In this video, we talk about the common advice to put your manuscript aside when you’re finished with your current draft before beginning to revise.
We discuss my preference, how I’ve worked on my manuscripts in the past, and considerations when determining the best approach for you.
Good luck with it!
Hello, Jane Cleland here.
Is it necessary to put a manuscript aside, to let your ideas continue to germinate, get some distance from it, and then come back to it with fresh eyes? And if so, how long is ideal? Stephen King says it is necessary, and he says 90 days. I think that’s a good idea. I’ve never had the luxury. I’m always on a deadline, either self-imposed because I’m always in a hurry or by contract.
What I do is I often will reread previous work, revising as I go to get my head back in the game. Now, when I was writing in 10 minute increments, I wrote a whole book that way. It was very hard, but I was overwhelmed with obligations. I had no time, so I had to. What I discovered was I could reread a paragraph, revising as I went, get my head back into it, write another paragraph…
And just to finish the thought of my 10 minute book writing, you know what? You do that three times a day—you’ve written a page. You do that every day for a year, you’ve written a book. Not bad, right?
So I am familiar with that process. And what I do typically is I’ll go back a chapter, sometimes two. I change things all the time. I discover that I need a more complex or nuanced motive for someone to do something. And so I’ll go back to page four and weave it in. And then when it comes up on page 300, it feels more organic. It’s more natural.
That’s kind of putting it on the shelf because when I go back to find a proper place to add in this new information, I’m really looking at it with fresh eyes and that’s very useful. I wish I had that time—I don’t. But when I finish the manuscript, I go back to where I left off with a careful revision, and then I reread and revise that entire last chunk, and then I go back to the beginning and read it all.
And I do in fact make many more changes in the last chunk than in the first, because the first part’s been read and revised really many times, whereas the last part probably has not been.
Stephen King says 90 days. I hope it works for you. Good luck with it!
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