: Re: Doubts about editing? I have been working on a novel, and I've gone around four chapters in. I keep re-reading the first chapters, and I am tempted to edit them. Should I wait until I at

@Caterina108

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Don't edit as you're writing your first draft!

Here are the two main reasons...

The priority is to get the first draft finished

Going back and editing earlier chapters is an excellent way to never get to the final one. On first draft you just need to steam through to the end. At this stage the important thing is getting the bones of the story out, and tweaking and editing is a distraction.

You will learn so much during the course of your novel, you may end up discarding entire scenes

It will be wasted time spending hours, days or even weeks fine tuning the perfect words, sentences and metaphors when you might have to chuck the entire scene wholesale. Even worse, with that much sunk effort, you may be tempted to keep scenes that need to be cut, because you can't bear the thought of that time being waster, or those darlings never seeing the light of day.

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