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
Posts Tagged ‘perseverance’
As good as a rest
June 10th, 2010
I’m nearly at the point in my novel where I said I would stop for a break. But now that I’m so close to that point, I’m really really crawling, and finding it hard to get into it. 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…
In training
December 4th, 2009
So I’ve been reading What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami. Now I came rather late to Murakami’s work, and have only read a few of his novels, but I find his distinct lyrical style easy to read, and highly engaging. Read more…
Crap – I stopped again
November 21st, 2009
You join me at the end of a poor week for writing. Well, for my writing, anyway. I previously blogged about a break, asking if it’s a good idea. Well, despite my intentions it seems I’ve had a break anyway. Read more…
Getting an Agent
October 31st, 2009
‘How did we ever get this far? I don’t know.’
The Godfather
Many people have asked me how I came about to get this far with the writing. I love when people ask me that as if I’m polishing my Pulitzer Prize for Literature already. The fact is, I know that this is going to be a long arduous journey. I know that I won’t be published with the next month or even six months. Hell, it could be a year before I see any results Read more…
Keeping a routine
September 4th, 2009
Keeping a writing routine is hard. On the face of it, it’s easy – decide you want to do something and then do it. Then do it again, then again, then again. But in practice, it’s something quite different. 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…