This doesn't make any sense to me, and I've said so in other threads. For me, writing and "editing" (which seems to mean something different for everyone) are both very creative processes. The idea of editing being a different mental process from creating seems silly to me - it does not compute, so to speak. Editing is a process of rewriting, and more deeply imagining, for me, and as such, is at least as creative a process as generating the first (very first) draft. I don't like beginning a day's work without rereading and revising the previous day's work. If I did, I'd know that I was piling up a heap of bad pages, and I just hate the thought of that. So I revise and rewrite as I go. It takes me a while to write a first draft, but at least I don't have to rewrite the whole damn thing from scratch when I'm done, just because I didn't take care of business when I should have.
Interesting. You make good points minstrel. I guess everyone does have different methods. The book Self-Editing for Fiction Writers describes what I'm talking about, and both it's authors are professional authors and editors, so it's certainly not silly. Stephen King does it even 'sillier'. He writes a first draft then locks it away in a drawer for at least six weeks before he pulls it out, reads it fresh, and starts editing it. (See his book On Writing for more details.) I tried doing it the way you describe, editing the previous day's work before writing the new stuff, but I always found myself burning out on the rewriting process and then I had no clarity or mental energy to continue and the story is just gone. I can see the benefits of doing it your way though, you'd end up with a more polished first draft. I just can't seem to do it. Hence my advice to jc.
Hey TD, I really liked your response. My question for you is: what do you do if you find a major plot hole? Rework the story or plug it? That's my concern with your method of creating straight through without stopping to edit. Just wondering what you do? Thanks!
That is always the big fear, especially when doing the whole first draft in one long run without rewrites. If I can plug it in a way that seems natural, by rewriting just the scene or the chapter, that's what I do. However if it's a doozy, a total plot-killer, I'm stuck with altering every scene affected by the hole as I go through the whole work. Time consuming. It has happened to me. But to me it's worth the risk. If I lose the flow of the story because I stop to rewrite it always ends badly. Often I can't finish the work. So I take the risk. And it usually works.
I've read On Writing a couple of times and have a copy on my shelf. But why oh why (and I've asked this in other threads) does everybody keep bringing up Stephen King as though he's some kind of god of writing? He's not that good, even though he's very prolific and sells a lot of books. There are far better writers out there - why not learn from them? Sure, maybe they don't write about zombies or whatever, but they're good.
You're right Minstrel, King's good but not great. Despite that, he's my favourite author. Why? He nails characters and their emotions in a way that resonates with me. (And apparently a lot of other people) I can overlook bad writing if the story makes me feel something. I can't finish a masterfully written story if I don't like the characters or don't feel something for them. Not everyone feels as I do, but it's a good thing that we feel differently. It opens up markets for all kinds of writers, instead of just 'the best'.
Hey jc do you have an example of what you mean? First of all you can unlearn and learn anyhting you want. How You bring up examples of what you mean then you look up something similar but different you compare then you go back to your first example and then you change it. For example: He walked faster. He annoyingly used up all his mighty powers. He felt torn and extremely tired. As oppose to: He walked fast as his steps stumped on the ground you could feel the air move. He was annoyed at himsefl because he had used up all his powers. He feelt edy and his body weighed a mass of sweat as he dragged himsefl to the nearset coffee shot. His legs were givign away. He needed to sit down. In the second paragraph more words have been introduce. It is like looking at a film. You have imagine this person as if you were yourself in it toget a feel of what it feels like if it were you. Think of images playing in fron of you. Visuals is what makes it.
This is why, as the discussion re: Stephen King points out, I take all advice from published/experienced writers with a grain of salt. They can only tell you what works for them. You try it - if it works, it works. If it doesn't, you try something else. Learning what method to use for one's writing is just as important (and difficult) as learning the mechanics and craft.
if you can't manage to do it on your own, then either take a good writing course or find a mentor who'll help you break those bad habits... i know it can be done, since even the worst writers among the thousands of mentees i've worked with over the years were able to learn to do so, to some extent...
I must be doing something wrong, because so far I have never found a plot hole... makes me worried, actually. Is it me who doesn't see them or are my plots really that simple?
I'm no expert but... I'm writing my first story since school. That was a looong time ago, so I have quite a lot to learn, but I am finding that every time I pick up my writing each day, or after a few days away from it, I re-read what I have put down so far. This does mean that it is taking a little longer each time to begin writing again, but while I'm re-reading, I see new things that I don't like, and I fix or re-write those little bits that I find "wrong". I look at it like this... What I write is mine to start with, until it escapes into the world, so I am writing my story for me to begin with. Yes, I hope to be published in some form or another in time, but my story is mine. I love to read, and when I read a book, I enjoy reading, usually when what I am reading flows and the sentences fit together. I never think about the syntax or grammar that the author used. Good writing, to me, flows and creates images in my mind. It's difficult to form those images when the writing doesn't flow. If the use of too many hyphens or semi colons fits in to the flow of the writing style, then I would never really know it unless I begin hacking the text apart and analyzing it. Most readers won't do that, but if you ask someone to look at the grammar and syntax, then they will always be able to find something wrong with it. Every person will have his or her likes and dislikes, so each person that you ask may have different things that they come up with. My point is that if you are looking for problems and bad habits in your writing, then you will find them, and never be happy with it. There are rules that make writing flow, and you can look out for them all the time, and "fix" what you find to be wrong, or you could write to get your story out. When I read my story when I come back to it, I watch out more for the flow of the text, and the rest seems to take care of itself. If your use of adverbs and or adjectives, helps your story flow and allows the reader to form images in his or her minds, then why not use them. I agree that they can be over used and can clutter the text without adding anything to it and make it quite boring sometimes, but if they are used and add to the story, then keep them! What really gets me with some authors is that they seem to feel that it adds something to their stories to over describe something. It's not their use of adjectives and adverbs that gets to me. It's their inclusion of the garbage they include to set up a scene that takes away from the flow of the story. Maybe my writing is horrible (I hope not), but I do get the images in my head, and to me they are interesting and exciting, so I hope I'm right.
