You ever make a first draft and already want to do a heavy rewrite when you've barely started?

[JoshRaed]

Like I'm honestly annoying myself with the constant hammering in of the same 5 concepts, like a fly on the wall would be able to digest my story at the state it's in. I had to make the active choice not to go back and edit, because that's a rule of nanowrimo and I'm already not following it well enough by writing parts of it out of order.

Do you see this happen to you when you write?

[BelleBriar]

I used to be so bad at fixating on editing it, but then I realized I could never finish anything because I kept reworking and reworking. The amount of editing drove me to lose interest and feel like it was never going to be good enough.

Now, I'm only editing it so it flows and is legible. Then once I complete the novel, I will go back and make heavy edits. Although, I do still get sucked in the never-ending cycle of trying to rework a sentence or two after I already posted it

[JoshRaed]

I was too when I was a teen. Months on a prologue for one story at 13, then years on a first draft for another one before finally getting it fully one in a few months by simply committing to it and planning it out properly.

[BLTX]

All. The. Time.

[kalmia]

Yep, back with my very first draft I would get like 5-10 pages in and then have another idea and want to rewrite the whole thing lol. I was the same as you where I basically didn’t let myself edit or really even hit the backspace until I had my entire first draft done. Perfectionism at its finest lol

[KevinReijnders]

Honestly, that's what 1st drafts are for

[NetherSlayer]

I had this issue for the start of my novel for the longest time. At some point, I realized I had to stop and tried writing past where I started the infinite editing cycle. I ended up stopping writing shortly after that, until this summer where I decided instead of repeating that, I'd jump into the middle of my overall story and go from there. Been able to keep it going with weekly uploads ever since.

[2DLenzy]

Not a writer, drawer. But I understand that little imposter inside LOVES to criticize the work you're trying to put out. Just stiffle that b with "I can write a better story-later." Never wrong to start with bad drafts, or publish bad stories, or maybe only you think it's bad.
I thought my art started as crap, but a lot of readers liked it, or they're saying that to make me feel better, eh, who knows? True, there's a lot to be improved on that old style(line color/weight, colors in general, shading, bgs). Wanted to redo the first like 20 pages so badly, but it'll be a waste of my time and effort. Rather let them see me improve, or at least try to. When it's all said and finished, then I may actually attempt redrawing pages, or at least a few. Can't set edits or to-be-edits in stone, or you may never finish.

Now, I don't know how this all translates to writing, unfortunately. It's more difficult to notice improvements without readers seeing 'the crappy stuff' to compare it to.
But if readers can follow what's going on and not have to ask detailed questions (though that may be unavoidable, everyone's a critic/nerd) then you may be improving.
Nobody's work is perfect, and never will be.
But take that with a grain of salt...

[llobucervallince]

honestly, I jumped back and fortward in my last script, writting the specific points I like of the story and building bridges bewteen them

[ArtGremlin]

Ok, so I’m actually a comic maker- but, I did start mine over very close to the beginning WORTH IT %100

[morganicfoods]

I had to make the active choice not to go back and edit, because that's a rule of nanowrimo

Yeah now there's no way I'm participating in NaNaWriMo. I'm your local editing fiend. No way I can write without immediately editing or redoing half of what I wrote lol
It's why my comic scripts can take many months. I get stuck on the same three scenes or something. I'm not even that much of a perfectionist otherwise, I just get feeling guilty if I feel I'm not doing my story ideas justice.

[willmarstudios]

I have this so often!

I'll start writing, take a break (a day or something) and then immediately in that time think of something else different to change completely or something that could improve the chapter. I've tried fast writing where I just WRITE and don't pause to edit, but oh my god its hard sometimes lol

Especially when the spelling/grammar indicators pop up on the screen HAHAHA!

[375]

10000% my problem! I've started to just edit it so it makes sense and continues on lmao. Its the reason why I have so many stories ＞︿＜

[SameMoon]

This happened to me when I started my comic, I hit a brickwall because I refused to go through the work of starting over. If you feel like this, imagine your audience. Even if you're doing a challenge, I recommend starting over. It's better to write comfortably than dragging something you're not satisfied with around.

