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First Revision, wait time?

PraiseRao

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I am hearing over and over again to step away from the manuscript after the first draft. To wait a few weeks to over a month from your manuscript. I don't feel like I can wait that long. What am I suppose to do in the meantime? I want to write or do revisions every day. I am use to doing something every day except the weekends. Is it really necessary to step away from the manuscript for a long time?
 

Woollybear

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Trust yourself. If you feel like working on it, do so.

I'd not personally suggest waiting a month between all drafts--instead I'd suggest putting it away when you think it is done, for a month, then look at it with your own fresh eyes.
 

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As with all things, it varies author to author. Some can jump right in, some need two weeks, some need six months, some are on deadline and their needs don't matter!

But there's a reason for the advice. Generally after a draft, the author is very close to the MS. All the ideas are still rattling around and it can make editing with an objective, critical eye extremely difficult. I've found that my best edits to come after months. I can see the issues better, and my brain has been simmering ideas in the background so my solutions are better.

In the meantime there are a lot of things you can do. Read books. Refill the creative well with other stories. Send the MS to CPs if you feel comfortable. Start another draft. Prepare a query list if this book is going to agents.

Not to say stepping aside is easy! I hate abandoning that fresh editing energy, but in my limited experience, it's for the best.
 
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PraiseRao

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I just don't think it will leave my mind in that amount of time or honestly any amount of time. I have this thing it is kind of like an autistic trait but I'm not autistic. Where you focus in on one thing and that one thing only and its ALL you ever think about or talk about etc. So... I don't know how much it will effect me to step away from my manuscript. I want to write! Should I try working on the sequel before the first book is seriously polished to give it time to rest? Or is that not resting at all?

:/ Thanks for all the advice.
 

frimble3

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Why not play around with a sequel, at least as an entertainment (because you don't know how revisions might change the first book.
Or, start a new project, hash out ideas, etc. Something to keep your brain turning over, but not dwelling on your first draft.
 

PraiseRao

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Perhaps, that will keep me on track while leaving the manuscript to rest. I just read a whole book on revisions so I am eager to get to editing. Everyone keeps saying to rest is important for it. Guess I will work on the sequel at least in some structural way. (I'm an architect vs a gardener). Sounds like a plan. Thanks for the advice.
 

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I usually get the easy stuff that I thought of while finishing the book. I also do a first pass read-through to remind myself of the whole book, beginning to end. Because I'm doing that, I fix things as I come upon them. Sometimes I start working on it beyond that first pass right away, and sometimes I take a break (do some reading, work on something else, spend time perfecting the soundtrack). I usually don't wait too long unless I'm a) stuck or b) don't care enough to continue with it. I'm more likely to need time for perspective before revising after comments from betas than I do after finishing the first draft.

However, if you're finding that some problems need more time or (after multiple mss) that you're not seeing the big problems in your novels, giving yourself time for perspective might help.
 
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PraiseRao

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Thanks again for the advice I will take this all into consideration.
 

indianroads

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I usually let the first draft sit about a week before diving back in. I also keep the chapters as separate word files for the first 4 edits - running grammarly and taking lots of notes as I go through them, looking for plot holes, incomplete or unsatisfying character arcs, and dead end BS that just showed up in the initial writing. It usually takes about 5 or 6 of my own edits before it's stable enough to send it off to my editor... then when she's done with it, I go through the editing process at least 3 more times.
 

PraiseRao

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Yea I am prepared for many revisions. Going over the manuscript for all the things on the checklist over and over again. Do I have to wait between each revision chunk? Again thank you for the advice.
 

Bufty

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Reading your manuscript as a 'reader' can help spot things that may require attention or deletion or expansion, but reading as a reader requires approaching the work with a fresh and open mind.

Some folk require time to get into that 'reader' mind set, and others don't.

Do whatever works for you.

The final objective is focus on story, clarity and flow, and no boring of the reader.

A lot easier said than done. I can't imagine anything more boring that going over a checklist time and time again.

Try browsing (and commenting) in the Share-Your-Work Forum. There's no faster way of learning how to spot flaws in your own writing than discovering how to spot perceived flaws in someone else's writing.

Good luck. :Hug2:
 
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PraiseRao

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Alright thank you for the advice.
 

Maryn

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My experience is that I absolutely have to see it as a reader, like Bufty says, and that takes months--enough time to start the planning and research and even the writing of the next book, unrelated to the one just completed.

During this period, I can write myself notes of things to add or delete, facts to check, additional research that might prove useful, but I cannot open the document, not to read, not to peek.

So I give myself a one-month minimum vacation away from it, plus a week for every ten thousand words, give or take. (Note that I do not have an agent or publisher drumming their fingers waiting on me.) Usually it's three or four months at least, enough to get a good start on the next book, before I return--and it's like someone else wrote it. All of a sudden I see where I ramble, authorial intrusion, inconsistent character behavior or motives, and all kind of lesser flaws, too.

As everyone's saying, do what works for you. You'll know within a few pages if the work feels familiar or not, and if it's too familiar, you won't edit/revise/rewrite the same way you will when it's not.

