Dean Wesley Smith has started a series of posts on “Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing.” This week he’s tackling what he considers the myth that “You MUST rewrite to make something good.”
Go read it and tell me what you think.
For myself, when I compare the reality of my process to Dean’s description of his, they’re not that different. He and I both clean up the manuscript for our 1st readers (though I definitely do more than run mine through spell-check), evaluate their thoughts, make a few changes, and send it out the door.
I think I’ll adopt Robert Heinlein’s business rules:
1) You must write.
2) You must finish what you write.
3) You must not rewrite unless to editorial demand.
4) You must mail your work to someone who can buy it.
5) You must keep the work in the mail until someone buys it.
Interesting stuff. I’ll be following this series.
Great series. I’m of the sort that rewrite to death – at times even before a story’s complete. This is great advice.
Oooh… Hmm… I wanted to think that re-writing wasn’t necessary, but my current WIP convinced me otherwise. Now you make me wonder how much time should really be spent re-writing before moving on to another project. o.o