For me, I do enjoy writing the first draft, even when I don’t know how or where many scenes will go. It’s definitely hard work, but enjoyable, especially when I get into the moment.
But editing, on the other hand, I don’t look forward to.
Editing is tedious--especially in the later "how did this stupid error make it this far?" stages. But it's definitely easier to start from some sort of foundation for me. That said, this is mostly with respect to editing my own writing. For editing the work of others, I definitely find there's sometimes this uncanny valley where I can't just say "this is trash" but I also can't say this just needs a bit of TLC either. And that's really frustrating because you sort of want to respect the original writer's work, but it really isn't very good.
For me the part that has me pulling teeth is when I know for a fact that something is wrong, but for the life of me I cannot see how to fix it. And with everything I try to do, I'm not honestly sure if the result is better or not. Ironically, this gets harder as your writing gets more polished---there's more to mess up when you change things.
Maybe some day I'll find a way around this, but so far I haven't.
Comments
I’m curious how you feel about editing.
For me, I do enjoy writing the first draft, even when I don’t know how or where many scenes will go. It’s definitely hard work, but enjoyable, especially when I get into the moment.
But editing, on the other hand, I don’t look forward to.
Editing is tedious--especially in the later "how did this stupid error make it this far?" stages. But it's definitely easier to start from some sort of foundation for me. That said, this is mostly with respect to editing my own writing. For editing the work of others, I definitely find there's sometimes this uncanny valley where I can't just say "this is trash" but I also can't say this just needs a bit of TLC either. And that's really frustrating because you sort of want to respect the original writer's work, but it really isn't very good.
The stupid mistakes are easy---just fix them.
For me the part that has me pulling teeth is when I know for a fact that something is wrong, but for the life of me I cannot see how to fix it. And with everything I try to do, I'm not honestly sure if the result is better or not. Ironically, this gets harder as your writing gets more polished---there's more to mess up when you change things.
Maybe some day I'll find a way around this, but so far I haven't.
To me editing still feels chore-ish but to a much lesser extent, and sometimes I'll have fun doing it.