If we wait until the book is perfect, it may never get published :) I so relate to this feeling of wanting to keep editing and editing and editing. We're in this together!
I love reading your feed on Substack. My dad ( a writer and Professor of English Literature) used to say "Great Writing is Rewriting" He also said all printers are drunks. Maybe because after printing he would find an error or two.
It's funny, what you talk about is apparently what Saul Bellow always wanted to do, too. His editor said Bellow would get the galley of the manuscript and couldn't help himself. "Saul would take a perfect sentence, the bastard, and improve it."
Here's to you making perfect improvements if you end up seeing fit to. https://taproad.co
Ha! My novel is set in 2016 and ends with Trump winning the presidency. It never occurred to me when writing it that he would do that again, and now the whole tone of the story is skewed. Arg! I've been sending it out for a few months already. Now I don't know whether to revise the whole thing or just leave it as it is with an extra note in the covering letter. Advice very welcome!
I'm not yet at your stage (don't even have an agent yet), but OMG I'm soooo done with my novel! I'm "officially" on draft 6 (but that makes it sound like each draft is much more tidy and distinct than they really are). I'm so tired of reading it and it's really hard to overcome the feeling that it's boring and I need to rewrite the whole thing. My beta readers didn't think it was, and that's the only thing keeping me going at the moment...
Gah, I had this exact problem. I was rewriting up until the last second. My editor literally rejected half my "copyedits" on my third pass because it just wasn't the time or place to be making the kind of changes I was suggesting. It was my first book and just didn't know any better. Oh, I did my audiobook too, and I found a bunch of changes then, too. It never ends!
"The thing is, I want to rewrite it because I’ve read it seven times. This is both a good and bad thing. It means I’ve had that many times to read a sentence, a paragraph, a section, and think about whether it makes sense, it could have been said better, it needs to be there. It also means I’ve had that many times to get sick of it. Familiarity breeds contempt, right? I want to rewrite things because I’m tired of looking at them."
For my upcoming essay collection, I veer from "Whoever wrote this is really onto something" to "What a bunch of self-serving preachy detritus." Make it stop!!!!
This comes at an apropos time. Wrote my first novel and just got the first typeset proof back! Seeing it in that form, I am making tiny edits to words here and there. But other than that no major changes, as I had at least four draft manuscripts!
It's funny, what you talk about is apparently what Saul Bellow always wanted to do, too. His editor said Bellow would get the galley of the manuscript and couldn't help himself. "Saul would take a perfect sentence, the bastard, and improve it."
Here's to you making perfect improvements if you end up seeing fit to.
This really resonated with me. I recently finished writing my manuscript and there's so much here I've never been able to put into words. I'm looking forward to reading your book!
What's a typical advance? That's gettin a little ahead of yourself : )
If we wait until the book is perfect, it may never get published :) I so relate to this feeling of wanting to keep editing and editing and editing. We're in this together!
I love reading your feed on Substack. My dad ( a writer and Professor of English Literature) used to say "Great Writing is Rewriting" He also said all printers are drunks. Maybe because after printing he would find an error or two.
Congrats, Kate!
It's funny, what you talk about is apparently what Saul Bellow always wanted to do, too. His editor said Bellow would get the galley of the manuscript and couldn't help himself. "Saul would take a perfect sentence, the bastard, and improve it."
Here's to you making perfect improvements if you end up seeing fit to. https://taproad.co
Ha! My novel is set in 2016 and ends with Trump winning the presidency. It never occurred to me when writing it that he would do that again, and now the whole tone of the story is skewed. Arg! I've been sending it out for a few months already. Now I don't know whether to revise the whole thing or just leave it as it is with an extra note in the covering letter. Advice very welcome!
I'm not yet at your stage (don't even have an agent yet), but OMG I'm soooo done with my novel! I'm "officially" on draft 6 (but that makes it sound like each draft is much more tidy and distinct than they really are). I'm so tired of reading it and it's really hard to overcome the feeling that it's boring and I need to rewrite the whole thing. My beta readers didn't think it was, and that's the only thing keeping me going at the moment...
Glad to hear I'm not alone in wanting to rewrite everything! This was a great and comforting post, thanks for sharing.
Gah, I had this exact problem. I was rewriting up until the last second. My editor literally rejected half my "copyedits" on my third pass because it just wasn't the time or place to be making the kind of changes I was suggesting. It was my first book and just didn't know any better. Oh, I did my audiobook too, and I found a bunch of changes then, too. It never ends!
Looking forward to reading your book!
OMG I am right there with you:
"The thing is, I want to rewrite it because I’ve read it seven times. This is both a good and bad thing. It means I’ve had that many times to read a sentence, a paragraph, a section, and think about whether it makes sense, it could have been said better, it needs to be there. It also means I’ve had that many times to get sick of it. Familiarity breeds contempt, right? I want to rewrite things because I’m tired of looking at them."
For my upcoming essay collection, I veer from "Whoever wrote this is really onto something" to "What a bunch of self-serving preachy detritus." Make it stop!!!!
This comes at an apropos time. Wrote my first novel and just got the first typeset proof back! Seeing it in that form, I am making tiny edits to words here and there. But other than that no major changes, as I had at least four draft manuscripts!
Congrats, Kate!
It's funny, what you talk about is apparently what Saul Bellow always wanted to do, too. His editor said Bellow would get the galley of the manuscript and couldn't help himself. "Saul would take a perfect sentence, the bastard, and improve it."
Here's to you making perfect improvements if you end up seeing fit to.
This was helpful thanks
This really resonated with me. I recently finished writing my manuscript and there's so much here I've never been able to put into words. I'm looking forward to reading your book!