On Rereading and Rewriting Before You’re Done
My fiction writing unpopular opinion
There are two intersecting, commonly espoused pieces of novel writing advice I see online that I disagree with.
One — Don’t reread your novel while it’s in process, just keep writing!
And
Two — Don’t rewrite anything in your novel while it’s in process, just keep writing!
I can understand the philosophies behind these. Purely guessing, these might have some roots in NaNoWriMo novel-writing practices, where the focus is lots of words and forward motion. This also can be good advice for writers who struggle with finishing their novels, instead of focusing on just polishing up the beginning or starting new projects whenever the lumps of a novel’s forward progress get in the way. So it’s not that this is bad for all writers on all occasions, just that its general pronouncement as writing advice for all, as it is often framed, is wrong. I, personally, have rewritten and reread in ways that have helped me overcome writer’s block and even finish my novel drafts.
When to reread your in-progress novel
1 ) When you’ve hit a writer’s block. Not a temporary writer’s block of an hour, or a day or two, but a long-term one. Rereading what you’ve…
