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  1. nastyjman

    nastyjman Senior Member

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    Cool off period for revised drafts

    Discussion in 'Revision and Editing' started by nastyjman, May 1, 2013.

    After revising your first draft, do you wait for a few weeks or so for the revisions to cool off? I'm not sure if the revised draft should be left alone, to give yourself time for fresh eyes. I had a story that I revised and edited immediately after touching it up and modifying it. I didn't give myself any cooling period in between revisions. It came to four drafts, and it had tangled up beyond recognition from my previous concept of the story.

    Suffice it to say, a lot of stuff got added in, a lot of stuff got taken out. The editor inside garbled a lot.

    So my questions is, do I wait for a few weeks or so to read the revised draft? What is your process in regards to reading and editing revised drafts?
     
  2. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

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    there are countless threads on this topic... please refer to them instead of continuing yet another...
     
  3. Thornesque

    Thornesque Senior Member

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    It works differently for different writers, as with just about any other aspect of the writing and editing process. However, I think the general recommendation is to give yourself time to cool off. It certainly helps me if I haven't looked at it in a while. What the mind tends to do with your own work, when read immediately after being written, is read it the way you meant for it to, rather thant he wya it actually does. When you take the grace period, your mind forgets what it originally itnended for a pice and you're able to read it as though you weren't the one that wrote it.

    Now, if you're writing an entire mauscript before you begin the editing process, this may not be as much of an issue for you. If you took the time to write 60 chapters before going back to read, then it's very likely that your mind has already forgotten what you originally intended to voice to be like.

    Again: it depends on you as a writer. Personally, I like to give a grace period, and I prefer not to edit as I go. But it's completely up to you what you do.
     

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