Editing while writing.

hcass

So whenever I try to write my novel I get into this horrible habit of editing and re-editing the only page I have written - I might get to say 4000 words before I go cuckoo and give up. I just cannot stop myself from going over every page a million times making it perfect before allowing myself to move on. I end up going round in circles and never getting past a certain point. It's driving me crazy.

I couldn't imagine handing over a first draft to anyone as I would be mortified they would think it ****e (unless I had edited it a million times over).

Does anyone else suffer from excessive/obsessive editing? How did you stop yourself? Did you stop yourself?

epesapart

Thomas Mann apparently wrote one page per day, making it perfect, so as to move on.
Maybe hide the saved page on a memory stick or somewhere you cannot attack ,claw , dissect it anymore, until you get a second,then do the same.
You might not be a thomas mann, and probably with good reason...the best books are waiting to be written.

you can also get a writing tool(free too i thinks) that does not allow you to delete....oh...not the stakes are rising aren't they?
Cannot delete!! but thats a little like not being allowed to use toilet paper..isnt toilet paper for mistakes also....

use it in your theme..if you are and maybe you are a perfectionist, use this in some inventive way maybe...Like a characters trait or some perfectionist symbology scattered here and there.

ultimately we are not all in the same boat....

you might also be sentenced to writing flash ficton for the rest of your life!.....imagine that

but most importantly...keep going

Das Kitty

How about I offer to kick your bum, hcass, if you go back before you get to the end? :pac:

Sounds like you need deadlines. Could you join a group or a class in which you have to produce so much each week?

You would have to show it to people though, but it's only scary the first week.

The thing about editing is, that it gets easier the more writing practice you have, so you need that practice of sitting down and churning out the words, good or bad.

It's also easier to edit after giving a piece some distance.

Nothing you write will ever ever be perfect. It gets easier once you realise that, trust me!

hcass

Damn you all with your solutions to my problems - was hoping to use them to put things off again... But everything you say makes sense, as usual. I keep meaning to join a creative writing class/group again as the first time round it increased my work rate ten fold - can't find one locally at the moment though.

epesapart

ah its all part of the play aint it....it damn well easy give advise in a real time situation but then ssitting down to write something static will always present a mountain of problems....
i honestly think that something shared would be such an experience to write..
like a boards group play or story...each member who wigns up writes 500 - 1000 words when its their turn...i think this would help in many ways...

.showing stuff you wrote to people can be difficult...very difficult..we all want compliments..
.people continuing a thread instead of a critique night be interest0challange
.birdman might have been up its own arse as a movie but its essense was quite clear
.promote more writing...i cant recall your name ,but in the previous reply the poster said the important thing ......write....this works cuz a.your productive....b.your writing...c..its both good and bad.....which are the essence of writing..