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.
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...
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.
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!
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.
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.
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
tbh the whole purpose of stuff like NaNoWriMo is to forcibly get people like you unstuck XD
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
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!
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
It's common.Writing is dangerous.It can drive you nuts,this mad obsession to create! You ain't alone in this hell.No matter how good it is,it's never good enough! I used to set shit on fire back in the Eighties because I couldn't stand my own limits!...No one can teach you how to write,you have to suffer the pangs of hell in order to learn....And the best way of course is to read books!
Yep, this is a habit of mine with my novel "Damsel in the Red Dress" pretty often. More so that I've JUST started writing but already feel that it's garbage than wanting to rewrite in the middle, but I often have to tell myself to just finish the first draft even if it's kind of mid, and come back to edit it later. often times I find it's not as garbage as I thought when I come back to it with a fresh mind, though sometimes entire portions DO have to be overhauled.
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Totally. It’s the reason why my and my friend’s comic is still not even close to be out, even though we came up with it about a year ago (in my friend’s case, actually longer lol). Because I sat down and wrote the script for like 13 chapters straight, then drew the first 11 pages, then looked at it again, went “nope” and now I’m starting it all over from scratch.