Activity

There’s a piece of writing advice I hear all the time “Never edit while you write the first draft” and I wanted to share a bit of my POV about this. A bit about how I don’t think it’s a good bit of advice and my reasons why.

First of all: No. No no nooo. With all these ‘writing advice’ tips, they NEED to be taken with a grain of salt. Don’t just do what you hear, just because you hear it a lot.

Let’s take a look at the advice. It’s saying to never edit while first drafting. That advice stems from the people who are too hung up on making their book perfect, and they never finish the first draft. It doesn’t mean that you can never ever edit as you write.

 

I personally don’t normally edit as I write. I like to get out my first draft in a maximum of four weeks, then come back with major edits and rewrites at a completely different time. I barely even correct typos because I just like to write freely without a care about the fine tuning details.

Other authors (such as K.M. Weiland and Sara Ella) write a chapter/scene one day, then the next day they read over and edit that section, and write the next. Then the next day the read and edit that section and write more.

They’re both different methods, but my way works for me, and Katie and Sara’s way works for them. Neither of them is wrong.

 

The only place this writing advice applies: if you’re writing your book, and you’re not getting any further through it because it’s not perfect yet…then (and only then) will I shout this advice (nicely) at you. 😛 It doesn’t have to be perfect!

But if you’re struggling to get through your first draft because you made major changes halfway through the story and now the beginning doesn’t make sense to you anymore…Go back and fix it! That’s okay. In fact, it’s better than just struggling through the rest of the draft.

 

It’s always important to remember that everyone’s writing process is different. As I said, my first drafts are super messy, and I fix everything later. Sara Ella’s first drafts are amazing because she fixes as she goes.

The activity: Basically I just want you to think about your writing process. Are you doing what you do because that’s what you’ve been told is right, or is it actually the best method for you? Have you ever tried a different way of first drafts/editing? Do you think it’s better for you personally to edit while you write first drafts, or to just scrape through with a messy jumble of words? If you’re struggle with editing as you go, or with not editing as you go…maybe you can try a change just for a bit. See if it works out for you. Everyone is going to be different and that is a wonderful thing.

 

Personally I’m actually hoping to try a new method sometime. I’m going to give a shot at the ‘write, edit and write more, edit and write more, etc.’ just because I’ve never tried it before and maybe it’s going to suddenly hit me in the face with a genius method that will save my brain. What about you?

 

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