"Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Browne and King

[GreenPartyVoter]

Can't recommend it enough.

What is _your_ favorite "how to" book on writing?

[Blue_Roses]

1. thanks for this

I really need this right now as I am constantly "self-editing" my work lately. My writing professor told me to turn off the "self-edit" part of my brain, especially during the first draft. Does anyone else have this problem? It drives me nuts. If I'm just writing to write, whether it be thoughts, journaling, or just having fun, I don't have this problem, but if I'm working on something that is a project to sell, I "self-edit" constantly.

It really affects my ability to get that first draft done.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Your prof is correct

just write the first draft, then go back and clean it up....

I used to have that problem, these days I write even novel lenght manuscrips in one pass, and then go back.

I also know that if I am at 60K words the first time around, that is fine, for I will add meat to it on the second, third and fourth passes... also give yourself some time between draft one and draft two

[Blue_Roses]

3. thanks...

I appreciate this advice. How many edits do you usually do on your manuscript?

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. I average five

I undersatnd that is quite normal

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. I patchwork edit sometimes, which means I tinker a bit with

the spot I left off on, until the muse comes back to life with something new to add.

But line editing as you go can be fruitless since you are bound to hack off large chunks of your ms at some point in the future and trash them outright. So all that's happened is you have wasted a lot fo time, right?

Jennifer Crusie says the first draft is the don't-look-up one. Just babble through your finger tips from once upon a time to happily ever after. Then wade back through that mess several times over and try to find a story in it. :)

[Dogmudgeon]

6. The one that says ...

... "Stop reading this and get back to work writing!"

--p!