Distance after first draft

[billyf027]

How long do you let the finished first draft sit before you begin to revise?

[Prawn]

I do a pass thru immediately while everything is fresh in my mind. That usually takes a few weeks. Then I leave it to sit and write something else, coming back to the first thing in about three months.

[Southern_girl29]

I used to start editing a few days after I had written it, but now, I'm beginning to see that I really should let it sit for a while. I finished Psychic Straits April of 2007. I did an immediate edit, then sent it to beta readers. I did quite a bit of rewriting after that and was able to see more that needed to be done. I'm not working on another rewrite, over a year later, and I can definitely see more things to change that I didn't see before.

[kzmiller]

I like to try to finish something else, either an edit run on a novel or a first draft on a new novel or complete a few short stories, before I go back to work on what I've written. When I do go back I try not to line edit but look at the big picture as best I can. Everyone has their ideal percolating time, and often that time varies with individual novels. About three months is good for me.

[David I]

Two or three months minimum. Sometimes longer. Meanwhile, I always have soemthing else that needs revising, or something els that needs writing...

But I write clean first drafts, so there isn't anything to "polish". The things that are still wrong are BIG and require some time to get perspective.

[Straka]

How long do you let the finished first draft sit before you begin to revise?

I generally do a quick pass immediately, just reading on the computer to catch major errors. Then I print it all out a few weeks later and do line editing. Then I send it out to betas and wait for their comments before touching it again. After I've gotten their suggestions and made any changes I thought necessary I send it to my line editor (my girlfriend).

[dawinsor]

I always think I have enough perspective after a couple of weeks because I'm eager to start shopping the story, but inevitably, a few months down the road, I see many ways to make the story better that I didn't see at first.

[RG570]

Normally I wait a week or two to get back at it. It seems to work for me, at least for the fantasy novels I write, which are outlined and basically write themselves by the time I get to doing them.

I finished a literary piece almost a month ago, though, and know it needs major work, so I decided to write another fantasy novel while that one sits. I'm interested to see if waiting months is really going to change anything.

[C.M. Daniels]

I'll do a once through right away to look for anything huge that sticks out. For short projects, I aim for a fast turnaround. For novels, I like to let them settle for a few months before I sharpen the knives and start to do a major revision.

[Use Her Name]

I work in clumps of 40-50 pages about 4 chapters each. I do an initial run through, do a second, then even a third (obsess for a week) and then go on to work on the next set of 4 chapters. After all are done. Put it up for a few months and work on another book.

I'm not published. I'm on my 8th book.

[runner4life]

I do small amounts of editing about every 5 chapters, but nothing serious its mostly common punctuation and grammar errors. After I've finished with my first draft, I'll at least wait a month before looking at it again. In the mean time I'll read books that are different than the genre of the novel and outline other ideas I have.

[ishtar'sgate]

How long do you let the finished first draft sit before you begin to revise?
I put it away where I can't see it - in a bottom drawer under other stuff - for about 3 or 4 months. When I come back to it I come back as a reader and not a writer which makes revision work far easier.
Linnea

[Soccer Mom]

I wait for about a month. That works for me. It's long enough that I can come back to the project with fresh eyes, but not so long that I have completely forgotten everything.

[scope]

Once complete, I go though it immediately and then put it aside for about six to eight weeks. It's essential for me to re-read the first draft--and all drafts--when to the extent possible I can do so as objectively as would a first time reader.

[ishtar'sgate]

I wait for about a month. That works for me. It's long enough that I can come back to the project with fresh eyes, but not so long that I have completely forgotten everything.
Funny how different we are. That's exactly what I'm hoping for - that I've forgotten a lot of what I've written so the writing stands on its own without me rooting for my pet phrases and scenes.
Linnea

[Susan Breen]

I start revising as soon as I'm done with my first draft. But I write the first draft 5 pages a day, and haven't looked at the beginning in a few months, so it seems fresh to me when I start reading it.

[billyf027]

I started revising as soon as I finished for the same reason. I spotted a few things wrong but liked it over all. I am tempted to send out the query but wonder if I should give it some distance first then take another look at it.

[ACEnders]

I let it sit for at least a month. Meanwhile, I work on my next book.

[steveg144]

A solid month of Netflix viewing, draining the TiVO queue, reading fluff fiction. And drinking, quite a bit of drinking. Then come back to it and get ready for the really hard work.

[BenPanced]

I let mine lie fallow for about a month or two. Helps me get away from it for a while.

[jannawrites]

It was a few weeks for me. Partly because we were out of state on vacation, but partly because I wanted to give myself a break.

I think, like with a lot of aspects, this is as individual a thing as the writer himself.

[WannabeWriter]

It varies from one writer to the next, but I give myself at least a week-long break before revising. :)

[johnzakour]

I jump right in because usually I am behind deadline and have to get it done.

[lucky8]

With short stories I would write the 1st draft of one and then let it sit while I wrote the first draft of another, then take turns in writing them until they were both done. I'm thinking that with my first novel that I will leave it until I have finished the first draft of a novella I'm planning to write. I figure that will be a month, month and a half.

[melaniehoo]

I finished my first draft in November and jumped right into edits. I passed it on to betas at the end of January and haven't touched it since then. In the past several months I've been thinking very bad thoughts about it, thinking it needs to take permanent residence in a drawer, but yesterday I skimmed through looking for dialogue for Nathan's contest and I actually like it. I guess 'they' are right about needing a little distance to fully appreciate it.

[Phaeal]

Six weeks, during which time I work on something else.