Editing and rewriting

Vanlisana · Apr 23, 2005

Hi everyone,

I am a university student and I am a writing a novella as part of a requiered assignment for the course I'm attending.

It's harder than I thought, since I've never done anything like this before.
I am thrown back and forth between writers block, editing and rewriting. The latter two are what are causing me the most headache. I can't seem to stop the editing and rewriting.

I was wondering if anyone can guide me and advise me on these matters?
Are there any special techniques used that will make it easier to proceed the story without throwing it in the bin and starting over all the time?
Any wisdom words on editing and rewriting?

Thanks to you all in advance and you advise will be highly appreciated.

pepperlandgirl · Apr 23, 2005

First, are you finished with your first-draft? Don't do any editing or re-writing until you are finished with the first-draft, your entire story told from the beginning to the end.

Next, you may want to find a beta reader--a sympathetic friend or even post some of it in "Share Your Work." I know I have a hard time seeing my biggest problem areas in any given work until somebody points them out to me.

Work on the big issues first. Leave the "local" or "mechanics" until the very last draft. Those can be cleaned up the easiest and aren't as important as the plot, characters, development, structure, etc, (typos, misplaced commas, whatever).

ScottAJohnson · Apr 23, 2005

Sound advice. What kind of timeframe are you looking at? For me, whenever I finish a long piece, I have to finish it, start to end, then put it down for a couple of weeks before I can edit and rewrite. It takes me that long to distance myself from the project. When I've spent some time not looking or even thinking about it, then I begin rewrites.
The suggestion of a beta reader is a sound one. However, don't hand it off to someone who will tell you what they think you want to hear. It does you no good to hear how wonderful a writer you are if there are problems with the story. Make sure your beta knows that you want honest critcism. It's the only way to learn and improve as a writer.

Vanlisana · Apr 23, 2005

The timeframe I am looking at is three more weeks. I have to have written 6000 words by then and right now I have 3000 words. Those 3000 have already been rewritten about 30 times (I'm not exaggerating) during the process of the writing it self. And right now I think what I had from the beginning is better than what I have now.

I just can't help myself. I write 10 sentences then automatically my attention focuses on problems in those sentences and I just have to go through them again, edit and rewrite them. It's like a compulsory disorder. My mind doesn't rest untill I edit what I don't like before my eyes.

It's nervrecking and any advise how to stop this behaviour would be appreciated.

Right now I can honestly say that I can edit a paragraph 10 times and still see errors in it.

I have a friend who reads my work and she is anything but approving and so that only pushes me to edit even more.

BlueTexas · Apr 23, 2005

Don't re-read any of it until you're done with a first draft. Really. Honestly.

Or, try writing with a typewriter. That way, you can't edit so easily--you must let it stew and get on with the rest. Alphasmarts are good for that too. Google it.

reph · Apr 23, 2005

Could your "anything but approving" friend be inhibiting your progress? An overly uncritical reader is useless, but an overly critical one is worse than useless.

Everybody talks as if grammar were the hard part to get right the first time. This isn't true of all writers. Make sure it's true of you (is that what you keep revising?) before you follow the advice to ignore sentence structure in a first draft. For all we know, you may be editing and reediting for some other reason altogether.

maestrowork · Apr 23, 2005

From my experience (and I'm a terminal "tweaker"), it's better if you turn off that "editor" when you write your first draft. I know, it's against our nature... we just like to tweak and tinker. Everything can be fixed in subsequent drafts, including bad writing, grammar, spelling, etc. The point of the first draft is to get it out, onto paper.

Note On · Apr 23, 2005

Vanlisana said:
I have to have written 6000 words by then and right now I have 3000 words.

I wrote a response to this, but I just took it down because I'm a little confused. You said "novella," but 6000 words would be a short story. Are you just turning in the first act or something?

Those 3000 have already been rewritten about 30 times (I'm not exaggerating) during the process of the writing it self. And right now I think what I had from the beginning is better than what I have now.

I'm sure it is, but STOP! You don't have that kind of time anymore. Stop going back to the first 3000 words for any reason except adding notes for future alterations made necessary by the things you discover during words 3001-6000.

I just can't help myself.

On deadline? Yes you can.

I write 10 sentences then automatically my attention focuses on problems in those sentences and I just have to go through them again, edit and rewrite them.

