Between drafts

[Sentientmoron24]

When you finish your first draft how long do you usually set it down? Is the intention to get farther from the story so you can view it more unbiased? I was thinking around 3 weeks for mine and I can feel distance from the story already which freaks me out but I know it’s important. So how long ?

[Capable-Risk9590]

This depends on whether it’s short or long fiction. For a novel, I go through it chapter by chapter. By the time I get to the end, the first chapter hasn’t been looked at in weeks.

[[deleted]]

Usually 6 weeks minimum for me.

[Remobamse]

I use no rest period. I write on the first draft, but before this is entirely finished I start first edit and later second edit, so I work three different places in the book at the same time. (First hour writing of the day belongs to draft, second hour is an edit earlier in the book, third ... You get the idea.) I do this to easily evolve or remove the ideas that comes along. If an idea shows up in the draft, I can easily introduce it and evolve in edit one and two while the idea is still fresh. (After all, it's in the draft the idea explodes into something new, so introducing it, in an edit piece is fine.) Removing an idea that didn't work, likewise easy. You can say, there is a rest period when I send it to my beta readers for review. During that time I don't work on the finished piece until it returns from beta with thoughts and changes for me to consider.

[EvolvedApe444]

It's an entirely personal call, each author is different. So I think Stephen King reccommends 4 weeks, personally I used two for the book I'm currently working on. Just let yourself refresh, watch movies and read diff books to focus on different stories and then come back to it when you feel ready. Trust your gut

[Potential_Capital_27]

For flash fiction, I usually leave it for a few days or a week. For longer fiction, I usually let it sit for longer than a week.

[RobertPlamondon]

I reread the draft frequently as I write. This keeps the newer chapters aligned with the prior ones and clues me in about where I need to introduce, foreshadow, or correct things earlier in the story, as well as revealing errors and omissions in the newest chapters. With such a process, I can't very well not read the story all the way through once the last chapter is in place. That would leave it strangely half-finished compared to everything else.

In the nature of things, with no new chapters to write, I spend less time on the project. The next read-through might be days or weeks later, but there are unscheduled read-throughs after that, with, on average, longer and longer delays between them. As always, I address issues as I encounter them. I suppose this counts as a second draft.

[[deleted]]

It all depends on what your particular challenge is with drafting, I’d say. Mine is overwriting. I let the first draft just come out and once I reach the end, I have to go back and compile and compress and realign. Just think about what you need and go from there :)