Question re Manuscript Fermenting

[Avalon]

I've got a question that I hope isn't a silly one. I've read here and elsewhere that at some point in the revision process, it's a good idea to put the manuscript in a drawer for six (or four or eight) weeks, so that when you pick it up again you're past the "This writing sucks" stage and can read with a fresher eye.

The question is, for those of you who have done this successfully, at what point do you do it? Right after you reach The End, at the first draft? Or after you reach The End do you do some "gardening" to make sure you've got all the scenes you think are necessary, etc, and /then/ hide the manuscript?

I'm nearing the end of a first draft -- the first time I've managed to complete one, after several attempts. I hesitate to lose momentum.

What's the answer? Is this a pre-revision procedure? Or is it something that belongs later along, in the polishing/finishing stages?

[jules]

I usually do it right after the 1st draft. Work on something else for a while; a couple of short stories should take long enough. Crit somebody else's novel. A few weeks doing something different is all I need. The momentum you'll carry forward if you start immediately isn't actually useful: you'll still be going in the same direction. You want to subtly alter that, and that's easier if you start slowly.

[Jamesaritchie]

I like to do it twice. At the end of the first draft, and again at the end of the final draft. Four weeks is plenty for me, and in a pinch, two weeks will do just fine.

Alas, sometimes deadline pressure means there no chance at all for a manuscript to ferment. It doesn;t really seem to make much difference in anything except typos, so I don't worry about it too much. But given the chance, I do like to let it rest for a time.

[sunandshadow]

I finish the first draft, workshop it, incorporate any of the group's and my own edits, then write my synopsis to send around to publishers (this step often gives insight into lurking plot/motivation/theme problems). If I'm still not happy with it then I'll leave it sit, although it takes me more like 3 months before I forget the story enough to get a fresh perspective on it. But if I am happy with it I'll start sending it around to publishers, because it might as well be doing some work while it sits, and minor rewrites can be done after a piece is accepted.

[maestrowork]

I like to wait at least a few weeks... to get a fresh perspective and rid of the potential "golden word" syndrome.

[Mistook]

I like to wait at least a few weeks... to get a fresh perspective and rid of the potential "golden word" syndrome.


What's the 'golden word' syndrome?

[reph]

What's the 'golden word' syndrome?
A condition in which the writer thinks each of his words is pure gold. Not painful to the writer, but usually fatal to the manuscript.

[Mistook]

A condition in which the writer thinks each of his words is pure gold. Not painful to the writer, but usually fatal to the manuscript.



Lately I feel I suffer from "fridge magnet syndrome".

[Sharon Mock]

I set the current project aside after the second draft (which, by some estimations, was actually the third draft, but I digress). On the one hand, by the time I got toward the end of the second draft, I wished I'd taken a break after the first draft -- I was pretty burned out. On the other hand, the glaring structural problems in the first draft were still clear in my mind. Fresh eyes weren't going to help much; in fact, the extra distance would have probably hurt matters at that point.

Overall, I think I did the right thing. I'm working now on the second round of revisions and it's a lot easier to spot the subtler problems now that the big stuff is mostly squared away.

[Christine N.]

I write to The End, then go back right away and smooth over some rough spots, the ones that I've thought about how to fix while writing the last bits, so I don't forget them. Then I "drawer" it -it's on my computer, so it's not really in a drawer. I usually start another book during that time, about one month.

[Jamesaritchie]

I write to The End, then go back right away and smooth over some rough spots, the ones that I've thought about how to fix while writing the last bits, so I don't forget them. Then I "drawer" it -it's on my computer, so it's not really in a drawer. I usually start another book during that time, about one month.

Immediately starting another book is what clears my mind of the book that's resting. If I'm actively working on another novel, I don't neen six or eight weeks to get the previous book out of my mind. A couple of weeks does the job nicely, though I hedge and give it four weeks, when possible.

[Julie Worth]

I like to wait at least a few weeks... to get a fresh perspective and rid of the potential "golden word" syndrome.

I suffer from this, like Oscar Wilde, who said, "I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train."

[Ken Schneider]

When you finish the M.S. put it in the drawer, now. Don't do anything with it with the exception of printing a hard copy to put in the drawer and a back-up disk. Start the next book. Wait a month or longer, then, as our mentor- UJ says, take it to your favorite coffee shop with a red pencil and mark it up with changes. Then start your first re-write. Then beta readers, then rewrite again. More importantly, put it away and start your next book.

MHO.
ken