[ralyash]

10/10 can relate. The rewrite spirals can get so bad for me that I just give up on whatever I'm working on--but I'm not sure how healthy that really is XD. I also find that when I do go to rewrite it, things aren't as bad as I thought they were. It really depends on you, and what kind of writer you are, I think.

Generally:

If you are rewriting because you are always seeking a form of 'perfection,' it's probably best to take a moment to realize that it's just not going to happen and do your best to will yourself to move forward. It's hard, and it can feel really icky, but sometimes, word vomit is the best way to figure out why you are stuck in the first place. No matter what, blank pages are always more difficult than ones filled with ideas--even bad ones.

If you are writing and come to the realization that some plot point or concept or arc or something isn't working and you really need to go back and edit that stuff before you can write while still making sense to the readers (and not confusing yourself in the process XD), then yeah, I think its totally worth the rewrites. It doesn't really replace the ideas you'd have if you just kept writing, but I often find a great deal of inspiration in picking up unrealized potential in certain areas or finding plot points I've just forgotten cause I was too busy chasing rabbits down holes because shinies and ADD.

For NaNo, though, I'd really go in with the mindset that word vomit is the way forward. I like to re-read and stuff once I find direction, but I don't consider that editing as much as I consider it 'jotting ideas down first and fleshing them out when inspiration strikes.' That'll be different for everyone, though XD.

[TheLemmaLlama]

Depends; are you talking about a:

a) "this feels off/something feels missing, and I need to fix it", or
b) "I have this specific idea that just occurred to me and I think it would be cool to write that in even though it means I have to change up a few things to make it all fit together"

kind of urge to edit?

I guess the drawing analogy would be:

a) "the anatomy feels off; I should pull up a reference and fix it", vs
b) "this panel would look so much cooler if I went with [this totally different composition] ... but I'd have to do it all over again"

---

For me, a) doesn't happen much anymore these days since I've embraced messy/cringe drafts and even 'final' pieces, having internalized that I can always (always!) edit it later, even if I've declared it "finished" and uploaded it and shown it to the world. So ofc this goes triple for actual drafts that were always meant to be iterated upon further

b) on the other hand is a good thing. Embrace it

---

Yeah now there's no way I'm participating in NaNaWriMo. I'm your local editing fiend. No way I can write without immediately editing or redoing half of what I wrote lol It's why my comic scripts can take many months. I get stuck on the same three scenes or something. I'm not even that much of a perfectionist otherwise, I just get feeling guilty if I feel I'm not doing my story ideas justice.

tbh the whole purpose of stuff like NaNoWriMo is to forcibly get people like you unstuck XD

[morganicfoods]

tbh the whole purpose of stuff like NaNoWriMo is to forcibly get people like you unstuck XD

Noo what I'm trying to say is that seeing too much of my story written out badly would obliterate my inspiration for it into tiny little pieces. It's not like I don't know where to go or what to do, I just gotta figure out the best way to write it down.

[TheLemmaLlama]

Ah, I'm not saying you don't know where to go or what to do, but rather if seeing a bad draft of your story can kill your inspiration, that in itself is kind of a problem There are more ways to get stuck than not knowing what to write, like feeling like you can't temporarily set aside a poorly written scene and make progress elsewhere.

If you're cool with being stuck on the same 3 scenes for months, you do you, but many people do stuff like NaNoWriMo because the exact thing is happening with them and they want to change that

[morganicfoods]

feeling like you can't temporarily set aside a poorly written scene and make progress elsewhere.

I think I worded my previous post poorly haha
I'm happy to leave a scene I don't know how to write and write other stuff in the meantime. But the "tricky" scenes often get rewritten and edited over the course of a few months. I'm happy to obsess over the perfection of a couple select scenes while doing other stuff. That's why I'm so adamant about outlining and planning!

[TheLemmaLlama]

Ah whoops, sorry for misunderstanding you I think I was confused bc of the nanowrimo thing; if you can set aside a poorly written thing to be edited later, I wasn't sure how you'd have trouble writing the rest of the novel for nanowrimo and editing after the month is over and you have a draft of the entire story