Single drafting for the win- Heinlein was adamant that the culture of agonising over every sentence imagining perfection was just around the corner was lunacy. Far better to just keep writing and learn to produce high quality drafts with minimal editing. It is a lot like how students used to practice writing whole essays by hand in pen, with no real capacity for editing. The convenience of computer typing trains the writer to slap any old rubbish on the page, reassured they can fix it later on.
I have had to train myself not to over-edit the life out of my stories. I didn’t always fall for it, but after my MA I got some anxiety which bled into the manuscripts. I’ve bounced back now.
I used to avoid telling people about the 1st / 2nd draft thing, but I realise now it isn’t my fault that their stories need 20 drafts.
And at that point, is a story really theirs? Or is their editor now a ghostwriter
I think of manuscript editing like plastic surgery. If the basic bones are good, then a few light touches by an expert surgeon can turn an average looking person into an attractive one. But if they keep cutting and tweaking eventually the face becomes inhuman. And a face that got janked up by a grenade can only ever hope to approximate looking average at best. Drafting is where the magic should happen!
Single drafting for the win- Heinlein was adamant that the culture of agonising over every sentence imagining perfection was just around the corner was lunacy. Far better to just keep writing and learn to produce high quality drafts with minimal editing. It is a lot like how students used to practice writing whole essays by hand in pen, with no real capacity for editing. The convenience of computer typing trains the writer to slap any old rubbish on the page, reassured they can fix it later on.
100%
I have had to train myself not to over-edit the life out of my stories. I didn’t always fall for it, but after my MA I got some anxiety which bled into the manuscripts. I’ve bounced back now.
I used to avoid telling people about the 1st / 2nd draft thing, but I realise now it isn’t my fault that their stories need 20 drafts.
And at that point, is a story really theirs? Or is their editor now a ghostwriter
I think of manuscript editing like plastic surgery. If the basic bones are good, then a few light touches by an expert surgeon can turn an average looking person into an attractive one. But if they keep cutting and tweaking eventually the face becomes inhuman. And a face that got janked up by a grenade can only ever hope to approximate looking average at best. Drafting is where the magic should happen!
I agree with this completely. Stephanie has been a good book since 2016.
I tried to properly edit it in 2019 and ruined it.
Now, 2024, I am following my old roadmap and it’s good again.