Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Writer Wednesday: Taking a Break

I recently finished the first draft of yet another WIP.  The goal was to take a couple of weeks off and then do an edit. But I've already opened up the document a week into the break. 

I know, I know ... Many people say to throw your draft in a drawer for a month (or more) before digging it out again, but I just can't do that ... for a variety of reasons!
  1. My characters are still talking to me, sharing their story, and I want to add those pieces in before I forget.
  2. I know there are a couple of spots that need clean up (eye color that changed, home layout that somehow got altered halfway through!)
  3. It's not yet clean enough for me to hand to my critique partners. I'd like to clean up the spelling/grammar, and fix a couple of other errors I know I have.
This will be the first of several rounds of edits, so I'm not concerned about shelving it for a bit. Most likely that will happen when my CPs are editing and I'm anxiously awaiting their feedback.

But I'm curious to know ... what do you do when it comes to edits? Do you do a first edit as you write (going back over your writing from the previous session before moving forward)? Do you send your beta readers your first draft, knowing there will be problems but seeing what they come up with too? How long of a break do you take between drafts? 

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6 comments:

  1. Christine DanekNovember 28, 2012 at 7:15 AM

    I'm in the same boat. I'm afraid to wait too long. Right now, I'm anxious to revise an old MS, the problem is the first draft I just wrote (another novel) is screaming at me to fix spots and clean it up. I'm leaning toward cleaning up the new one since I'm not feeling the old one. It's been about two weeks since I finished it. I think it all depends on how you feel and what works for you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AE RoughtNovember 28, 2012 at 7:25 AM

    I edit as I write, and pass off the chapters to my betas when I'm finished with them. Then I send 50-pg chunks to my agent as I move ahead, too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jessie HarrellNovember 28, 2012 at 8:27 AM

    I tend to edit as I write also. I have a hard time picking up without at least reading the chapter before the one I'm working on, which makes for built-in editing time.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Optimistic ExistentialistNovember 28, 2012 at 9:23 AM

    I have always edited after I wrote, so as not to interrupt the flow.

    ReplyDelete
  5. NickieNovember 28, 2012 at 10:52 AM

    I do at least 2 rounds of editing before sending anything to my CPs. My first drafts are usually TERRIBLE, and I wouldn't want to make anyone suffer through them.

    ReplyDelete
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Breaths that matter...

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