As I said in my last post, you should always leave time between finishing the first draft of your writing and the first round of edits. Trouble is, how long should that be?
I’ve seen a variety of suggestions. For novels it seems to be a couple of months, while short stories, non-fiction and poetry have even vaguer timelines. It’s a question I’ve only been able to answer for myself recently. With this advice, hopefully it will take you less time.
Do You Have a Deadline?
This is the most important factor to consider. If you’re writing on commission, that is, an article or story for a publication, they’ll give you a deadline and you’ll have to stick to it. Same with competitions.
Keep this is mind when you’re planning your writing project. Build in enough time for a first draft, a cool-off period, and a couple of rounds of edits. For my blog, I draft on Mondays, wait until Thursday to edit, then upload to the world on Fridays. Self-imposed deadlines are just as important as external ones.
However, if you’re writing without knowing when it will find a home, you have a bit more freedom.
How Attached Are You?
How much do you love what you’ve written? How much do you want to shred it – even if it’s on your laptop?
Both mindsets can cause their own problems. Too much love and you’ll fail to see when your writing doesn’t work. Pits of Hell hatred, meanwhile, will make you want to scrap the whole thing and start over. This very, very rarely needs to happen; refer to my last post.
The mindset you want to bring to your first round of edits is of a reader who’s picked up your story for the first time. Curious, hoping for a good read, prepared for whatever you might find. This will allow you to appreciate the odd good line and joke, while noting the awkward phrasing and poor plotting you’re more than capable of improving.
Save the frustration for the final edit.
How Good is Your Memory?
You need to forget your story.
It might feel like you can’t at first. It’s too embedded in your mind. Once you close the notebook or Word document, however, it will slowly begin to fade.
How long that takes depends on your personal memory, and how busy your life is. In the tangle of work, school, family and friends, you might find you don’t think often about your draft at all. This is especially true if you work on multiple projects.
When you come back to your work, it won’t be exactly as a new reader. You’ll recognise sentences you wrote months earlier, feel the tingle of familiarity as you revisit your world. However, you’ll have forgotten enough to feel excited at being reunited, and ready to tackle the many, many changes that need to be made.
How Much Time?
So, if you need to forget your story, and how you felt about it, how long should you leave between drafting and editing?
For novels, I’d say at least a month. This will give enough time for the ending to fade from your mind. The beginning will feel extra fresh when you re-read, and by the time you get to the ending, that’ll feel fresh too.
For short stories it’s tricky. If I’ve got no deadline, I’ll also leave them a few weeks to a month while I work on other projects. Sometimes longer, if I get too busy. When it comes to short stories on a tight turnaround, however, I’d recommend two weeks.
I’m no poet, but I’d go for a similar cool-off period to an article; no more than a week. These tend to be pithier and sharper, with smaller word counts to tangle with. You’re also more likely to have pressurising deadlines for non-fiction.
If you’re feeling antsy during the cool-off period, like you’re wasting time waiting for your draft to marinate, why not start another project? You’ll feel productive and you can let it marinate while you edit your previous work. This can make for a great writing pattern.
Enough about me; how much time do you leave between drafting and editing? Let me know in the comments!
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