Writing Pointers

[PudgeThePug]

Hello everyone,

I'm really new here and just found the confidence to put myself into the writing community. I have met some really supportive people here so far, so thank you so much for that.

Now for the meat of my post. I was wondering about different writing pointers. I know that everyone has their own way of doing things and it varies person to person, but I'm still relatively new to writing and am still developing a style of my own.

I have started writing my first novel and have written a few chapters and find myself, after a few days to a week, going back and doing revisions. I've settled on only allowing three big revisions for a single chapter before moving on. I also need some help with learning to edit because I really don't know what I'm doing with that. I find it hard to clip out parts that may or may not be part of the story. I also would like to understand some of the other processes that go into writing that I'm definitely overlooking.

Thank you for taking the time out to read this. I'll be looking forward to reading your responses.

 

[casval]

As you say, everyone has their own way of doing it, so if you're writing regularly and enjoying the process: stick to it!

The best piece of advice I have is to just write as regularly as you're able to without burning out. Some days that might mean doing more editing or planning, if you like to outline your novel ahead of time, but keep it fresh and keep at it! If you are someone who likes a routine, having a scheduled writing time can be very useful.

As for editing, I will fiddle with wording and grammar as I go, but I save major edits like cutting out scenes or major changes to pacing until I've finished my first draft. It's sometimes easier to see what is truly extraneous and what works as foreshadowing or character building once you have the full picture in front of you. But I've known writers whose first draft is their final draft, just whittled away at as they wrote. If it works, it works!

 

[PudgeThePug]

As you say, everyone has their own way of doing it, so if you're writing regularly and enjoying the process: stick to it!

The best piece of advice I have is to just write as regularly as you're able to without burning out. Some days that might mean doing more editing or planning, if you like to outline your novel ahead of time, but keep it fresh and keep at it! If you are someone who likes a routine, having a scheduled writing time can be very useful.

As for editing, I will fiddle with wording and grammar as I go, but I save major edits like cutting out scenes or major changes to pacing until I've finished my first draft. It's sometimes easier to see what is truly extraneous and what works as foreshadowing or character building once you have the full picture in front of you. But I've known writers whose first draft is their final draft, just whittled away at as they wrote. If it works, it works!

Thanks for the reply. I'm really just not sure what I should do other than write and edit. I'm kind of shooting from the hip and fixing where I've gone wrong in the past. Either no editing and going back to realize that my whole book reads like my third grade essays or I get caught in an edit loop and get nothing done. I'm making rules for how much I edit now and am hoping that it works. I really appreciate the tips though. I really do.

 

[pmmg]

See Goldie's Words of Wisdom for pointers (among other Goldie links)

My best advice for someone hoping to improve is "review the crap out of other people stuff".