: Is it possible to read your own words too much? (and begin to hate them as a result) I'm working through my chapter 1 for about the 5th time. As a generality, I love my story and characters,

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It's very possible, and probably quite common, to rework something so much that you end up unable to stand it. Sometimes it's a temporary feeling that doesn't have any larger meaning, except take a break and work on something else for a little while.

Sometimes it means a part is done, don't work on it any more. There's a reason a number of great directors claim to never have watched their own movies again after release. Sometimes that's the work's own way of telling you it is time to leave it alone and/or send it off into the world.

On the other hand, it could also be that Chapter 1 was just a place you had to work through to get to the rest of the book. Maybe you should just drop it, and start in with Chapter 2 or 3. If your work isn't coming alive until later, why keep earlier? That work you put into won't be wasted, it made the rest of the book possible. But the reader doesn't necessarily need to see the scaffolding.

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Hating your work can be a bad sign. But since you like your characters and your plot, there must be something else wrong other than the work stinks. So, yes, it's possible to read your words too much - sort of.

Chapter 1 is your most important chapter in terms of getting published. Agents and publishers will typically only read a few pages before taking you seriously or sending a form letter. Of any chapter, this MUST get the most attention.

Your plan of twelve drafts with a separate function of each sounds too disciplined to me, but to each their own. Twelve drafts is not too many. In fact, It's common in a large writers' group since everyone starts with chapter 1 and few make it beyond 5 or 6. I think you're hating it because of the way you're going about it. When you hyperfocus on individual words and lines, you miss the main point of writing fiction; namely, to tell a story you think is cool. It won't always be fun, especially if it's your job or as a student - not unlike any other assignment.

A way to stop hating on it is to distance yourself from the minutiae. Consider that eventually you need forward motion. How about now? Try finishing the first 10 chapters before going back to chapter 1. You'll see tweaks need to be made to fit everything into place. The protagonist and plot have to be spot-on to engage your readers. The closer you get to the end, the better idea you'll have of the beginning.

Take a step away, work ahead, and come back to the beginning when it's fresh and needs an update. The way you're approaching it would make anyone frustrated. Consider how life would be as a writer before word processors.

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Don't do it.

You shouldn't be doing something in writing that isn't at least tolerable. You need a different style of writing.

I say that as a writer that has gone over a three page scene THIRTY times, but I found it tolerable, and I was crafting something critical. It was not mechanistic. I don't worry about grammar, or voice. I do worry about consistency.

But I hear stories and voices and, like a hiccup in a song, I can feel when something isn't perfect, when dialogue is wrong, when action isn't natural, so I read and fiddle until it sounds right. The cadence of speech is right, the time of exposition is right.

When I write I am a narrator and an actor, a story teller. I care about clarity, not grammar. I care about creating an immersive scene without drowning the reader in too much detail. I care about sustaining attention by sustaining the chain of conflicts.

When your story sounds right to you, put it away for a week. Let your short and mid term memory systems fade it out, so they aren't providing any inadvertent help to the printed word. THEN read it again, and if there are problems, fix them. Do it again. It won't take 12 cycles of editing.

Work in a way that you enjoy 75% of the time, and can tolerate the other 25%. Writing can be your job without dreading sitting down to work.

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