I have to admit to having a really, really dark, disgust,
filthy habit.
I edit as I write.
Yep, there it is, out there where anyone and his brother can see
it. I can only imagine what the people
who always believed me to be a nice, decent guy are thinking now. (Yes, there are some, so don’t look at me
that way!!)
As a songwriter for the past 40 or so years, I fully know
the dangers of editing as you write.
You can’t help but lose momentum.
You’re going along and the words are literally flowing out of you,
almost committing themselves to the paper, as if all you’re needed for is the
manual labor; the physical part of the process.
I remember reading a quote from a hugely successful songwriter one time. (It might have been Keith Richards of the
Rolling Stones, but I’m not sure and it really isn't important at the moment.) He
said something about how all the songs he’d ever written were already out there
floating around in the Cosmos and he’d just served as a kind of antenna. That’s how it feels when the writing is going well. It’s almost
like the book (or song) is going to write itself just as fast as you can type. Sometimes the ideas come so fast and
furiously that I can’t even write the story; all I can do is get down some
notes so I can go back later and flesh the ideas out. It’s a great feeling; probably one of the
best you can experience if writing is your thing. So to slam on the brakes and bring it all to
a grinding halt by editing what you’re in the process of creating is
counterintuitive. And just plain foolish. In fact, it’s
something that should probably be a criminal offense. Ah well, not to worry, it carries its own
punishments.
The proper way to do it, in my experience (500+ songs, one
completed short story anthology, one completed novel, and more of both in the
works), and also according to all the experts I’ve read on the subject, is to
just write. Don’t worry about typos,
etc., just get the ideas down on paper.
There’ll be plenty of time to fix it, or tweak it, or do whatever it needs
done to it. LATER. And it
will need to be done, I promise you that.
If you absolutely can’t help yourself, at least try this compromise: JUST WRITE today. Before you start in tomorrow, if you absolutely
can’t help yourself, read today’s pages and tweak what you feel needs to be tweaked. (As an added bonus, some people feel this gets you back into your story, so it’s worth a shot, if for no other reason than that.) Then,
after you’re done tweaking, JUST WRITE again. The
next day….well, you get the idea.
In my case, I fear I’m a lost cause. I’ve been doing the 'edit-as-you-go' thing for so long it's become second-nature. I may save a little
time later on editing, but IMHO, it’s not worth it to interrupt what could be
the best thing you’ve ever written just because you typed ‘haen’t’ instead of ‘haven’t’,
or accidently renamed a character, or even made a more serious error in continuity. Leave it. Move on. Fix it later. You’ll thank yourself when you’re finishing
your project instead of staring at a blank page, wondering where that elusive Muse went because you interrupted the
flow halfway to the finish line.
Learn from my mistake.
