| 1 year ago :: Dec 05, 2008 - 9:02PM #1 | |
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I wonder if anyone else has this problem. By the time I get toward the middle of a novel, I am getting sick of it from reading and re-reading the front end so much. I go back, see something that needs to be edited, and end up reading the same passages over and over. After awhile, it starts to seem old and stale. What I thought was a pretty damn good story starts to be boring, that no one would want to read.
Am I alone in this? Should I just not go back and edit on the fly? Thanks. |
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| 1 year ago :: Dec 05, 2008 - 9:25PM #2 | |
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Hi there Mister, I used to do the same thing. I have a novel that is 65,000 words. That's only 25,000 away from my goal and it has sat for two years on the metaphorical shelf. Why? Cos I did what you are doing. So no, no matter what don't look back until your novel is finished with the first draft. Then you can go back through and from start to finish edit the first time. Then do it again. But never keep going over only parts of it. It is discouraging. Well that's my opinion and I'm stickin' with it. ;) Hope that helps. |
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| 1 year ago :: Dec 06, 2008 - 3:21AM #3 | |
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I do the same thing! The only thing that snapped me out it during this last project was switching narratives and getting into the pysche of the "other side". |
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| 1 year ago :: Dec 24, 2008 - 4:43AM #4 | |
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I have had moments where I became sick of reading and re-reading my novels, but it didn't last. I was able to become re-inspired with the story fairly easily. I found that input from others helped keep it fresh in my head and pushed me to make it better where I could. |
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| 1 year ago :: Jan 23, 2009 - 7:59AM #5 | |
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I know what you mean ... I got into the same rut during editing phase; even though I knew it had shortcomings, there was a lot I liked, but the more I edited, the more weaknesses I found, and I also felt like anyone who would eventually read it would be bored from the familiarity I had with it --- as if everyone else had seen it as much as I had -- I didn't realize it would be "fresh" to readers, that they weren't micro-analyzing everything in the same way the writer does. |
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| 1 year ago :: Feb 17, 2009 - 9:11PM #6 | |
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Hi. My first post. I'm not a published author, so take this for what it's worth, but I have managed to write one full length first draft manuscript and one full length, ready to submit (I think) novel manuscript, 90,000 and 123,000 words respectively. In the process, I've learned two things that I think apply. 1: What you write doesn't have to be perfect the first time out. I find that struggling for just the right turn of phrase will bog me down if I let it. The first time around, just get something on paper (or in your hard drive, as it were). Worry about tweaking it when you're done the first draft. 2: Sometimes, you have to take a break from what you're doing. What's worked for me has been to finish the first draft, then leave it alone for a while before coming back to it for revision. That's allowed me to approach revision with a fresh perspective. Maybe you just need to take a break from your project so you can come back to it with renewed enthusiasm. |
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