 |
| Photo credit: alex: on Flickr |
Partially because of that and partially because I’d like to write a more coherent post on the topic, I’ve decided to write about the cooling off period again because yes, it’s that important. (If you really want to read the original, I suppose you could go here. But you don’t have to. In fact, it’d probably be best if you didn’t.)
Anyway. As many writers know (and some would rather pretend they didn’t know), the cooling off period is more important than it sounds—it’s the time that allows us to take a couple steps back away from our freshly drafted WIPs, so that we can then in turn edit more objectively. It’s the pause between writing and editing—the breather, so to speak, and without it, it is very difficult to edit effectively.
Here’s why: completing a draft of a manuscript is a big accomplishment and it makes us writers feel many different emotions—everything from pride to manic excitement to sometimes a little fear and nervousness—but usually just a lot of excitement and pride. After you complete a draft, your mind is reeling with the world you’ve immersed yourself in while writing—the characters, the setting, the battles and victories and losses—all of those things are fresh in your mind, still sparkling with that wow, I really wrote this shine.
While you’re editing, however, that shine needs to go away. I’m not saying you can’t be proud of your work—but if you really want to edit, if you really want to make your work the best it can be, it requires a lot of legwork on your part and it often requires sacrifices. You have to be able to look at your words and pull out the weaknesses. You must be able to recognize the plot holes and flat characters and inconsistencies and scenes (or entire sections) that need rewriting entirely, and quite frankly, it’s very difficult (if not impossible) to do all of those things when you finished writing the draft yesterday.
You need time to let your manuscript cool—to create some distance between the story you know so well and your excited feelings. Without it, editing is going to be that much more difficult and not nearly as effective as it would have been had you given it time.
I recommend waiting at least a month, but the longer you can stand to stay away, the more distance you’ll create, and the easier it will be to edit objectively—which is, ultimately, the goal.
Do you take a cooling off period between writing and editing? If so, how long? If not, why not?
15 comments:
I like cooling off periods too but for the opposite reason. When I re-read immediately, I feel like most of it is crap. When I come back to it later, I feel better about what I wrote. An ideal situation would involve writing a second book during the cooling off period and then going back to editing the first book afterwards. :)
That is what I am doing. It was hard not to look at it, but two months later I hope to have 2 first drafts ready for editing and be excited about the first book again.
Great post! And you had me at X-Men fanatic. :)
I'm taking this to the extreme with my WIP. It's been almost a year and it's still in the virtual drawer :)
You are living the dream! :)
I'm kind of reminded of the habits of famous street photographer Garry Winogrand, who'd not even develop his rolls of film until a year had passed. He wanted to not be able to remember the experience of taking the photos, so that all he was evaluating them on was their artistic qualities, not how he felt at the time of taking them.
You don't need to be that eccentric, but definitely a little distance helps in the editing process!
That's interesting! I've found that during my first read-through, I'm usually more enthusiastic about my project than when I go through it a second time more carefully. It's the second read through that I really start to notice the less-than-shiny bits.
And I have to agree with your ideal situation--not only does it give you the added bonus of having another project to work on (which is a wonderful distraction), but it really helps you distance yourself even more, as you've spent the cooling off period immersed in something else entirely.
That's fantastic! Great work, Sydney! ^_^
Thank you! And yay for X-Men fans! :D *high fives*
Oh wow, that's quite a bit of patience. I don't know that I could force myself to wait that long. :D
Will you be editing soon?
I'd never heard of Garry Winogrand, but that's a great comparison. Removing the emotion from the experience of creating the work certainly helps to look at your creation with a more editorial eye.
Thanks for sharing, Morven!
I'm itching to get started actually! But I'm making myself finish my second book first or I'll never finish it. Meanwhile, I'm learning a lot already about what needs to be done :)
Ah, I see. Well, it's really fantastic that you're learning so much through the process. It's pretty fascinating just how much we can teach ourselves simply by putting in the time and effort to get a book written. :)
This is how I ended up handling it. I decided to start some ways into the sequel to keep the style and mindset consistent.
I have yet to write a sequel, but I do find that it can be helpful to work on something else entirely while waiting. :) Good luck!
Post a Comment