Let’s be honest, there are times when it feels like a story will NEVER come together. In some cases a narrative refuses to click into place, that final puzzle piece has somehow managed to fall off the table, slide under the carpet, never to be seen again.

When this happens there are few positive reactions to share with friends and family. But is the problem truly with the narrative or the amount of time spent putting it together?

Self-Editing Round 124… 125… 126…

It’s an endless battle, beating your doubts and your draft into submission. You want the best story possible, action-packed, descriptive, punchy dialogue – the works. Yet edit after edit goes by and you can’t help but feel it’s not quite there yet.

What do you do?

3 signs you should take a step away from your draft

1. You start questioning the original intent of the piece. It can happen. And sometimes for the right reasons. But if you are finished with your draft and in the editing phase you tend to know what the theme or the purpose is behind the work. Rethinking concept is a natural sensation. Worry it might not be a strong enough connection with the reader is a completely rational thought. Not at this stage of the game. Here is the time to refine not rethink, tweak not toss out. Which leads me to my next point.
2. Let’s rewrite the whole story…AGAIN. You know you’ve thought the same thing. You’ve tweaked and prodded the story in a certain direction and now you’re not sure if you’ve been on the wrong track the entire time. So why not start again? DON’T! Your story is there. Something in that massive draft is a problem but the narrative itself will work itself out if you don’t succumb to those doubts at the back of your mind.
3. What if I can’t find the solution to my problems? It happens. Writers get tunnel vision, only allowing their thoughts to travel down a certain path for a story. It flows in their mind like a river, yet rigid and regimented in accordance with the original draft. An unending problem isn’t cause to cast the work aside or toss it in the junk heap of lost causes. You merely need to open your eyes to alternative paths and thoughts.

Solutions when it comes to unending self-edits

Let someone else read it! Alpha readers are crucial to the editing phase. There are only so many times you can read the same draft, edited or not, before the narrative becomes mundane in your eyes. Where it loses that excitement that drove you to write it in the first place.

Sending it to close family and friends for initial feedback not only allows you to share the hard work you’ve endured for months, but also brings back that critical feedback to drive you forward in your own efforts and point out potential pitfalls to revisit.

Create a post-mortem of questions and concerns. This is tied to my last thought. When I send a new draft to readers, be they close friends or family, I write down every question that’s bothered me during the editing process. Any issue I foresee or that has hindered me from hitting the publishing button in my brain.

It may be plot related, setting oriented, or even something as obscure as formatting. Write it all down to ask.

Save it until after they’ve read it. If the questions force them to read through again, they will do so with more perspective than the first which can only add to their feedback.

Let an outside perspective open new avenues of thought. This can have positive and negative connotations with your readers. Opening up your narrative for them to influence, be it plot, character or structure, can assist in providing new avenues of thought when you self-edit.

It can also steer you down paths you never wanted to travel in the first place.

All are worth exploring, though your readers may be upset if you choose not to follow their path. Remember, this is your story and while they may have worthwhile commentary on the subject it has to fall to you for the final decision.

No surrender, no retreat.

Walking away from your draft in the editing phase is not surrendering. It can’t be. Not after so much labor and love poured over a word processor for months or possibly years. Don’t let that happen.

Take a step back but never retreat from making your book the best it can be.

Thanks for reading.