas on the page.

The past 3-4 months writing part 1 is the end result of two years of work* on research, character and plot development. So I'm fairly confident that nothing major is going to alter plot-wise; I have the 90-odd scenes all described in a treatment, each with a paragraph about who is there, where they are and what will happen

However Coragem, perhaps you are swinging me round to doing a rough patched-up edit and sending it to my poor suffering beta reader (or more commonly known as Dad.)

*Got to pay the bills, Time is really my enemy...

 

[crystal haven]

I tend to edit as I go along. Before I start the next chapter I will read and edit the previous chapter, and then carry on writing.

My first novel was completed this way, and then given to someone to read, and then I edited again. Then put it out of sight for a bit.

The sequel was written straight through without editing at all - something I would never choose to do again. I felt I had finished, and going right back to the beginning and editing before giving it to someone to read was hard work, and seemed very time consuming.

I'm not sure that answers your question, but it is how I write.

 

[Venusian Broon]

I'm not sure that answers your question, but it is how I write.

Cheers CH,

I'm an invertrate planner, as I believe a bit of clear thinking before starting something is better than rushing off with the first method to hand and discovering problems months down the line.

Everyone's experiences and advice are fascinating and very illuminating. (Just got to figure out what makes most sense for me.)

 

[Glen]

No question - plough on and finish, even though ploughing on is harder.

Editing now is the equivalent of alphebatising your cereal boxes. It is getting between you and finishing the best book ever written.

Editing will be easier when you are further away from the work - what works well and what doesn't work will be much easier to see.

Just my opinion :0)

 

[Warren_Paul]

The only reason I suggested editing it now was because you said it was standalone from the rest of the book, like Part One and Part Two of my book is. I could technically treat them as two separate books, and so send them out separately to beta readers.

If you think the first part won't completely make sense without the rest of the book, then finish the whole book first maybe?