Quote:
Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks
If a writer can't afford an editor, I highly recommend this technique. Of course, setting it aside doesn't mean set it aside for 2 weeks. Usually, to see it with fresh eyes, you should set it aside for probably 3 months or more. Then after you rework it, you'll probably need to set it aside again (maybe for less time.) I do this with some works even though I plan to use an editor. Work on something else while it is "cooking." If you are thinking about it constantly and going back and still making changes and improvements, you have to reset your cooking timer...
I think of all the methods, most writers hate this one because it means not going to market RIGHT NOW. In reality it's a great technique but require a lot of patience.
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When I was writing my Master's thesis, I had the hard drive crash and I lost about two or three weeks of work because I hadn't backed anything up. After getting over it, I buckled back down to it and came out with stuff that was actually much better than the original (most likely because I then knew more or less what had to be said).
I've heard that many writers don't make up stories so much as have the characters act them out. I'm not a fiction writer myself, so I'm interested in knowing if that's a one-shot thing or if the same story can be recovered by the author again if, say, their hard drive dies and they lose all they've written. Or, do they get a different story if they try again? Can any writer's here comment on that? I'm just wondering if an author can do better by rewriting a story from scratch rather than leaving it for a few months and re-reading it then, problems and all.