Furry Writers' Guild Forum

Editor's block

General Writing Discussion
#1

Most if not all of us have had to deal with writer’s block from time to time. And unless you’re a certified genius who can get it right on the first take, you’ve had to edit your stories. I’m no exception; in most cases I have to go over my stories multiple times to fix up and improve things. Sometimes when I try to edit my brain isn’t working in the right way and I have to leave it and come back later, or maybe spend more time working something over in my head before I know how to fix it. Usually it doesn’t take long before I’m back in there getting things fixed up.

This doesn’t seem to be working well on a story I completed and submitted and am now trying to get fixed up in accordance with the feedback I’ve received. There are several issues in it I need to address, but every time I open the file with the intent to make edits, I soon feel like I’m not in the right mind to work on this right now, it seems like more than I can handle right now, I start to get a headache, and I end up closing the file without having done anything. Normally this might happen once or twice and the next time I’m in a better frame of mind and I get something accomplished, but on this particular story I’m now up to five or six times. I’m starting to feel really stuck, like I don’t know when it’s going to clear up or how to break through so I can make some real progress making edits to this story.

You could say I’ve got a full-blown case of editor’s block.

Is this something others among you have experienced? Do you have any suggestions for how to get unstuck and make some forward progress?

#2

I’m struggling with this right now. I completed a piece in my series back in July, and I’m still unable to post it. The problem is it’s competently executed in a technical manner, but it’s a harsh BDSM story in which everything sort of moves like clockwork, and all my readers agree it’s missing a spark but none of them can articulate the core failing, least of all me.

My regular editing strategy is to leave it for a week or so, so the precise details fade from my memory, and then just come back and start at page 1 and nitpick everything that bothers me anew. I find getting a good, clean, effective start is the most important because as stories roll along they pick up speed; bumps that would jar the reader out of the story forever on page 2 are just bone-rattling on page 25, and the smaller divots almost disappear if the reader has enough momentum early.

#3

Maybe you are feeling overwhelmed, or aren’t sure where to start. You could try is to select a specific kind of problem you will address, like “typos and punctuation”, “adding in description”, “adding characterization” or “rewriting sentences”. When you run out of instances of the specific thing you are targeting, either take a break or stop. When you come back, select a new target. This will help you make progress without feeling as though you have to fix everything in one sitting, or feel like you are barely past page five after hours of work.

You might try getting away from the computer, try it the old fashioned way with pen and paper.

Print the story out, get some clean sheets of paper, and go find a quiet place to sit and write. For simple word changes or removals, mark on the printed sheet. For sentence re-writes or adding in content/scenes, use the blank paper (or use the blank back of the printed copy). You can also make more detailed notes/ideas. When done, go to the computer and put this stuff in.

Also, if the editing involves adding details, changing scenes or the structure of the story, then think about this stuff away from the computer. Think about this while driving, while taking a shower, or while sitting in a quiet room. Have a specific idea of what to add to the document, and when you have a solid idea, then go open the document and put that in first.

The idea is that when you open up the document, you already have specific things in mind to do, so you don’t just sit there and stare at it. Hopefully by the time you’ve put the changes you’ve already thought of in, you’ll be past that initial headachey mood drop, and have some momentum built up.

#4

Oh, I get this! I would a million times rather write new stuff than edit what I’ve already got. I’ve also developed a slight phobia of reading feedback from editors or beta readers.

#5

With most of the authors I’ve worked with, this seemed to be their preferred self-editing strategy. A lot of them will work on something else in the meantime, while others will simply ignore writing all together until the story is out of their heads.

#6

This is another case where ADD + Perfectionism = A Whole Lot of Headache and Heartache.

Unfortunately I get bored with my stories pretty easily. I’m even struggling to revisit the one I’m hoping to use for Furry Future even though it’s been nearly a year since I last so much as looked at it. By the time I get to the editing process, I either obsess over every little detail and risk working the piece to death, or I struggle to find the motivation to have anything to do with it x.x There is no happy medium. I’m currently trying to learn when to let a piece go, which is something I’ve struggled with since high school. Hopefully, somewhere along the way, I can learn how to find the motivation to work on a story when I don’t want anything to do with it.

