Allan Edwards wrote a great post called "Oh, Just Publish the F---ing Thing Already" on his blog, and it really struck a chord with me. I am one of those writers who has to write and rewrite over and over again before I'm pleased with the final product. Then I have to show it to 3 betas. Then one will have a concern and I'll rewrite a scene. Then I'll show it to three more people...
The fact is, you can't please everybody. You can show a story to 10 different people and all of them could make a different suggestion. It's when many people point out the same issue that you need to start rewriting. If one person has a concern and two other people don't, you can probably let it go.
And writers do need to write a lot. So with that in mind, I'm going to write my second novel without worrying if it's perfect--I'm just going to write a great story.
I really liked Edwards' post. At the same time, editing over and over is just so -tempting-.
ReplyDeleteSmart advice. I find myself writing a few sentences and then going back over them a few times before I stop myself, force my concentration on getting the story out until the end of the chapter, and then go over it making corrections.
ReplyDeleteOnce I feel like the first draft is complete, I go over that sucker 6,7,8,9 times until I have gotten it as perfect as (my sanity) will allow.