Warning: a guy in my writers group said never edit until you finish the whole draft, and my 40 page draft is now a mess I can't fix | Crappy First Drafts - Guest Forum
Warning: a guy in my writers group said never edit until you finish the whole draft, and my 40 page draft is now a mess I can't fix
I listened to him for 3 months and just kept piling on scenes, and now the plot has two endings and a character who vanishes on page 12. Has anyone else tried the no-edit rule and actually made it work, or do you break it like I should have?
Totally feel you on this (and man, two endings is rough). I tried that same rule last year and ended up with a draft where my main character's sister got pregnant, had the baby, and then the baby just never came up again. By page 60 I had a road trip, a funeral, and a subplot about a missing dog that went nowhere (still mad about the dog). Now I edit as I go, or at least fix big stuff every few chapters, because a 40 page mess is way easier to untangle than a 200 page one.