perfectionist to a fault

Been there. That's why it took nearly 10 years to complete my first novel because I wrote the first 4 chapters then I kept proofing and editing and tweaking and rewriting those 4 chapters until they were perfect. Then I realized I forgot the overall scope of the story and it sat for a long time until I ended up trashing everything except the first chapter and starting over.

It was only after I learned how to turn off my internal editor and allow myself to just write without critiqueing it on the fly that I actually started to finish my novels.

And sorry, no, I don't have any suggestions for how to accomplish this. If I did, I'd take out an add in Writer's Digest. Hmm. Yes. Something like, "I fire writers! Fire them up with enthusiasm!" Catchy, no?

An important trait for a successful writer (one who finishes his/her projects) is discipline. You recognize you have a problem (an important step). You admit it drives you nuts. Are you really so powerless you can't do anything about it, or is this just an excuse to keep you from moving forward on your work-in-progress? Perhaps you should stand in front of a mirror and have a heart-to-heart talk with the person facing you.

If this comes off as nasty, I agologize. It is intended to be constructive.

Okay, well since this is the second time I've run across this in two days, I'll speak the other side.

Littlewriter, this is probably bad. They all say so. But I will tell you this, someone said something to me that changed everything. "I can't be bothered to write the same book four times." There are some of us who work this way, the way you do. You didn't say how long it takes you. Obviously, if you can't get out of chapter one, then there's a problem.

The way I work is a chapter at a time. Sometimes a paragraph at a time. I write it until it's right. There is no second, third, fourth draft looming over me. I'd end up despising the thing. I'll take a pass at the end of the entirety, but I don't expect more than minor tweaks.

It soothes me to have a finished work behind me. I don't keep looking over my shoulder knowing a sad pile of less-than-my-best is watching me type off into the distance.

I'm not knocking the usual prescribed method. Obviously, it's the usual prescribed method for a reason. But if your work is moving along at an acceptable pace (for the amount of time and effort you allot it - therein lies my problem. I'm distractable.) then you may not have a problem at all. If it bothers you, try the other way, see how you like it and what makes your words flow.

Good luck!

I used to do this too, and it drove me nuts. It put my work in a perpetual state of revision and also continually shook my confidence in my writing because it seemed I could revamp a million times and still find things I needed to change.

What helped me was knowing there were others who also did this and some simple, yet great, advice from the helpful folks here at AW:

Allow your first draft to suck.

It wasn't easy to accept, but that mentality works wonders for me. It helps me to move the drafts along and also makes those weird days when I lose confidence in my work, for no apparent reason, easier to deal with and much less frequent.

Charlie

problem

Just because you keep rewriting and editing as you go does not mean you can't keep making progress. But it also does not mean you're making things one bit better. Someting rewritten and edited fifty times may be no better in any way than it was when you first wrote it.

The important thing is really how fats the novel is progressing. If it's moving along well, you don't have a problem. If it isn't, you have a serious problem, and you need to fix it. Stop reading what you've already written. Finish the novel.

I always do a brief edit of the work I did the night before when I BIC each night. That way, I can please the need to make it better and move it farther along, too.

I allow myself one edit of the previous days writing and then I move on. No matter how badly they cry, no matter how badly they beg, I never go back to chapters after that one edit until I am finished with the work.

One edit through seems to pick up a lot of the foolish things and that helps keep the first draft from sucking too badly. But I could nitpick it to death and never finish if I tried to polish before I had a full ms. Once I can see the full story laid out there, polishing is much easier for me.

I'm definately there dude. I've had to make a compromise between editing till it's perfect or moving on with the story. The way I made myself look at it, I'm going to be running through the sentences in the 2nd draft anyway. So I simply made sure that as I write, I just get every new sentence "passable" before I move on. On a good night, I can get around 700-1000 words. Of course, I do have the capability to blast through the WIP, but I had already experienced that with my last two manuscripts. I do notice that at a slower progress, I definately have a finer grasp with scene structures within the plot and I am able to adjust accordingly. It just seems that the ideas behind the plot are more refined and I feel better about the writing, knowing that the 2nd draft corrections will go much faster.

Start by asking yourself why you need to make that particular revision. Chances are you won't be able to come up with anything but vague reasons like "Well, it doesn't sound quite right" or "something's wrong but I don't know what." If you have vague reasons like that, don't revise. You should have a clear reason for the revision, like "I need to add foreshadowing so I don't forget it later on." And be willing to say that you know something needs to be fixed but that it doesn't need to be fixed right now.

i don't consider this a fault.

a writer's work is never done.

work

blitzkrieg babe said:

i don't consider this a fault.

a writer's work is never done.

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It better be, or the writer is never going to be published.

littlewriter said:

i have found while writing my novel that i can't leave things well alone. i keep restructuring, editing, playing wordsmith, tweaking and fiddling with what i have written, even though i know this is what 2nd drafts are for. it is making things move quite slowly and driving me round the bend. am i the only one?
honestly, i am driving myself mad with my almost impossibly high standards and pefectionism!

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I've got the same thing; I find it hard to move on to the next line if the previous isn't the one I want.

As a fellow perfectionist, I can empathize, but I'm also going to present to you both sides of the coin.

Here's what I do (and this probably only works for those of us that use the computer, otherwise, keep a highlighter handy). When I catch myself over-editing, I roll my eyes. Highlight a section of the area or paragraph that's giving me headaches and change the font color on a sentence or two. That marks the spot that was bothering me. Then I force myself to scroll past it and keep writing where I left off.

It's not easy, in fact for those of us who are perfectionists, it can be downright stressful sometimes. But it's also a habit, and habits can be broken if you really want to.

The other thing to look at, though, is this: Is this process working for you? It may take a long time, but if you think it's making the story better, why change it? If you're only going back and editing once or twice, I think that's perfectly fine. If you're going back and taking a half-hour to rewrite a few lines? You might just want to go with your gut instinct and leave it the way you wrote it in the first place.

I honestly have no clue if that helps you or not.

I've struggled with this problem, too. Doing NaNoWriMo a couple of times seems to have taken the edge off it. Now I try to only allow myself to fix actual typos in the current scene before I go on with it. Otherwise I just highlight problem passages or put notes in brackets for use in the next draft. Throwing the internal editor a bone, so to speak.

I have found that this is a major problem for me also. I am currently revising my novel for...about the sixth time...it is very frustrating. Recently, I have spent up to five hours on ONE paragraph. I sometimes wonder if this is a subconscious ploy of mine to keep on writing, without ever submitting...therefore... I can never be rejected?

All I know is, from my personal experiences anyway, is that the work does read better, and the ideas do get to be conveyed in a more thoughtful way.
I have no cure. LOL.

By the way, this sort idealism does extend into my non-writing life. Much to the chagrin of my poor wife.

Cheers,
Declan

I don't see it as a fault, either, aside from doing this on your first draft.
I'm going to end up doing 8-9 drafts before mine is done, and I see it getting better each time. I'd rather work on another draft than waste another year on the query-go-round getting rejected.

Jamesaritchie said:

It better be, or the writer is never going to be published.

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i was meaning that even when a book is published the writer feels there is tweaking to be done.

tweaking

blitzkrieg babe said:

i was meaning that even when a book is published the writer feels there is tweaking to be done.

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Yes. I've written exactly two things in my life that I wouldn't go back and change a word of, even years later, if I had a time machine. Both were pretty short. I can't imagine writing a novel and not wanting to change something, however small, later on.

Sometimes I think it's best just to not read anything after it's published.