Revisiting Old Work. Again.
August 26th, 2010
So a few months back, I wrote a post about how stupid it is to revisit old work. Well, this week I’m playing devil’s advocate. Read more…
Archive
Archive for the ‘Editing’ Category
Serialised Fiction – Part Two
April 23rd, 2010
OK, so this week I sucked at my own deadline. I didn’t even get ONE full episode done this week, let alone two! I DID manage to write a few scenes from throughout the series, and also to get my “new, revised” arc down and locked. Go me! Read more…
Revisiting old work
February 25th, 2010
OK, never, EVER do this. Seriously, if you haven’t looked at a piece of work in over a year, then you’d be better off just deleting it.
OK, well now that that advice has been readily ignored, allow me to explain. Read more…
5 tips for receiving feedback
January 14th, 2010
Asking for feedback is a must if you want to improve your writing. Of course, getting the feedback might not be a pleasant experience. That makes it all the more important that you get the most out if it, so here are my five top tips fir receiving feedback on your writing. Read more…
5 and a bit tips for giving feedback
December 20th, 2009
It can sometimes feel a bit awkward giving feedback, especially if it’s to a writing friend. But often, a writer will have at least another writer in their support network, and you may find yourself giving feedback to another writer. Besides, looking at someone else’s work is a great way to keep you thinking about writing in different ways. Read more…
Let it simmer
August 20th, 2009
Okay, so your first draft. You have written your masterpiece. You’re aware that now begins the honing and chipping to get everything just so. But you’ve read it over and read it over again, and apart from a few tweaks it seems fine. But is it really?<!–more–>
One thing teachers and my mother always told me when it came to editing – leave it for a bit. Of course, then it mostly applied to schoolwork – essays and their ilk. So it was not always practical to leave the work and not look at it for a while, especially if the woprk was done at the last minute! But it does help to file it away somewhere for a couple of weeks; a month if you can, and let it simmer.
The problem is you’ve had your head right in it for weeks (or months for longer projects), and you’ve completely lost your objectivity. Ideally you should be coming at it as if it’s someone else’s work (I don’tknow about you, but I always find it easier to edit someone else’s efforts), as if you are reading it for the first time. Now, it may be impossible to reach that ideal, but you can get pretty close. You will find a lot more things to change and it will be a better piece of work because of it.
I reckon the best time to do it is when you think the work is finished. Do a quick round of editing perhaps, to pick up anything obvious, and when it feels like you’re just about done, put it away. It’s not like you’re going to be twiddling your thumbs for the next month – start a new project. Keep reading, keep writing. And this may go on for several rounds. I like to do one extra round just in case anyway, but if you’ve made sweeping changes, re-written whole pages, you might want to check that they still ring true after another month.
Who amongst us does somehting similar? How long do you leave your work for, and do you show people before or after you’ve finished editing?
Okay, so your first draft is done. You have written your masterpiece. You’re aware that now begins the honing and chipping to get everything just so. But you’ve read it over and read it over again, and apart from a few tweaks it seems fine. But is it really? Read more…
The dreaded block
August 15th, 2009
I find it almost impossible to write these days. I’m not too sure why. Read more…
Where is the Creative Bit?
May 14th, 2009
It might not be where you think. A lot of people feel that writing is the act of putting pen to paper, or finger to keyboard. That’s both the part that makes writing seem so accessible and easy, and the part that makes it so intimidating. It seems easy because anyone can write words on the page. But we’ve all sat down in front of a blank page and stared at it with creeping terror. But is that really the creative part to writing? Is that really writing at all? Read more…