When do you take a step back from your WIP?

[Alexandra Little]

My question is short, but the answer can be somewhat complicated: when do you take a step back from your WIP? When do you know that you have to take a step back and bury your manuscript for a little while before coming back to it?

I ask this because I'm in this situation right now. Usually I can tell when I need to put it away for a week or two or longer, but I am so insecure about this WIP that my sensors aren't working (which might be a hint and a half that I need to step back). I'm attending SCBWI's summer conference and signed up for the manuscript consultation (first 15 pages and a synopsis), so I'll be getting a critique back on the WIP, but I don't know whether to work on the rest of it or wait until I get the consultation back. Problem is that even when I try not to think about it, I get ideas about what to change/adjust/fix within it.

Suggestions on how to tell if I should step back, anyone? I'm desperate here!

[Fuchsia Flower]

I step back when I'm finding my story boring. A few days break is usually enough to get me fired up about it again.

How long will you have to wait for the critique? If its over a few weeks I would keep tinkering away at it myself, you know your story better than anyone else. You can always keep a file on how it is now in case you don't like the changes you make.

[scarletpeaches]

Step back from a WIP before it's finished, you mean? Why on Earth would I do that?

[YAwriter72]

I agree scarlet! I always try and finish at least the first draft all the way through (And yes sometimes it is rough and BAD but its at least done). Then I send it off to my CP's and don't think about it for a week or so. Get it back, edit, send it to my beta. Forget it for another week. Send it to my agent then forget it until he gets back to me with revisions. (Usually 2-4 weeks) In the meantime I start something else.

I have scraped two books I started that just did not grab me once I started writing them though.

[YAwriter72]

Problem is that even when I try not to think about it, I get ideas about what to change/adjust/fix within it.


Thats not a problem! Trust me!! Write down lots of notes, if you have your WIP make notations about page numbers for changes. I find if I let things percolate in my head, everything comes together and I can sit down and type them out! This is GOOD!!! :D

[SilverBirch]

I'd definitely write down every idea you get for changes/fixes, etc, if you aren't already that is. Are there one or two issues that are bothering you the most? Have you gotten any ideas about them? If so, sit down and just start reworking them. See if you can come up with anything that gels. But if you sit down and can only stare despairingly at your WIP (no ideas, or the ideas don't help, etc) then take a break for a while. A few days, even a week.

I found during my first draft that some times I needed to push through the wall, and sometimes I just needed to leave it be for awhile. The trick is telling the difference. ;) Good luck!

[Stunted]

I take a break when I've been agonizing over some problem to the point that I feel like I'm banging my head against a wall getting nowhere. I usually only take a three day break and when I come back, everything seems much simpler.

[mscelina]

For me?

After 35 queries, 17 requests and no contracts. That's when I assume I need to step away from it, take another look and figure out what in the hell is wrong with my first three chapters.

Otherwise, never.

[RunawayScribe]

I take a step back when I feel like I'm so overly familiar with the story that it's warping my perspective on how to make it better.

Example - at the moment I'm struggling with adding a scene to the beginning of a multi-scene chapter. I've read the chapter so many times, though, that I can feel my eyes roll back when I just open the file. So I'm setting it aside for a week or two. When I come back to it, I'll feel less like I have it memorized and more able to see what's on the page for what it is, since there'll be a bit more distance between my beloved creation process and my fixing and mending.

[spamwarrior]

When I'm stressed out about direction, tone, etc.

[possibleimp]

I step back when I'm not excited to write on that WIP anymore. I have lots of stuff I'm working on, so if I feel stumped I will move to another. What works for me is that I think of the work in bed before I go to sleep, and I usually wake up with at least a start to continue.

[Leanan-Sidhe]

On my last WIP, I finished my first draft and put it aside for a month. Normally I don't have the self-control to do that, so I was happy when I managed it. I do think it helped to have some distance when I came back to do self-edits.

[Alexandra Little]

How long will you have to wait for the critique? If its over a few weeks I would keep tinkering away at it myself, you know your story better than anyone else. You can always keep a file on how it is now in case you don't like the changes you make.

I won't get the critique back until August. It's the first fifteen pages (chapter one and part of chapter two), and that's the area where I think I'm going wrong. I am completely happy with the second half of the book, but I am not satisfied with most of the first half. I know I'm starting in the right place but I think the problem is with the execution, hence my wondering if I should wait until I get a professional opinion on chapters one and two before revising/tinkering with the novel any more.

Usually I can tell when I need to step away, but I've been involved with this WIP for awhile, so my judgment is clouded.

[Danthia]

If you think you can fix the parts you're unhappy with before your crit, go ahead and fix them. If you feel you're just not sure and need that crit to help guide you, step back and wait. It might not be a bad idea to take a few days off anyway and give yourself a little perspective to help you decide. The fact that you're asking suggests you think stepping back is right, but the fear of the looming crit makes you want to tinker more to be ready. Which is totally understandable.

[Matera the Mad]

Whenever my head starts getting knotted. Whenever it is an onerous chore rather than something I feel good about doing. When I don't want to look at it. If there are piffly editing chores that can be done to assuage my conscience without straining my exhaused muse, that's good. Otherwise, the work takes a nap.

[wannawrite]

Step back from a WIP before it's finished, you mean? Why on Earth would I do that?

What she said.

[Danthia]

WIP = Work in Progress

[vrabinec]

I can see not typing anything for a period of time because you aren't sure what comes next, and you want to think about the next plot point, or how you're going to transition from one scene to the next. But I don't think there's any advantage to not thinking about your WIP for any period of time. When you're not thinking about it, nothing is happenning. Think about it, particularly if it's a part you're unsure about or you're not enthralled with.

[DMarie84]

For me, after it's been four years working and researching on it and you find no inspiration for it.

Anyway, I'm not completely forgetting about it, but after focusing so much time and energy on it the last few years, I think I need to put it away for a little while to let the story simmer a bit. Then I can come back and look at it with a fresh outlook while working on something else to stimulate the juices again. :)

[Sol]

I'm probably in the minority here, I take a mini break after I finish each chapter, about a day. So I can have a fresh mind for the next chapter, keeps me from getting burned out.

[bettielee]

when it stops bleeding. Then I know its dead.

Sometimes, I go around the corner to see if it's going to get up and come after me again.

[N.L. LeBlanc]

I take a step back when my life becomes so busy that I can't concentrate on the book for more than an hour at a time. As such, the writing becomes choppy and somewhat detached. I had to take a month-long hiatus from it in May, because I was nearing the end of my extremely packed graduation schoolyear and simply could not find enough time or energy to want to write my story. I'd have to say that was one of the most painful things I've ever done. This is because I've lost interest or motivation for so many novel ideas in the past, and although I feel like giving up on my current one is simply not an option, I'm always afraid that if I let it go, even for a minute, it will "run away" like my other ideas and never come back to me. May was not a happy month for me. :P I get irritable and depressed when I go even days without working on my book. But I recovered from the hiatus, and everyone's happy again.

I also take a step back when I reach a point in my story when everything's happening at the same time. I sort of go, "Whoa!", back up, and take the time to figure out exactly what's going on before I continue.

Very interesting question! It made me think a lot.

[Blackest_Nite]

I usually put my manuscript away after the first draft is done. Then, about a week or so later, I attack it with my magical red pen.

But I never put it away for too long. That's because I have a horrible memory and will forget about the poor neglected manuscript. By the time I do remember, it's hungry for attention and rather cross with me.

[SarahMacManus]

1) When I'm stuck for making the plot work.
2) When I begin to hate the characters.
3) After I've finished the first draft.

I hardly ever hit #2, but it's happened.