The best part of writing is definitely creating a story and characters then hearing that the story resonated with readers.
The worst part of writing: everything else.
More specifically: editing.
No one likes to be told everything they did wrong while writing (unless that is a special brand of self-masochism). Okay, yes, it is satisfying to make those corrections and realize you are one step closer to the end product, but the actual facing of what you did wrong the first time around? Not as satisfying.
For anyone who's ever been interested, here's the process of writing, or at least a process that I am familiar with:
- Plot out story points (some skip this part and just start writing like the wild animals they are)
- Write the first draft (this can take a week for overproductive freaks of nature like R.L. Stine or up to a decade for those who are more meticulous...or distracted...or afraid of commitment)
- Go through draft and edit/revise on own
- Have beta readers read the draft
- Wait anxiously while beta readers finish reading
- Collect beta readers' feedback and decide whether or not to apply
- Go through draft again
- Give draft to publisher who hands it off to editor
- Wait anxiously for editor to return draft with recommended changes, possibly adding to your draft while you wait just to make the edit application that much tougher
- Receive first edit and vascillate between crying about your inadequacies and cursing the poor editor that was just doing their job
- Start the tedious job of applying edits and feedback, sometimes painfully deciding which to follow and which to ignore
- Send edited draft back to publisher and editor for next round
- Wait anxiously to receive next round of edits
- Go through the exact same process with hopefully less edits
- Possibly play this back and forth editing game multiple times
- ...
- ...
- ...
- ...
- ...
- ...
- ... (You get the point. This is the agonizing, redundant part.)
- Sign off on final edited draft
- Receive formatted copy
- Read through pdf and write edit suggestions on another doc because now the formatting is set
- Go through this process multiple times which is however many times you find something wrong or want to make changes to what you previously thought was a brilliant idea but doesn't come across as brilliant the tenth time you read it
- ...
- ...
- ...
- ...
- Accept that you hate your story now because of how many times you have been forced to read it
- Sign off on the final copy
- Wait anxiously for the book to be printed
- Cry tears of joy when you see your printed baby and believe all the pain, self-doubt, and headaches were worth it (Pretty much the equivalency to giving birth and seeing your baby only with less tearing of flesh)
- Start the marketing and selling process
- Fully understand the meaning of self-hatred and disappointment
So maybe this isn't everyone's process, or maybe other writers have healthier self-images. Either way, I just received the first edit of Road Maps and am now going through the first grueling process of applying said edits, of which there are over 2900 this round.
Someone send help. Or dark chocolate. Or cheese. Or wine. (I prefer rosé.)
If you seeing me crying in the next few months, please understand it's all part of the wonderful process of being an author. And I'm happy to have the opportunity. I really am.
(Are you sending those snacks yet?)
Me staring at my computer while I apply edits
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