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If you (crudely) divide the business of writing into "first draft" and "revision" (and yes, I know that some write the whole novel, then revise iot, whereas some write a whole sentence before they revise it) which do you enjoy more, as pure pleasure?
That first 'words-from-nowhere' business, or that 'now let's make it better' feeling?
Emma
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Most definitely the first words from nowhere.
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For me it's rewriting, making major radical changes to a rough draft. I enjoy the first draft process when it's all flowing smoothly but other times it's such brain ache to get it out - whereas once there is something rough to work from I'm really in my element.
Once it gets on to the final polishes I enjoy it slightly less again, as I start to wonder whether I'm actually improving the writing anymore, or just tinkering for the sake of it.
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Well I don't really do first drafts, second drafts but tinker as I go along. Each time I come back to the story I go right back to the beginning and move things around etc. I think the bit I enjoy most is the bit where I write The End, knowing I can't do any better than I have.
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I love those moments during a first draft when a new idea forms on the page and I think - Wow, I didn't see that coming! But they can certainly come during the second draft as well. It's great being surprised by your own story.
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"Now let's make it better" for me. I hate first drafts with such a terrible passion that it could eventually stop me writing altogether.
I do like "let's make it better" though.
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First drafts, probably, though I'm learning to love revisions.
But by far my favourite part of writing is the bit where it's finally DONE.
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Probably the first draft - I love it when this whole story landscape just opens up in front of you and you can suddenly see all these little lights of possibility sparkling in the dark unknown.
But I do quite love revisions, especially the bits where you're set a problem by the editor or by your editor-self, and you get a "bing!" moment on how to solve it.
Essentially though, when it's going well I love it - when it's going badly I hate it. No matter which bit of the process I'm on.
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Lets make it better/Revision for sure. I find first drafts really anxious-making because they feel like stepping into the void. Once I have some material to work on, I am a happy bunny.
Susiex
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For me it's drawing up the plan.
Though my plans are very dense, so perhaps not far from some people's first draft.
HB x
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I HATE first drafts and they sometimes make me wonder what the hell I am doing.
However I LOVE the second pass through the entire novel, when the hard slog is done and I have got to the end. The next bit is the best, followed closely by typing THE END.
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Thanks everyone - this is soooooo fascinating.
I find first drafts horribly hard work - making something from nothing. It's not that I don't enjoy them, I think, but it's the 'enjoy' of a strenuous (though recreational) climb up a huge mountain. And yet, yes, the sense of exploration is astonishing.
Revisions I find easier, in the sense that it's a series of specific jobs that I can work my way through. And yet already the novel has its boundaries - things it now will never be, roads you won't be going down. (I find that when I'm revising a novel, my notebooks fill up with tasty ideas and scraps that working on the novel has bred, but which it has no space for.) So that in a way revisions - specially the later, nit-picky polish-y line-edit sort - do have a sense of loss of freedom and possibility, for now, at least. This is the creature you've married, and you're stuck with it.
But I realised after I started this thread that I'm not sure I'm often aware of enjoying it - it's a bit like asking whether I enjoy breathing. It's just something that happens.
| Essentially though, when it's going well I love it - when it's going badly I hate it. No matter which bit of the process I'm on. |
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I suppose this is it for me, too.
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Impossible to say. Parts of both processes feel like a chore at times - writing a chapter with a necessary lull in the pace or revising for the 50th time to make sure that every word is just right.
And parts of both are equally exciting - finishing a first draft chapter in a way you hadn't expected or polishing a dodgy paragraph until it really shines.
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I DETEST revisions - I much prefer first drafts.
My favourite bits are the first 20,000 words, where everything is still new and exciting and you haven't hit any major plot problems yet, and - like Trilby - the moment when it's DONE.
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I like starting work on something definitely. There's so much promise and potential. As Sally said, nothing major has gone wrong. There's the hope that it will turn out okay. The middle bit is definitely the hardest. Sometimes I get a spurt towards the end - but not this time. I think I slowed down. I've just finished the first draft today, actually, so I'm about to start the editing process.
I do enjoy that too... though it's a bit more fraught. What if it can't be fixed??? But then again, at least there's something there to fix.
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