Yes, I think that's true, and it's fair enough - it is an achievement. I write straight through and don't revise much as I go along is to be able to get to the champagne moment of 'finishing' as soon as possible - however much I know there's still to do after that.

And yes, often you don't quite know how you did it, so it's scary to try to take it apart again. It's part of developing as a writer to discover just how much you can change without the whole pack of cards tumbling down, but instead become more solid. And it's one of the reasons that in writing reports on people's novels - specially when they're a beginner - I'll make sure I point out lots of places where things work, because the chances are they don't know what they've done right any more than they know what they've done wrong.


Emma

Men trying to work out the answers to complicated maths and physics problems using a pencil and paper without so much as a desktop computer in sight?

Now I'm confused - isn't there that wonderful story when the ship's computer dies and the crew have to face the prospect of a long drawn out death in space - and then someone makes an abacus and so rather than give up they decide to give it a try and build a human computer and bring the ship home?

It's a brilliant tale and one of my all time faves

Sarah

Emma, I was more talking about complete beginners writing their first few short pieces (1000 words ish), when they're so pleased they've managed to get some non-factual thoughts down on paper they don't want to tinker with it.

Deb

Ah, yes, Deb, I see what you mean. I tend to forget that most don't start, as I did, with a novel.

Emma

I'm staggered by the number of WWers who started writing by writing a novel! I just didn't feel ready until I'd done a bit of an "apprenticeship" by doing courses and writing short stories for quite a while (ten years actually). I just couldn't contemplate a novel till recently.

Having said that, I've just remembered that I did start one 20 years ago, when I hadn't taken any courses, and quickly realised I'd bitten off more than I could chew, so stopped. This time around I held back till I really felt ready.

I may feel ready, but that doesn't mean I'm not cra**ing myself, especially since I've just embarked on being mentored, which means I have to step up the pace considerably.... <gulp>

Deb

With both novels and short stories I tend now to write straight through - the editing is the yummy bit because I can bring out what I meant to say. I write very complicated sentences too, so one of my final edits involves actually reading the whole thing aloud and stopping to make corrections when it gets clunky. If I get bored, then I know it's not working.