The Importance of Letting Your Work Rest Before Editing – and What to Do While You Wait
Photo by Aleksandar Cvetanovic on Unsplash
Some of you have no doubt just finished NaNoWriMo ‘22. Congratulations! The good news is, November is over.
The bad news is, your novel isn’t.
Even if you wrote the magical 50K words, it’s not enough for a novel (unless you write Middle Grade or younger). So, you’ve got some work to do. Maybe you won’t keep up the same pace, but do keep going! In your case, try NOT to take a break, because it will be harder to get back into later. Even if you can only manage 500 words (or less) per day, keep some forward momentum. At least you should have a good idea where your story is going at this point. Keep a schedule, set a daily word goal, and don’t stop until you have a full finished draft.
For those of you who have finished a first draft, whether through NaNo or not, that’s fantastic! It’s a big accomplishment. But - and this is important - it’s a first draft. It’s as messy as it needs to be, and that’s okay. You pushed and got through to the end.
You may want to jump right in and start editing (or worse, start sending it out to agents).
STOP.
In your case, you do get to rest, and here’s why:
You need a break!
Every year after NaNoWriMo, agents are flooded with first drafts. No matter who you are, or how “ready” you think it is, you will need to revise and edit, more than once. Do not let your desire to see your work in the world overwhelm the need to make it the best it can be first. Trust me, send it out too early and you’ll regret it.
You’re still too close to the story to see it at all clearly. Put it away, don’t look at it, let it percolate in your brain for a little while. Stephen King suggests 6 weeks:
How long you let your book rest — sort of like bread dough between kneadings — is entirely up to you, but I think it should be a minimum of six weeks... With six weeks’ worth of recuperation time, you'll also be able to see any glaring holes in the plot or character development. I'm talking about holes big enough to drive a truck through. It's amazing how some of these things can elude the writer while he or she is occupied with a daily work of composition.
Stephen King, On Writing.
Wise words. I can’t say it any better than that. Read the whole chapter, if you have the book, and if you feel yourself tempted to give in and start revising.
The main thing is, you must resist the urge to keep looking over your manuscript, because you will get the idea that you should start editing right now. Some passages will seem better than they are. Some will appear worse. You’ll start, God forbid, line editing, which is a huge waste of your time at this stage. (When you get into real revisions, you may scrap those scenes.) We’ll talk about the best ways to revise your manuscript in January, but for now, it’s not your jam.
Also, drafting and editing use very different parts of the brain. In drafting, you use the creative, intuitive right side; in editing, the logical, analytical left brain needs to come to the fore. Both are fun, but it can take some time to switch over fully.
So, what can you do while you are waiting to get back to your beautiful mess?
You can read. Reading is one of the best things writers can do to improve their craft. You can also be on the lookout for comp titles to use in your query letter.
You can make notes. It’s better not to think about your manuscript, but if a bolt of lightning hits you, jot in down. Do not pull out the manuscript and start to revise based on the brand-new, awesome idea, however. Write it down, put it aside, and then consider it once you reread the manuscript later. It may indeed be as awesome as you now think. Or it may stink like last week’s garbage when considered in the light of the whole story.
You can line up readers – beta readers, your writing group, anyone who can put eyes on your work and let you know how it reads. Well, not your mom, or your non-writer friends, because they probably won’t give you the nuanced critique you need. Note: You may want to do another draft before you have anyone look at it, so you can a) make sure it makes sense and b) clear up any major issues you already know are there. You can also look into editors or book coaches and start researching if you’d like to work with one.
You can do lots of Artist Dates to refill your creative well. You’ve just expended a lot of energy on writing that first draft, now you need to do something non-writing related to allow yourself to wallow in creative inspiration again. Take long walks. Go to museums. Paint or draw. Cook or bake. Try something new.
You can play with your writing. You’re not working on a book, so you don’t have to take it seriously. Write a poem a day. Try some fun writing exercises (I turn to Natalie Goldberg’s Wild Mind or Writing Down the Bones for inspiration). Write down your dreams. Write down your memories. This way, you keep your writing time sacred, and you get to have fun with writing for a bit, with no pressure.
You can start your next project. You know, the one that seemed so sexy and urgent in the frustrating middle of your last book.
The great thing is, after chugging uphill all the way to a complete first draft, now you can take your foot off the gas and just coast for a while. More hard work will come soon enough. Taking a break will allow you to come to the revision process fresh and ready to make your manuscript the best it can be.
