John Steinbeck said, “Write freely and as rapidly as possible and throw the whole thing on paper. Never correct or rewrite until the whole thing is down.”
Write first, edit later. It’s strong advice that has been repeated by many well-known authors. And it’s always been hard for me to follow. In fact, the only time I really follow it is when I’m writing in-class essays and barely have time to think about the words that are coming from my pen.
I wondered if this frantic, final-exam mindset would work for me as I wrote The Book. So, this week, I tried it.
WRITE FIRST, EDIT LATER RULE #1: SET A TIME LIMIT
The first exercise I tried was designed to make the words come heavy and fast. I gave myself thirty minutes to write one chapter.
Well, that didn’t happen. I wrote about 800 words, which was only half of what I wanted to write. I finished it in an hour, still trying to only write and not edit.
Especially at this point in my book, where I’m still introducing characters and settings and deciding on the rules of the world, I need a little more time to think creatively as I write.
WRITE FIRST, EDIT LATER RULE #2: DON’T STOP TO THINK
This is the mindset I had as I was in my writing frenzy. It sort of turned into a stream-of-consciousness exercise, where whatever words I could think to move the story along were immediately on the page.
But grammar? I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand to see red and blue and green squiggles underneath my words. I had to fix those nit-picky things as I went.
The exercise was successful in other ways, though. I didn’t stop to come up with the best possible word I could use, or the best possible way I could phrase a sentence. For the purposes of this exercise, I set my perfectionism aside and told myself that I couldn’t edit a blank page. I had to get the words down.
WRITE FIRST, EDIT LATER RULE #3: EDIT LATER
I broke the flow a little just to check my progress, for this post. I read and lightly edited both the chapter I wrote in my time limit, and the previous chapter I had written over a two-day period.
Surprisingly, there wasn’t much difference between them. If anything, the rushed chapter was a little better. I was afraid that there would be a noticeable difference in my narrator’s voice, but that wasn’t the case. And it makes me feel great to have those words on the page, especially because I plan to do some rigorous editing anyway.
So, I may try setting a time limit again later in The Book, when there’s more action and less creative build-up to worry about. But as far as focusing on the writing, and saving the editing for later? I think that’s a mindset I’ll try to keep.
Until next time, check out one of my recent Creative posts here.
What’s your experience with writing first, editing later? Comment below.