There's nothing wrong with that unless it's all you're doing. Write it, monkey with it, revise it... that's fine--unless you're not writing enough words every day to make your deadline. How many words do you need to write per day? Any and every neurosis and tic is acceptable, as long as you make that goal. If you're a tweaker, you're a tweaker--but it has to be in addition to the necessary amount of forward motion.

And stop showing it to your critical friend.

RosettaStone · Apr 24, 2005

Vanlisana said:
It's harder than I thought, since I've never done anything like this before.
I am thrown back and forth between writers block, editing and rewriting. The latter two are what are causing me the most headache. I can't seem to stop the editing and rewriting.

Like others have said, the most important part is getting the story down on paper. If you have it down on paper, then you can truly -- IMO -- start to edit it. If you're looking at an empty sheet, well then there's nothing to edit (or hand in to your teacher for that matter).

Are there any special techniques used that will make it easier to proceed the story without throwing it in the bin and starting over all the time?
Any wisdom words on editing and rewriting?

Just a couple of suggestions since it seems the main problem is finishing the work:

1.
Out of Sight, Out of Mind - Everytime you finish a chapter, you could always email it to a friend/save it on a disk and give it to a friend. Once it's out of your hands, you can't delete it. With every chapter you write, send it off and at the end of the project, your friend will give back [insert #] disks back to you.

2.
Make it a Game - If there's anyone else in your class who's having trouble writing, find them and have little "word wars" where the two of you write for a period of time. At the end, whoever has the most words win.

3.
Make an Outline - Do you know where you want the story to go? If you pinpoint what events should happen, then it may be easier to write those scenes and string them together.

Good luck with this project!

NeuroFizz · Apr 26, 2005

Vanlisana,

An outline is the way to go. It can be as simple as a list of events, or a series of lists that are eventually merged. Here are some basics to list. To all, please chime in to complete or modify the sequence. The order is suggested for a short piece like this, but shuffling it will make more sense to others.

List the events that make up your plot--things like the set-up, build-up, misdirections, and the payoff.
Each time the events change direction, jot down a way to make a smooth transition from each event to the next.
Nail down your protagonist’s goals, motivations and conflicts. These drive the plot.
Weave the protagonist’s traits into the series of now-smoothly-joined plot elements in a way that challenges the protagonist.
Make sure, in the end, the protagonist is changed by the experience(s).
You just may have the makings of a complete story.

This is adapted from a piece on writing the dreaded synopsis (by Debrah Morris) but it should work on a short piece like the one in your assignment. Most important, as all the others have suggested, work it through from start to finish before polishing even a single sentence. In fact, don't write your list(s) in complete sentences as first. That should come once you know what you are going to write. If you do it this way, you'll probably find that your biggest problem is getting down to 6,000 words, not getting up to it.

Cheers, and good luck.

azbikergirl · Apr 26, 2005

Give yourself permission to write poorly. Cleaning it up is what revisions are for. When you write the first draft, just put your head down and type like there's no tomorrow!

stace001 · Apr 26, 2005

I agree...

azbikergirl said:
Give yourself permission to write poorly. Cleaning it up is what revisions are for. When you write the first draft, just put your head down and type like there's no tomorrow!

All writers need to give themselves a break when it comes to first drafts. There is nothing worse than writing a draft (and your first, at that) expecting it to be perfect. I sympathize, i really do. I have the same problem. Leave the typos, leave the badly constructed sentences, leave the appalling grammar, and just get the damn thing done. (I tell myself this everytime i begin a new novel. "Just get the damn thing done!")

The suggestions made on this post are all great ones, so pick a few that you think you could easily do, and "get the damn thing done!"

(said with a smile of course.)

Kasey Mackenzie · Apr 27, 2005

I would definitely suggest getting the 6,000 words out and on the paper/computer screen before you go back and edit too much. Otherwise, the deadline might sneak up on you and find you short a few hundred or even thousand words! Far better to get the words down and THEN go back and polish what you have. That way you KNOW you will make your word goal. I tend to tinker as I write, but I make sure not to tinker TOO much or else I would fall into an endless cycle and never make any headway.

Good luck!

Editing and rewriting

Vanlisana

pepperlandgirl

American Aquarium Drinker

ScottAJohnson

Vanlisana

BlueTexas

Back from self-exile land.

reph

Fig of authority

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

Note On

RosettaStone

NeuroFizz

The grad students did it

azbikergirl

I really do look like this.

stace001

Look into my eyes

Kasey Mackenzie

One Hit Wonder?