"...don't keep reworking the same piece for too long. Your writing can only grow if you give yourself new things to write---much like a plant can't grow bigger if you keep it in the same pot."
Laura Biagi, 7 Questions For: Literary Agent Laura Biagi, Middle Grade Ninja, July 14, 2014
This really hit home for me, because I have one novel that I keep revising and still can't get to work. I'm a terribly persistent person and hate to give up on something.
But when I read the new project I'm working on, I can practically see what I've learned, because it feels so much more natural and alive. I often wonder if revisions can be overdone, drumming all the best parts from a piece of writing. I think they can.
Yes, I agree with this! I don't think spending years and years trying to perfect one thing helps writers grow as fast as they could. Often we have to build another book from the ground up in order to really start to see what we've learned.
ReplyDeleteI think this is true, Marcia. At the same time, it's so hard to put something away that was so important at one time.
DeleteWell the timing on reading this post could not have been better...I am just contemplating what to give my full attention too. A novel I have been working on forever and can't seem to gel or....the shiny new book. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI don't think I'll ever give up on my old manuscripts, but I think it's important to write something new. They are waiting for when I want to go back to them.
DeleteWell, I have one novel (the one I'm (re)writing at present that I don't seem able to give up on... There's something to be said for persistence...
ReplyDeleteSo true! But sometimes I feel like some of the parts I wrote two or three drafts ago are better than what I've written in the latest version.
DeleteI, too, have that one novel I pull out every once in a while. Loved it, still do, but no one else seems to. Oh, well...
ReplyDeleteMaybe one day you'll find someone that does! But what do do in the meantime? Maybe that's when a new project starts to grow. :)
DeleteThought-provoking post, Andrea. I'm up to draft 8 on my current MG novel, and I hope it's improving... But I see the wisdom in setting something aside when it's not working and starting something new from the ground up. I also see the wisdom in Michael's point about persistence. The most persistent writers seem to be the ones who get published.
ReplyDeleteSometimes it's hard to know what to do, Joanne. I will probably go back to that manuscript again eventually, because I do believe in it. But I feel that way about every novel I've written, LOL!
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