Maryn, who really wants to peek
 

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Chiming in to agree with everyone else: there's no set time, and it's going to be different for everyone, but you do have to learn how to read your own work as a reader. Fortunately, that's something that can be learned with practice - and you may already be better at it than you think. I used to think I needed a good 30 days to get enough distance, but then I had to deliver a book on a stupidly narrow deadline, and I learned to cut that down to 3 days (or less). The key is recognizing how that mindset differs from your writing mindset, and learning how to push yourself into it when you have to.
 

PraiseRao

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Alright, thank you guys for the advice. I'm not sure how long it will take to separate myself from the manuscript to read it with fresh eyes. I will listen to the most commonly said advice and just wait a bit. It's just hard for me because I want to do something all the time. I didn't even know people took breaks in writing their manuscript.

On a side note I have to add a lot of scenes to my manuscript as it is only approaching 30k in the first draft. So while I'm not reading it, I'm still going to make notes for what is going to be potentially added in. Although most of the time I will be working on brainstorming for the sequel instead of focusing on the first one.

One of the problems I have is that I am Bi Polar Manic type rapid cycling. So my brain works really fast but I also focus on one thing, which I think I mentioned before which is part of social communication disorder, which I also have. Anyway, I tend to do one thing and only one thing and a lot of that one thing. While something has my focus. It's hard to tear away from that since my brain wants to do just one thing. I will think of looking at it as a reader instead of a writer. Honestly I didn't even know that was a thing. I just thought it was writer, editor, etc.
 

Bufty

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Good luck, PraiseRao. The reading like a reader is the knack of blanking your mind so that you only have the words that you have written, from which to construct images. The writer in us knows what we intended to convey when we wrote it, but only the strict reader in us will confirm to us that we have indeed conveyed the images clearly and in the correct sequence.

It's a skill that is an essential part of the craft and - like the craft and all its other techniques - will get better with practice. :Hug2:

Alright, thank you guys for the advice. I'm not sure how long it will take to separate myself from the manuscript to read it with fresh eyes. I will listen to the most commonly said advice and just wait a bit. It's just hard for me because I want to do something all the time. I didn't even know people took breaks in writing their manuscript.

On a side note I have to add a lot of scenes to my manuscript as it is only approaching 30k in the first draft. So while I'm not reading it, I'm still going to make notes for what is going to be potentially added in. Although most of the time I will be working on brainstorming for the sequel instead of focusing on the first one.

One of the problems I have is that I am Bi Polar Manic type rapid cycling. So my brain works really fast but I also focus on one thing, which I think I mentioned before which is part of social communication disorder, which I also have. Anyway, I tend to do one thing and only one thing and a lot of that one thing. While something has my focus. It's hard to tear away from that since my brain wants to do just one thing. I will think of looking at it as a reader instead of a writer. Honestly I didn't even know that was a thing. I just thought it was writer, editor, etc.
 
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lizmonster

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It's hard to tear away from that since my brain wants to do just one thing.

OCD here. Not quite the same thing, but I do get how hard it is to let go of something. Hang in there - it takes practice.

I will think of looking at it as a reader instead of a writer. Honestly I didn't even know that was a thing. I just thought it was writer, editor, etc.

An editor is just a reader with a specialized skill set. The better you an get at acquiring editorial distance for your own work, the more you'll be able to polish before you sub/publish, and the closer you'll be to getting your vision to your readers in the form you want.
 

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I would point out that with a rough draft of only 30K (assuming it's not kidlit), you'll be making so many additions to it before you have a full novel that, if you know what you want to add, I wouldn't wait at all before making those revisions to it. No point in reading it with a reader's eyes when it's only a third to half a book. If you want to keep writing in it, keep writing in it.
 

Bufty

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PraiseRao.

Your initial post referred to 'after the first draft' and if you have not yet finished the first draft, I, too agree you should continue writing until you do.
 

MythMonger

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One thing I like to do after completing a first draft is to write its query. That practice gets me thinking about the draft in another way, which usually yields good things.

(especially after the good folks at SYW take a crack at critting my query!)
 

Sage

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One thing I like to do after completing a first draft is to write its query. That practice gets me thinking about the draft in another way, which usually yields good things.

(especially after the good folks at SYW take a crack at critting my query!)
This is a good thing to do before getting too far into edits because a lot of time the query process can point out problems in the novel, and if you thought you were ready for querying, it can be frustrating to find major problems that you haven't touched in all your earlier edits.
 

mewellsmfu

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I wrote a query in mid-first-draft and had someone I trust implicitly look at it. She pointed out some huge flaws in my premise. As a result, I reworked the premise, trashed what I'd written and started over. After revision, I ended up with a completely different book and, in my mind, much better one than I originally started out with. I also wrote a pretty awful one in between. I learned so much about writing fiction, which is not at all like writing nonfiction (although it doesn't hurt to be good at it).

In my mind, every process is different, but I agree with Sage that finding problems earlier rather than later can save a whole lot of grief. At least it did for me.
 

Cephus

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I am hearing over and over again to step away from the manuscript after the first draft. To wait a few weeks to over a month from your manuscript. I don't feel like I can wait that long. What am I suppose to do in the meantime? I want to write or do revisions every day. I am use to doing something every day except the weekends. Is it really necessary to step away from the manuscript for a long time?

You write other things. Start a new book. The whole point of stepping away is so that you can see it with fresh eyes.