Why is the first edit always so hard?
It seems to me that there is a point in the process of writing any novel where you are essentially caught between two different worlds. You’ve finished writing your first draft, and have finished celebrating your achievement of writing a whole massive novel, but you’ve yet to start the editing process.
It can be a weird phase of novel writing; the lingering satisfaction of the full first draft is still there, but it’s starting to give way to slightly buzzy nerves as you begin to contemplate editing what you’ve done. I think this is a stage that catches many a first-time writer, and I’d wager that there are thousands of novels out there that are languishing in this stage – drafted, but not finished.
Re-gathering the initial momentum you usually experience at the beginning of writing a first draft for the long process of editing is always a challenge, and I think there are several good reasons why this is the case.
Admitting signs of weakness
One of the big reasons I think embarking on the first edit of a book is hard is because you have to admit to signs of weakness in your work. When you’re writing the first draft, you can largely ignore any plot holes or other issues that arise along the way. In fact, it’s usually a good thing to ignore them in favour of simply getting the words on the page.
At some point, however, you have to acknowledge the existence of those issues, and getting up the will to do something about them can be one of the hardest – although hopefully ultimately very rewarding – parts of writing a book.
Revisiting old pains
This links to the issue of revisiting old pains. There are always periods of writing any first draft that are significantly harder and more painful than others. These periods of writing always seem to occur in that awkward phase, once your initial enthusiasm has worn off but before the promise of the end is in sight. As a result, they are often bogged down in the middle of the book in the form of tangled, knotty plot problems.
They were painful to write the first time, and you know they’re going to be painful to straighten out in the edit. Alas, it has to be done…
The halfway house
That stage between drafting and editing is also something of a halfway house. It’s a transition between an incomplete book and a finished one, and there is always a slight fear that the finished book might turn out to be completely awful – something that can put off even the best of writers from taking the metaphorical scalpel to the novel patient.
Once we do manage to get over the fear, however, and get into the process of editing, it can be one of the very best bits about writing. It’s great to see half-formed ideas start to take shape and become something properly good, and it’s brilliantly rewarding once all of the major editing work is done.
So, no matter how difficult it might seem, making the leap from the first draft to the first edit is something we definitely have to learn how to do. How do you keep yourself focused and keen when it comes to the early editing stages?
