Rachel (Rhiannon) Parsons wrote:Kdot wrote:Oi! Quit revising or it'll never get writ.
I had the same thought when I saw the sixth version of--Chapter One.
I’ll buy this as the prevailing notion, but it kinda depends on your objective. I follow it now, but I didn’t in the beginning, and I don’t regret a single revision.
When I was first learning to write, I revised ad nauseum as I got feedback from people who were more skilled than I was. I used the effort as a concentrated way to hone my craft. Once I got to the point where my craft was satisfactory and I could write something decent after a few passes, I stayed more with the rule of “just keep writing” that everyone touts. I’m not saying the way I did it was right, but it worked for me, so I say, if you want to keep honing an isolated Chapter as a means of “improving your craft” then, you go girl.
If revising becomes a means of procrastination, that’s different, of course
For writers that are more disciplined and that aim to spend that 10,000 hours that it takes to master a craft, then spending a few weeks writing the same Chapter over and over ain’t no big deal. So, while I agree generally that you can’t let revising be sand in your gears, when you are in the process of learning to write - you tackle it whichever way works for you, ‘cause no one can blame you for trying to “get the words right.”
I have a copy of a “Farewell to Arms” that has Hemingway’s alternative endings. There are 39 of them (though 47 were found in his archives). One of his most famous quotes is: “I wrote the ending of ‘Farewell to Arms’ 39 times before I was satisfied.” But that’s not exactly accurate. It’s a misquote from an interview, and what’s missing is the most important part (in bold below):
Hemingway: It depends. I rewrote the ending of Farewell to Arms, the last page of it, 39 times before I was satisfied.
Interviewer: Was there some technical problem there? What was it that had stumped you?
Hemingway: Getting the words right.
— Ernest Hemingway, The Paris Review Interview, 1956.
