WRITERS: does it make sense to start a re-write before the first draft is over?

Question

Have you done this and how did it work out?

Answer 1

NO. From experience, I recommend not re-writing or revising until your entire piece is finished. If you keep going back and revising, you will spend all your time focusing on the sections already written and never finish.

Write your whole essay, novel, story, poem, etc. and then go back and re-write or revise.

Answer 2

It depends.

I'm halfway through my first draft, and I have done three small re-writes so far. There were two chapters that I really didn't care for, so I went back through and basically cut them to pieces before re-writing them to better suit the plot.

I've also just finished a brutal re-write of my prologue, which was originally ten whole pages of crap, and is now getting better.

So I think, as long as you don't get frustrated and throw the whole thing out, it's good to do som re-writing. I don't know if I would completely start over, but sometimes you need to to stop and think, "Should I work on that some more, or just write it again?"

Answer 3

Personally, though I write screenplays rather than novels, I think it's much better to finish that first draft. If you think of a rewrite idea for an earlier section, take a moment and sketch it out, or write some notes in the margin of your manuscript, if you maintain a printed copy as I do. You've got to get to the end to make sure that in all your rewriting you're not going to run into a bigger problem, or even a showstopper, at the very end. You may end up rewriting the beginning three or four times, and just when you think you like it, you may get to the end and realize that you've got a plot hole the size of J. Lo's behind and that to fix it you've got to tear up all that stuff you spent all that time on. Get to the end first, fix the big things, then clean it up.

All writers are different though, so a different process may work for you. I just know a lot of writers, myself included, who could spend their lives restarting half-finished work without ever writing "The End."

Answer 4

I think it depends on what you are writing. I write a freelance newspaper column that appears weekly. I have found that I don't even do a first draft anymore. I have notes which I refer to and write from those. Then I edit as I write, go back and check again, and reread once more before submitting it. The editors always do their thing anyhow.

Now, as far as the book I'm writing goes, I sometimes do a first draft and then edit. Then edit some more. Sometimes I'll be on a 3rd or 4th draft, still editing.

Such is a writer's life!!

Answer 5

Haha. Yeah, I've done this before. And it always works. With writing, you just go with it however you feel is best. I'll start my 1st draft, begin my rewrite before the 1st draft is over and go a little bit further in my rewrite then I did in the 1st draft, then i'll even rewrite the rewrite before finishing the story. Writing is a journey to be taken however the writer best sees fit.

Answer 6

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!READ MY STORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh trust me, I have done this a million times and I will never do it again. I started a story and thought it was kind of boring (just after the first paragraph) and I started erasing and re-writing and erasing and re-writing. I got so frustrated that I totally quit. It's like you wanted to change a sentence one of your character says but it ruins the rest of the story. I will never do it agdoesn't make sense.ain. Yes it does make sense, if you want to chang something someone says or does but you will probably end up ruining your story.

Answer 7

If you're re-reading and you notice that either it's crap, or you're bored reading your own story, then yes, it's time to re-write. On the other hand, if you're working at all, then that's good. Just keep working in one way or another, that's the important thing.

Answer 8

Yes-if you think you have a better idea, go with that. First drafts are just that, not the final product.

Answer 9

If the story is so lost or muddled that you can not get to the end without revising then go ahead. But be careful of the trap of always revising and never finishing.

Answer 10

Tolkien wrote Lord of the Rings in waves of progression. When he hit a place and had problems he would start over completely.... not saving anything for "cut and paste"