Editing – first things first

What’s the first thing you need to know about editing? Don’t start editing until you’re finished writing.

Really!

I spent a couple of years writing my first novel – only to realise I never got past the first few chapters because I kept going back to play with them.

Occasionally I’d move on a little, but I always found myself going back and reworking/changing/playing with the text in the first few chapters: ‘getting it right’.

It wasn’t until I made a decision to FINISH IT that I actually got the first draft done. What’s more, I’ve heard this same advice from dozens of successful, published authors.

Finish it, first and foremost. Edit it second.

If you get a brand new idea you’re busting to get into an earlier chapter – make a note of it and FIX IT LATER – after you’ve completed the first draft.

You want to change something? – make a note of it and fix it in the rewrite!

Anything more complicated than a global search and replace – fix it later!

In case I’m not clear:

  • Write the first draft.
  • Edit the first draft.
  • In that order.

Don’t start editing until you’ve finished writing or you’ll spend weeks, months, years and even decades getting no further than the first few chapters.

2 thoughts on “Editing – first things first”

  1. For many months I did the same thing. In the morning I would re-read as much as I could of what I had written the day before, and always would I have something to change.
    My progress proceeded at glacial speed.
    After a while I realized I would never finish the novel unless I stopped re-reading what I had written.
    An added bonus to your advice is that when you finally do return to your writing, which in my case will be 10 months after I started the novel, everything will be fairly fresh. The editing job will be easier.
    At least I hope that’s the case.

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