The realm of writing can be weird. It’s instructional and cerebral on one hand and completely instinctive on the other. While there is no single right way to approach the craft of writing, there is one thing that will drastically improve it. What’s more, this ‘magic ingredient’ is simple and accessible to everyone, yet not always easy to use.
Let me give an example. After having written and revised my thriller, ‘No Such Thing as Goodbye‘, I asked a few beta-readers for feedback and made my final revision. Once the novel was finished, I sent it out to a handful of agents and got rejections or silence. A few months later, I decided to try a second round and wanted to quickly check the novel to make sure I’d sent the right file.
Only, once I opened it and started to read, my jaw dropped. Was this the final version? I didn’t remember leaving quite so many mistakes and I’m not talking about grammar. Somehow, during those weeks of rest, my novel had morphed from a perfectly polished stone into a rock dipped in mud.
What had happened? I realised that I’d stumbled across something important: the secret ingredient that was so obvious I’d almost missed it.
That ingredient is time.
I know, I know, it sounds bonkers, but hear me out. In those weeks of not working on the story, I’d forgotten enough of the details of the story to gain distance and return to it with a fresh critical perspective. I no longer saw the text as an author but as an editor. I instantly saw through all the darlings that had no business clinging to the lines and slaughtered them swiftly. I discovered inconsistencies in character and plot and got new ideas on how to improve the story.
It was still the same file as a couple of weeks earlier, when I’d declared it perfectly polished, except that in the meantime, my skills and my perspective had changed. I made another revision and sent the novel out. Although I didn’t land an agent, ‘No Such Thing as Goodbye’ ended up being shortlisted and received an honorable mention on the 2020 Black Spring Crime Fiction Prize.
Clearly that last revision had made a difference. I decided to incorporate a resting period into my writing process as a permanent step before the final revision. Waiting is hard, though, especially when your fingers are itching to fix and finish what you’ve started. However, plunging into it straight away is counter-productive because you’re too close to the text to examine it critically and will probably miss some of the more important issues. This is especially true for longer prose, which requires more time and energy to revise.
Waiting, on the other hand, helps you on several levels:
- You’ll hone your writing and revising skills.
Your work might be resting, but you aren’t. You’re working on something else, reading, perfecting your craft. Once you pick up your draft, you’ll be more skilled and knowledgeable than you were after finishing it. In fact, by waiting, you’re saving yourself an additional revision made in haste and with fewer skills. - You’ll gain critical distance.
After you’ve just finished writing a text, the story and details are still fresh in your mind. You can’t kill your darlings, you likely won’t even see them for what they are. Writing is rewriting: every work needs revision. To be able to rip your work to pieces and reassemble them, you need to detach yourself from it. Letting the text rest will allow you to separate the story from clutter and cut out the bits you don’t need. - Your stories and narratives will evolve.
Some problems or challenges are hard to solve while writing, especially if you’re not aware of them. The resting time, however, gives your brain enough time to process the details and spot or resolve issues. You’ll get new ideas, too, on how to develop, revise or simplify your story.
How long should you wait?
That depends on the length and type of your text. Short stories and articles can rest for between two and four weeks, while novels benefit from two to six months. If in doubt, go for a longer period rather than a shorter one or repeat the whole process with the next draft.
When to stop revising?
The best but imperfect answer is that you stop when the story is good enough. Sure, you can revise into oblivion until every line is just perfect, but ‘good enough’ will often do the trick. If you’re a fresh writer, then four revisions is a good rule of thumb, after which it’s good to get some external feedback. Process the feedback and incorporate the comments that make sense. Do one or two more swipes and you’re done.
Seasoned writers might need fewer drafts, but no less than two. Even the mighty Stephen King revises twice, so let that be an absolute minimum.
There it is, the secret ingredient that will boost your writing. Try it out and let me know how it works for you.
I initially wrote about this topic for DIY MFA.