#7

Here’s my approach to “letting things go”…

Isaac Asimov began writing professionally at roughly the age of eighteen, and both he and many well-known critics felt that some of his best work was done by age twenty-five. His lived until about age seventy, writing to the very end. He noted in his autobiography (his very last book) that just a few weeks previously he’d compiled yet another anthology of his earliest stuff, and had taken the opportunity (as always, whenever it was reprinted) to touch it up and re-edit it so that each time it was subtly different. No work is ever truly “finished”, he explained. As his skills grew, he kept re-applying what he’d learned to older works whenever he got the chance.

In an even more extreme example, a highly decorated German veteran of the First World War named Ernst Junger dashed out a hastily-typed and unedited copy of his combat diary, then self-published it. This sold so well that he revised it into a full-length professionally packaged book called “Storm of Steel”, which became hugely popular in Wiemar Germany. He then rewrote it again and again many times (amid many other projects), each revision substantially different than the previous (mostly via ever-changing editorializing-- the basic facts remained the same) to suit the changing times. For example, the version released in the 1930’s as the Nazi’s gained power was the most violent and explicit and pro-German. Partly I suspect due to its chameleon-like ever-changing nature, the book has been praised by figures as starkly divergent as Joseph Goebbels (Nazi director of propaganda) and prominent French Leftist Andre Gide. (For the record, I liked it too.)

What’s really remarkable here is that Junger lived to be a hundred and two years old. While I can’t document this today, I recall reading at the time of his death-- the man’s mind was still very sharp-- that he’d passed away in the process of rewriting “Storm of Steel” yet again, over seventy years after its original publication.

Authoring is like parenting. The work is never really done, and you don’t have to put it aside “forever”. It can grow with you over the years-- just consider each published version to be like a growth-mark on the wall.

#8

Some good ideas here, though there are a few I’ve already done. I had one stretch of over a week between attempts to edit, and a couple in the 3-5 day range, and still felt overwhelmed when I tried to pull it up for editing. As for wanting to write something new instead, I am somewhat blocked as well at the moment on the new stuff I’m working on (in part because I know I really need to get something going on editing this story). The notion of obsessing over every detail is certainly a factor here but when it’s something another editor pointed out it’s often a lot less clear how best to fix it than something I determined on my own needed to be fixed.

This is probably the most useful suggestion in my situation. Even though I’ve tried it once already without success, it’s a good approach I’ll be trying again with until I get something done and start to feel like I’m making progress.

#9

Just today I had someone ask me for some samples of my work on FA and SF. While I am picking them out, I am literally noting there’s a spelling inconsistency in one title, I don’t like the word choice in the opening paragraph of a second, and I cut a third entirely because it has a wooden dialogue section early on that I’m suddenly itching to re-write. I was happily oblivious to my old stuff needing yet another go-around in the Editron5000[sup]tm[/sup], but I’m unsure I would have noticed these flaws even a year ago.

#10

I know how you feel. A couple of people from RF said they were going through my writings on FA. I went back to them, just to get a glimmer at what they were viewing and for a bit of nostalgia. By the time I pulled myself away, I had to fight the twitch to go back and fix all the little things that I had missed somehow through lack of experience.

#11

Since this particular client had no problem sharing this on Twitter, I’ll share it here:

Client: This story might be salvagable for reasons. Please read it and let me know.
Me Reading: Muzzlebook
Me: NOPE

Especially when you’re just getting started as a writer/editor, you will make mistakes that you don’t even know are mistakes until much later down the road. I look at things I edited three years ago and I see a plethera of errors that I missed. You can take it as being disheartening that you made those errors, or you can look at your work now and marvel at how far you’ve grown.

