To Rip Apart

One of the reasons why writers don't want to extensively edit their work because it's SO HARD. I'm serious. Some editing, for me, is easy to do, but to rewrite? Wow. I have to kick myself in the butt before I would do that.

The reason for this? When I write, usually I have a direction to go in and everything's fine. I just write. But when I look back, OMG, the errors pop up. I see bad characters, bad dialogue, and it's hideous. So what do I do? Yup. Editing...

The problem is, especially when you have to rewrite certain sections, the story begins to suck. Like, horribly. Anything good you thought you have begins to look horrible and you want to stab your work until it dies in some horribly painful way.

You're probably experienced the horrible trauma of a rewrite before. Now, for me, I know I have definite conflicting emotions. Sometimes I think I'm the most terrible writer of them all because my rewrites suck. Other times, I want to give up and just stop trying. Still other times, I want to revert to the way it used to be. But, usually, I just trudge on, like a moron, to finish it.

But then something special happens. A new plot twist comes up, a character does something, and then suddenly things start falling into place. It's amazing what desperation can do! But, in the end, the edited piece isn't simply as good as the first draft. It leaves the first draft in the dust, writhing in humiliation.

And yes, it takes a long time, but it's well worth the effort. Happy editing!

The best part, and maybe the only light side of editing, is the time it makes you look at your story again. Sometimes you run into the most interesting side plots, character quirks...

Of course, as you say, Snoink, it drives you up a wall as well. #_#

Long time or no, a good article to recall the importance of it. ^_^


IMP

Wow, one day I'll be able to rewrite something -- once I finish the first draft!

I love editing! But rewriting can be a real pain somtimes. I'm in the middle of completely rewriting my climax (the pitfall of starting a novel at fourteen), and it can be both fun and challenging. The thing I like about rewriting is that you get to cover new ground, revisit old characters, and write them better than you did the first time. But then of course there is the problem of sucky writing in the meantime.
That's something I'm still working on...

I agree that it is hard. But I have come to know my chapters and characters so well I let them do the writing, I now find editing fun (and typos and repeated sentences make me laugh).

Rewriting...ugh, I get depressed whenever I have to rewrite. But, I always find it ends up better than the original like you said. This is a good topic Snoink.

You guys have already stated it all!