Is Rewriting While Writing A Crime?
Is it okay for a writer to stop part-way through a first draft to go back and rewrite something?
Ooh, rewriting while writing. Tsk, tsk. This question comes up a lot among writers, and I don't entirely understand why.
Writing is a creative process. If you overthink it you'll lose that creative edge, that part of you that imbues the writing with the most... you. Keep in mind I'm talking about the creative aspect of writing here, not editing or proofreading or punctuation or any other technical aspect. Those come later.
In the beginning, you just need to get out of you what's inside you. Get that first draft done by any and all means necessary. If that means going back and rewriting something, do it! If you think it will slow you down then write a note to yourself about what you want to rewrite so you don't forget, and keep going.
Just write.
It frustrates me when I see writers getting hung up on questions like this. I've been writing novels since I was 15 years old, and it never occurred to me that going back to rewrite something as I was still writing might be wrong. I never asked if I should be outlining or not. I never wondered about what writing software to use. I just wrote.
And wrote, and wrote, and wrote.
The great majority of writers barely finish one novel. By the time I was 17, I had written three, one of which was published. To date I've completed nine.
Proceed with cautionIf you do go back to rewrite something, don't start editing.
EXAMPLE
I'm working on chapter twenty-six of book three in my medieval fantasy series Children of the Falls. I just recently went all the way back to chapter one to re-write something—I wanted to write a secondary character into a certain scene. As I read through what I had already written I noticed typos, misspellings, passive voice, but I ignored all of it. I'll clean that stuff up in editing. My objective—my only objective—was to rewrite a portion of a scene to include a secondary character. That's it. Done. Moving on.
My point is simple. Do whatever you got to do to get that first draft down. Don't worry about how I do it. Don't worry about how J.K. Rowling does it. Stop perusing writing forums and Facebook pages asking formatting questions and comparing your process to the processes of others.
Just. Write.
Ooh, rewriting while writing. Tsk, tsk. This question comes up a lot among writers, and I don't entirely understand why.
Writing is a creative process. If you overthink it you'll lose that creative edge, that part of you that imbues the writing with the most... you. Keep in mind I'm talking about the creative aspect of writing here, not editing or proofreading or punctuation or any other technical aspect. Those come later.
In the beginning, you just need to get out of you what's inside you. Get that first draft done by any and all means necessary. If that means going back and rewriting something, do it! If you think it will slow you down then write a note to yourself about what you want to rewrite so you don't forget, and keep going.
Just write.
It frustrates me when I see writers getting hung up on questions like this. I've been writing novels since I was 15 years old, and it never occurred to me that going back to rewrite something as I was still writing might be wrong. I never asked if I should be outlining or not. I never wondered about what writing software to use. I just wrote.
And wrote, and wrote, and wrote.
The great majority of writers barely finish one novel. By the time I was 17, I had written three, one of which was published. To date I've completed nine.
Proceed with cautionIf you do go back to rewrite something, don't start editing.
EXAMPLE
I'm working on chapter twenty-six of book three in my medieval fantasy series Children of the Falls. I just recently went all the way back to chapter one to re-write something—I wanted to write a secondary character into a certain scene. As I read through what I had already written I noticed typos, misspellings, passive voice, but I ignored all of it. I'll clean that stuff up in editing. My objective—my only objective—was to rewrite a portion of a scene to include a secondary character. That's it. Done. Moving on.
My point is simple. Do whatever you got to do to get that first draft down. Don't worry about how I do it. Don't worry about how J.K. Rowling does it. Stop perusing writing forums and Facebook pages asking formatting questions and comparing your process to the processes of others.
Just. Write.
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