After you finish a chapter, do you go back and edit, correct anything that is wrong, or do you finish the whole peice, regardless of how long it is, then correct the whole thing at once. jim
I got told, no matter how tempting it is, write the whole piece first then edit it, after all, there's a reason why it's called a first draft. If you really need to or think of something, go back and put notes in and try not to add anything unless it warrents it. I mean, if you go back and edit your work every chapter, it will never get finished. This way, if you complete the novel or whatever you are writing, you have your framwork to build upon. Once you have everything in place, you can add texture and depth to your novel/work, add more than basic details. I think the most to do every couple of chapters is spell check.. that way you don't spend forever looking at and correcting miss-pelled words!
I see no problem going back and editing a chapter before going on to the next. I do that when working on a novel or a section of a short story, knowing that it is not a final version. It does help me refresh the story line and events before moving forward. I believe that the point others are stressing is that obsessing on getting each chapter perfect before going on leads to never ever reaching the end of a project. I remember going to a writers conference a few years ago and during the lunch I was talking to a writer who had been working on the first 3 chapters of her novel first novel for two years. I asked her why she was spending so much time on them, she indicated that most markets wanted the first three chapters for a proposal, and they had to be the absolute best she could do (and she was still working on them). It completely went over her head when I pointed out that it would do little good to have three awsome chapters and never finish. A little later on when I asked her how many chapters she anticiapted to be in her novel, she said thirty, but she pointed out that she was happy with the pace and her progress. Three chapters every three years (if she finished the first three in the upcoming 12 months). Not a promising career. I know that's an extreme example, but it is so important to get through a project, let it sit a bit, and then go back in and do the major editing and revisions. Terry
I don't write predictable amounts all the time. Sometimes 2000 words per day, sometimes only a paragraph or two. I also do not necessarily finish a chapter in a first draft. My idea of a first draft is to construct the structure and also to go through the entire story. My main concerns during the first draft stage are building the story, building the characters, editing out any false leads or unconnected "Rambles" that do not fit in the story. I generally write a "section" of about 100 pages before substantive editing. I don't print out until I have a decent pile of pages, not chapter by chapter. My thought is that you can't see it as a whole unless you have the parts that should be "near" to it. After each day's work, I read through for a first edit-- spell check, any sentence fragments, glaring problems with fact. (This, I would do with any writing). Once closed I don't look at it again till I print out. (several weeks later, usually). Anyway, that's what I do these days.
