Along my writing journey, I\u2019ve noticed that once I enter the editing phase of my project, I always have certain expectations that are completely unrealistic. Sometimes it dawns on me that I can\u2019t accomplish these lofty goals, but other times my CPs are kind enough to alert me to my delusion. And I\u2019m always thankful for recognizing that editing, just like writing, is a journey. There\u2019s a lot to discover and explore. Even the best laid plans don\u2019t always pan out. With that said, I thought I\u2019d dispel some of my own writing myths to help other writers:<\/p>\n
Myth: Maintain Plan<\/i><\/p>\n
Truth<\/b>: Sometimes once you\u2019re through writing a draft of your novel, you realize that plot, character development, mysteries, etc don\u2019t add up the way you expected. It\u2019s okay to change them.<\/p>\n
Myth: Nothing New<\/i><\/p>\n
Truth<\/b>: If you feel like adding new scenes, characters or subplots would only clutter your story draft, refer back to maintaining the plan and remember that sometimes change is good.<\/p>\n
Myth: Must Be Perfect<\/i><\/p>\n
Truth<\/b>: Editing is a process. A journey. It requires small steps and checkpoints. You\u2019ll probably edit one project a few times straight through before feeling like its ready for other eyes. And even after that, you\u2019ll probably edit more. You don\u2019t have create the perfect story while editing, you only need to improve it.<\/p>\n
Myth: Finish Fast<\/i><\/p>\n
Truth<\/b>: Even though betas and CPs might be eager to read your new novel, don\u2019t rush through editing just so you can get it to them. Only say you\u2019re finished when you truly feel you\u2019ve done your best.<\/p>\n
Myth: Finish First<\/i><\/p>\n
Truth<\/b>: This is a personal issue, but I\u2019m sure others feel the same. It doesn\u2019t make you a better author if you try to beat other writers through a new draft, or beta ready product. Work at the pace you\u2019re comfortable with, regardless of what others are doing.<\/p>\n
Do I still feel these myths creeping up on me as I edit? Sure. The irrational pressures always seem to sneak their way into my brain, but at least now I am aware they should not and will not work. What are some editing myths you\u2019ve experienced?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Along my writing journey, I\u2019ve noticed that once I enter the editing phase of my project, I always have certain expectations that are completely unrealistic. Sometimes it dawns on me that I can\u2019t accomplish these lofty goals, but other times my CPs are kind enough to alert me to my delusion. And I\u2019m always thankful […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[41,60,30,35,47,53,62,42,73,56,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-characters","category-description","category-dialogue","category-discovery","category-editing","category-outline","category-planning","category-plot","category-reading","category-voice","category-writing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2YHlB-cI","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=788"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1137,"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788\/revisions\/1137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rachelhorwitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}