Support for Indie Authors discussion

Ok, so I have 19,560 words written in the novel I'm working on, but I haven't touched it in over a month (moving, work schedules changing, and other personal issues have gotten in the way), so the story is kind of just hanging there now. Would it be a bad idea to go back to the beginning of the story and reread it and maybe edit it/change the story? Or should I just skim the last couple paragraphs and keep going from there. I feel like there's probably quite a few continuity issues in the story already, but I know I could always fix those in the editing process. I have a few notes of where I was planning on taking the story, so technically i can keep going from where I left off...

Do you guys think it would be better to start over and revise what I've got or just hope the story will make sense when I finish it?

I have been in that boat many times with writing projects. I always re-read it from the beginning to make sure I get back into the flow of the story and the voice.

But everyone is different on how they approach this. Some plow right back into writing and worry about the flow during the editing process.

I feel like starting over would help me get back into the flow, like you said... but I didn't know if that would get me stuck in the stuff I've already written or not. This is the first novel I've written so I don't want to end up stuck with only half a book forever...

I'm in that boat. I began a story about a year and a half ago, picked it up a little last fall, and now have 50k words that I've only a passing familiarity with. What I ended up doing was writing out a quick synopsis of how I want the rest to go and went back to chapter one. Already, I'm in trouble. I've spent the last two days fussing over words, changing the tone, and deciding a different path for my poor characters. But despite the impromptu editing party, I feel a lot better about taking this route rather than writing what I thought was the rest, only to discover plot holes big enough to drive into later.

Yeah, I don't want to continue with where I think I was going with the book, only to go back later to edit it and find that I have to re-write half of it cause I left holes in the plot or changed a characters name/description half way through the book...

Yes that can happen. Especially if you find yourself editing your story instead of strictly reading it. I have a novel that I started some years ago that I plan on working on by the end of this year. I will have to read it from the beginning to get back into the groove of the story.

If you do read it again, be careful not to get into editing mode. Good luck finishing your book!

Thanks :)

I've done this multiple times with the same book after getting over 50k words written and writing myself into a dead end. I think a lot of the problem is writing, and then thinking "Wait, I can do the beginning better" and just completely redoing everything, which isn't a good mindset.

If you haven't read the story in a while that can be a good thing, since it gives you a chance to look at it with fresh eyes, and stuff you thought was bad when you were writing it might actually seem really good, and it can get you that momentum to keep going. But like other people have said, just do strictly reading and leave the editing for when you finish.

I'd read it from the start, if it needs editing, do it, then start where you left off. I put a project down for 5 months once, but since I worked on it for 9 years, in retrospect it didn't seem like much of a break.

My late, much-missed writing teacher would only let us "start over" a few times before insisting we moved on. Note the changes you might want to make to keep things consistent, but keep moving. What you rewrite right now might not work with what happens 100 pages from now. I learned it the hard way on my first book. Once I got to the end, I wound up throwing away and rewriting the first five chapters.

And (sigh) when I dig that thing out of the trunk this summer, I'm probably going to be rewriting them yet again....

I'm in the "restarting" boat, too, no matter which WIP I want to open up.

I haven't yet made writing a habit, so often months or years pass before I pick up the same thing again. I've seen it has both pros and cons, as others have said. I'm working on getting better at this, though.

Yeah I'm trying to get back into writing every day too

Really comes down to how familiar you are with the story. If you remember where you were going, you probably don't need to re-read it, though that can't hurt.

Since I have many works in progress and since they will often sit for months between times I work on them, I'm quite familiar with picking up a story and continuing on. Generally I find all I really need to do is read the last few paragraphs and it starts falling back into place. Yes, sometimes, there are huge errors in the story as a result of this, but I catch them in the rewrite and in the edits.

But, that's just me. Every author will do things differently. You could try just picking up where you left off and see how it goes. If you find you've forgotten a lot of important details or if you fear you're setting yourself up for a long and difficult rewrite, then you may want to start over now. You're the boss, in the end, and only you can decide the best way to move on.

It's going to be different for each person and from book to book. The story may be firmly in your head, or you may need to refresh yourself. You may know where you want it to go, or you may need to get your momentum up again. Do what feels right, you can always go back and deal with continuity issues later if you need to.

Samantha wrote: "Ok, so I have 19,560 words written in the novel I'm working on, but I haven't touched it in over a month (moving, work schedules changing, and other personal issues have gotten in the way), so the ..."

Everybody's writing style is different. I started working on a book I started several years ago while waiting for writer's block to subside on another story and listened to it on my kindle, both editing, rewriting and writing new stuff all at the same time. I'm weird like that. However you're comfortable with and however the story and characters dictate your movements is how you should go! 8-)

Always a good idea to reread from the beginning to get that 'feel' of it again and see what you love, or hate, about it and move forward from there. I am on a quick break from my novel for my spring seasonal job ( I am retired from my career) and just got a new young dog and the novel just gets pushed to the back most of the time. I will start from the beginning to get that momentum back then start writing away. Whatever works best for you, trust your instincts and follow them :)

What can be wrong about re-reading what you wrote? If anything, it should put you in the mood to continue.

I'd say be careful with edits. Before you change something, make sure you have a current copy of your text saved so if you think you messed up you can always go back to the original. Now, I'd suggest you don't try to get it all perfect as in a real edit or it may hinder your creativity.

I started having problems with my sequel because I had stopped in the middle of it to edit my first book. It was nearly impossible for me to remove my edit hat and put my writing hat back on. Every thing I wrote felt it needed changed and the book was going nowhere.

So my advice, if you see something wrong while you read, yes, fix it. If you want to change things to suit your mood for what's coming, yes fix it. If you see things that made sense back then but now realize it would not be possible, yes, fix it. If you see awkward sentences, nah, don't touch them. You'll fix that once your story is all done.

I'm sorry if that was said already. I should have read all the earlier posts (and usually I do) but I was a bit busy with a sick puppy this week and I neglected the forum.) :(

Unless you are sure you remembered everything you have written, it is better to read it over from the beginning rather than picking it up from where it was left off or just read the last few paragraphs. This way you can avoid leaving holes or making conflicting statements/descriptions that will require major editing later on.

As far as editing while re-reading, I don't think it is necessary. That can be done after the entire draft is finished. Of course, if you see something glaringly requiring correction, do it then rather than waiting till the end.

I finally got to sit down and start reading my story. Mainly I'm just skimming to get an idea of where I was going with this. Also, I'm adding comments to the document as I go to read when I go back for editing so I can fix some issues that I see along the way that aren't easily fixed now (things like spelling or grammatical errors I can fix easily as I go). Thank you everyone for their opinions. I'm hoping to get back on a roll with this story so I can finish it, edit it, edit it again (maybe a couple more times), and then polish it into a great story for everyone to read. :)