We’re back for a third month of The Insecure Writer’s Support Group! Getting into the groove!

If you’d like to chime in and let us know your answers to the questions or drop a link to your post if you’re participating, please do so in the comments! And check out the IWSG website for more answers!

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June 2 – For how long do you shelve your first draft, before reading it and re-drafting? Is this dependent on your writing experience and the number of stories/books under your belt?

Jayden:

It really depends on the time of year I’m writing and what the purpose of the project is. Sometimes I’m writing with the express purpose of publishing for the A to Z Blog Challenge or for a serial on my blog, and then my time constraints are based on that. I often write for NaNo (Camp and regular), and those novels will sit for a good month or two before I come back to them just because I’m overwhelmed and slightly burnt out.

I also hardly ever re-draft. It helps that I write mostly fluffy smut, so the storyline is…not the focus. I always have a storyline, maybe a mystery to be solved or a major character’s growth as a person. But it’s relatively easy to just write the story straight through. A good friend of mine once said that there is a market for people who write a book, give it one decent edit, and then self-publish it. I don’t think there’s a middle ground for me. I honestly think if I didn’t do that, I would just sit on the draft forever trying to make it absolutely perfect.

Richard:

I think it depends on a lot of factors.

1. In general, I think most writers (myself included) tend to shelve for longer as they develop more. Most people either don’t edit at all, or edit almost continuously when they first start. I know when I started out I would often write a chapter over the course of a day or two, then edit for a week or two and then lose interest without getting much further in the story.

2. For me, length of a piece is one of the biggest influences. Yesterday, I wrote a ~500 word piece for a scholarship application. I was able to reread and edit it within a couple hours. Granted, that didn’t really get (or need) significant redrafting/revising. Longer pieces (like novels) I often rest for a month or more before I dive back in.

3. Deadlines are also a big part. If I don’t have an incentive to put it out there, or set a deadline for myself, I’ll either never come back or just edit it to death.