Eg asked Kate Elliott:

Hi there, I just wondered - you've been writing for so long (and have produced so much imaginative content) - how did your approach to writing your first book compare with, say, your tenth?

Kate Elliott Egweenie,

This is a fascinating question, and for me the short version has two parts:

First, I am a better writer, which means I'm better at a lot of things now than I was them. I have a stronger sense of how scenes work. I can flag my drafts for pacing and description. I'm just plain better at revising. I can look at scenes and figure out where the pacing is off and how to make them work better.

But the flip side is that being more experienced means I tend to see the flaws immediately. As a less experienced writer I would happily write a first draft like a great rushing river, throwing down the story scene by scene just for the sheer joy of writing it and getting it out of my head. Now, my editor brain is constantly looking over my shoulder and making snide comments, and that slows down first drafting.

So I would say the biggest change in my approach is that I used to love first drafting best, and dislike revision because it was hard and clumsy. Now I struggle with first drafting because I have to fight the idea that it isn't any good, but I having finished a first draft because I love revising because it's like taking all the bits of cloth and putting them together into a beautiful piece of clothing. Which is what both I the writer and you the reader hope for, right? A great experience.

All best wishes,

Kate Elliott

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