Don't Edit While You Write
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It’s quicksand. Every writer will fall victim to it at some point in their career. You edit before you finish a draft.
This is the number one killer of new books. Most writers never feel their way out of it. The reason so many people put writing a book on their bucket list lays at the feet of editing while you write.
If you have never finished a draft, take a breath and step back. What’s going on? Is it that your idea is stupid? You’re using a dull knife when you need a sharp one? How often are you writing? Are you a panster? Plotter? Planster?
No matter your answers, so many of you won’t stop killing your own creativity. I’ve seen writers do it for years. Most never get past it and leave work undone, never to see the light of day because they can’t resist editing while they draft. It’s lethal.
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I don’t share my work until it’s at least draft three. Draft one is a fast draft. Get the bones worked out from my notes and the characters living in my head. The second draft I read in a printed copy at least six months after the first draft. The third draft gets into the story weeds and character arc things. Then, I invite in people I trust to read and help make sure the story I want to tell is on the page.
If I asked everyone’s opinion on my first book draft, I would have stopped writing. My heart would have wept. Most people’s first drafts aren’t great. In fact, most authors I’ve talked to consider the first draft as story notes for a better draft. Slipping in the threads that will help build the pacing of the story now that you know how everyone gets to the end.
Stop the self-sabotage. I like to call it a self-fulfilling prophecy. What you focus on you become. Can’t say that enough. If you focus on how crappy your story is, your story will be crap. If all you see in your book’s future is rejections, that’s all you’ll get.
Try finishing that first draft without all the noise other people may want to stick in your story. Maybe you don’t know how it’s all going to come together. That’s fine. I can guarantee you’ll find out when you get there.
Art happens? The master painters worked on a piece over and over and over. It could take months to finish one commission. Sketches were made and discarded. A smaller practice canvas might be made practicing the colors and perspective until it met the artist’s pleasure. Art doesn’t just happen.
Writing is hard work if you want to do it well. You’ll have plenty of time to dwell on the one adverb you can’t seem to get rid of or the side character who may need to be cut from the story. Whatever your obsession that speaks in your head to say you’ve no talent, you can play with them on another draft.
I love NaNoWriMo. It taught me how to fast draft. My better books have been one’s I make a plan for and then see where the road takes me. Often, I end somewhere I didn’t expect to be. Even better is the story becomes richer for having my full attention.
Senjuit Kundu
Please don’t write by committee. Claim a writing space and then let your talents fan out and find the stories you have inside. Respect yourself and your muse enough to trust the process. Sit down and write. Get messy. It’s all a part of the ride.
I know two authors who write long hand. One of the advantages? There is no work to share until you are in person. It lets you isolate while you incubate.
There is so much unique talent out there. I don’t want your story to stay dormant. Get up. Face the page and do the work. Worry about later, well, later. Jump in on the mindfulness movement and stay in the moment.
Think about how much you could accomplish if you stopped looking outside for approval and looked inside to see the story burning in you?
