"Inner Editor"

[Sara]

How do you keep (or, how did you) your inner editor in check? I have one so horrible that if I could rip it out of me and strangle it and run it over and light it one fire and laugh at it as it danced stupidly in circles waving its fiery arms with its ugly, pointy, criticizing little stabby fingers while trying to extinguish itself, well, I'd do it in a heartbeat. And several times over. And throw in a few kicks to the shins for good measure.

[Susan]

I have a friend who is a writer who literally wears two hats. When he's wearing his writing hat, he doesn't allow himself to correct anything. Then he puts on the editor hat and has at it.

[S.G.]

I don't always keep my inner editor in check. I often try to write the perfect sentence or find the perfect word the first time through. But if perfection doesn't arrive immediately on the page and I find myself spending too much time worrying over a paragraph or a line of dialogue, I realize I can always go back and fix it. More importantly, I realize that if I don't let it go, I'll lose my forward momentum and never get anything written.

Also, after having written seven novels (three before Breathers and Fated, plus the upcoming Lucky Bastard and my current WIP), I've come to realize that no matter what kind of problem my novel has, I can find a way to fix it. And I've had to fix a lot of problems. But the important thing was to get the story down first.

I think that's the biggest reason why a lot of people never finish their book. Because they try to fix it and make it perfect before they get the story down and eventually they lose the story.