I'm 55k into my novel and I think I'm about halfway. It's pretty exciting to get this far but it's also pretty daunting to think that I still have so long to go! I've tried my hardest not to edit as I go and sometimes I finish paragraphs that I know are complete crap but I power on nonetheless. When I do go back and re-read, I found I've become obsessed with using track changes in Word. It might come from so many years working as a public servant... I'm also crazy about version control :redface:. My novel's up to version 2.04 or something already, over 5 different parts and with track changes throughout the whole thing! Is anyone else this crazy about their editing? And if not, have you ever made changes to a whole section and thought "My God I wish I could get the old version back..."?
I make it a personal rule not to do any editing until the first draft is complete. Otherwise I run the risk of getting hung up on the first chapters, and never finishing the story. As for previous versions, that's easy. I save each draft as a separate file. For example, a story I submitted the other day called "Body Art" has (so far) six drafts, each as a different file within the story's folder. That way I can, if ever I need to, check back to see the previous versions.
I don't edit as I go either. I also normally don't keep several versions of anything. If I delete a substantial chunk of writing though, I might save it in another document, just in case I change my mind later.
Hi je33ie I tend to write bit by bit as I am not a good typist and tend to mispell a lot and my grammar is not up to scracth just yet. how about Little Paragraphs at a time, I call them (LT) writing style. you write a small piece, then you write another of another new story, then you revisit the other ( LT) from say (story 1) then you check/edit till you are satisfied. then once it is on the ''slow burner'' as they say, write another little piece say (story3) The idea here to swing between various stories in small doses. I tend to write various pieces , then leave them there till I am in the 'mood'. I do not spend all my time on one storie because I become if you like 'stale'. So I refresh myself with another idea of another story or write poetry to get me energised. The clue is to not stick with just the one story. You need variety in order to progress. you know what they say one step back is one step further. step away to step forward.
I get caught up with edits. Maybe that's why I've never been able to finish anything I write yet... However, since joining this forum, I'm seeing the benefit of just writing it out without worrying about editing anything. Banzai's idea of separate edit files for each chapter sounds promising too. I might start doing that myself.
I edit as I go, because I'll read a chapter or so of what I've already written to get me in scene/mind-set/mood for what I'm writing next. Sometimes things are just glaringly wrong and I have to fix them. I don't save my old edits because if I felt they needed to go, they're gone. Period. I don't go back for them. I also don't keep chunks of writing that I take out for later use. I never have a plan either, heh. But that's just me and of course a lot of people would pull their hair out trying to do things the way I do them
Heinlein's Rules of Writing: 1. You must write. 2. You must finish what you write. 3. You must refrain from rewriting, except to editorial order. 4. You must put the work on the market. 5. You must keep the work on the market until it is sold.
I use a program called yWriter. It saves each piece as separate rich text files and saves constant backups of them. (And it also saves all my notes and whatnot too. :3) EDIT: Actually, just now, I managed to completely wipe my whole novel off of my USB stick like an idiot. If it had been a bunch of Word documents, it would have been hell to sort out after Recuva vomited all of it back out, but yWriter keeps nice little zipped folders marked "Full Backup of (Project) (Date)" and all I had to do was unzip it and reload the project file and everything is back where it's supposed to be.
Yes, he did say that. But remember Newton's First Law of Writing: For every Heinlein, there is an equal and opposite Anti-Heinlein. (At least, I think it goes something like that ...)
Oh now that sounds like an awesome program!! Takes care of my obsessiveness automatically. And what a relief you can get it back after you accidentally deleted it! I find I email it to myself every now and then so I can always get it back that way (but I don't do it as often as I should).
Oooh, I'm glad you could save it. I can't even imagine how it must feel like if that happened and you couldn't recuperate it... brrr
I edit as I go. I cant move on unless I know it is in the best shape possible (to the best of my abilities). I write a chapter then edit the chapter. But I don't spend more than few hours editing. So it doesn't really hold me back.