Which is why its good, if you’re really struggling with something to leave it, not just for a few days, but for a few weeks or more (factoring in any hard deadlines, of course). Even in just those few weeks, there’s a good chance that you’ve learned something new that you can go back and apply to your writing. Once you get that going, other changes just flow right into it.

#12

[/quote]
By the time I pulled myself away, I had to fight the twitch to go back and fix all the little things that I had missed somehow through lack of experience.
[/quote]

So, why did you fight it instead of doing it? This was a chance to learn and grow, in my book at least.

#13

Sometimes it’s a better use of time to take that knowledge forward and write something new.

#14

That quote is hilarious XD

I’ve noticed that it works flip-side as well. Sometimes you can go back to something that you thought was hopeless, but with a new set of eyes see just how good it could be with just a bit of elbow grease if you can just sit down and finish it. That can be just as motivational.

#15

The time and effort to go in and make all of these alterations on 3-plus-year-old stories isn’t worth the trouble. In some cases it’s in the title which means I’d basically have to repost it. Especially for things that seem more subjective than objective (my edits often involve alternating between 2 words, switching back and forth each edit) I’d rather work on my unpublished stuff.

#16

In my case I don’t have the luxury of putting it off for a few more weeks. Part of the reason I started this thread is that I have a deadline looming and I can’t afford to be stuck for much longer, time-wise.

Every now and then I look at my earlier works and am tempted to edit and revise them. I see things that don’t look very well done and want to get in there and improve them. But then I realize it’s what I did in the past, and was representative of my ability as a writer at the time, and it’s probably best to just let it stand as is. I might decide otherwise if I later decide to go the route of CreateSpace or similar with some of those works (an idea I’ve toyed with but never seriously pursued) but short of that I am ready to declare them final (at least the ones more than a couple of years old).

#17

I do not mean to sound harsh, but if you’re facing that much of a time crunch, then I think it’s simply a desperation/procrastination issue. Buckle down at the writing surface and start altering to fit your current tastes, and don’t feel guilty tearing things up. Don’t stop. Start at the beginning and methodically tear through the whole piece changing every bit you dislike, even if it’s a passing dislike. When you are done, turn around and read it backwards to find the odd errors that your eye passed over the first time. When you’re back at the top, tear down through it again. When your next pass hits nothing that really irks you, send to your editor/beta reader/supervisor/FA page. You did it.

Fuel this process with coffee/alcohol/tears of frustration as is appropriate to your desires at the time. I usually start with #1 and move on to #2 and/or #3 as the deadline closes.

#18

Is it procrastination? Someone once suggested that a good way to overcome procrastination is to work on it for five minutes, then decide whether to keep going or stop, and quite often after five minutes, one will often decide to continue working on it. If the problem is getting started, that’s a good strategy. In my case, more than once I got started in on it feeling like I was primed and ready to get some editing done, often with some idea what I was going to tackle, and within a few minutes all I felt was confused, overwhelmed, unable to deal with it right now.

In an effort to get past that over the weekend I spent several hours trying to work on this story. A lot of different things went through my mind at various times. ‘How come none of my beta readers found any of this stuff?’ ‘Why isn’t this good enough?’ ‘I’m afraid anything I change won’t fix the problem, or won’t be good enough, or will make it worse, or create new problems,’ ‘I don’t want to be the the guy who is too difficult to work with.’ ‘I also don’t want to be the guy who won’t fix problems.’ I made some progress, but surprising little for as much time as I spent.

Earlier this evening I hit on an approach that seems to be working much better, and that is to try not to think about the editor comments I’m supposed to be addressing. Just go through the story like it’s a regular editing pass, and fix, change, improve what I can, what needs it. Some of those editor comments come up in my mind when I’m at a place where I can fix them, but I’m able to. I think I got more done in an hour this way than I did in several hours over the weekend. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep going in this manner all the way to the end. At some point I’ll have to go back and evaluate my progress against those editor comments, but at the moment I’m afraid if I even look at them I’ll end up blocked and overwhelmed.