by Flack » Fri Jan 16, 2015 8:07 am
Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:I don't know how anyone writes anything without giving it a few months to re-read. That would seem to be essential. Or I guess people get editors.
They say the reason you can't write and edit at the same time is that writing uses the right side of your brain and editing uses the left side, and it's simply too hard for most people to switch back and forth. What works for me is what you mentioned. I'll write, step away for a few days, and then come back to it. If I walk away for three days and some back to something it's like I can remember what I was trying to say and can move things around to make it work. If I step away for more than a week, it's almost like reading a stranger's words to me. And yeah, most of the time it seems pretty terrible.
Editors are great (or so I hear) because they don't have a vested interest in your words, only the final product. As a writer, sometimes it pains me to remove an entire sentence or, God forbid, a whole paragraph. An editor can look at something and say, "this chapter sucks" and axe it without blinking an eye. That's hard to do with your own work. It's why many professionally written and edited novels seem so slick, while I post 5,000 word blog posts that nobody reads, haha.
It dawned on me the other day that you and I are writing two completely different things. You're working on a novella and I am writing a bunch of short stories. I don't know how well the two will merge together. I also don't think either of us have enough material for a stand alone work. We'll have to figure something out. Also I did the same thing you did (went back and read what I had written) and all of my stories are terrible.
[quote="Ice Cream Jonsey"]I don't know how anyone writes anything without giving it a few months to re-read. That would seem to be essential. Or I guess people get editors.[/quote]
They say the reason you can't write and edit at the same time is that writing uses the right side of your brain and editing uses the left side, and it's simply too hard for most people to switch back and forth. What works for me is what you mentioned. I'll write, step away for a few days, and then come back to it. If I walk away for three days and some back to something it's like I can remember what I was trying to say and can move things around to make it work. If I step away for more than a week, it's almost like reading a stranger's words to me. And yeah, most of the time it seems pretty terrible.
Editors are great (or so I hear) because they don't have a vested interest in your words, only the final product. As a writer, sometimes it pains me to remove an entire sentence or, God forbid, a whole paragraph. An editor can look at something and say, "this chapter sucks" and axe it without blinking an eye. That's hard to do with your own work. It's why many professionally written and edited novels seem so slick, while I post 5,000 word blog posts that nobody reads, haha.
It dawned on me the other day that you and I are writing two completely different things. You're working on a novella and I am writing a bunch of short stories. I don't know how well the two will merge together. I also don't think either of us have enough material for a stand alone work. We'll have to figure something out. Also I did the same thing you did (went back and read what I had written) and all of my stories are terrible.