Stop Editing As You Write!

 Stop Editing As You Write!

When I was younger, I made several attempts to write novels. I gave those up awhile ago, but I've been writing plays for the past ten years, most of which are shorter scripts for educational programs. I recently came up with an idea for a short novella of some sort and started it a month or two ago, but haven't revisited it in several weeks now. I'll get back to it, I swear!

But a terrible habit that I used to have was editing while I was writing. I cannot, cannot, CANNOT tell you what a horrible habit this is, and how many projects are stunted by such a habit. To be clear off the bat: I am not suggesting that whatever you come up with the first time around is going to be great. Or even good, for that matter! But I would get into this rhythm of writing a couple of pages, then pausing because I wasn't sure where I wanted my story or dialogue to go next. I'd re-read the last couple of lines or paragraphs to try and recapture the thread. When that didn't work, I'd go back further and re-read more of what I had written. As I re-read it, I would start by changing some punctuation. Maybe a word or two. Then suddenly, I was rewriting stuff I had already written, and reworking things, and I was no longer making headway, but hating what I had already written, rewriting it, and then getting discouraged.

The reason I bring all of this up is because I recently sat down with a friend who is working on designing their own board game. They've got fantastic ideas, and they've a brilliant mind. But here's the problem: they keep reworking the game without really putting a prototype through its paces. They processes information quickly and thoroughly, so they continues to rework basic and integral mechanics whilst in the midst of designing this game. The result is that they cannot get the game out of their own heads.

I think this is a pretty common problem. When one is working on a game, it rarely (if ever) springs forth fully formed like Athena. It'll need to go through the grinder, some stuff will need to be cut, some stuff will need to be changed, and you might have to add a thing or two. But honestly, this stuff works better or worse in your head than it will work on the table top. I had worked out an entire game based around cold war diplomacy, got the prototype to the table, played it by myself and was instantly bored! The game just didn't work as I had conceived it, and the only way to learn that was to get it to the table and try it rather than continuing to refine it in my head. Plus, you need eyes on your game design beyond your own, and it can be really hard for other folks to follow what you've got in mind when you're describing it to them instead of showing them.

So do yourself a favor: don't edit as you write. Finish writing first, and *then* go back in and edit. It sometimes feels smarter or faster to edit as you go, but that's never the case. And way more often than not, we end up never finishing the thing we start because we're too busy editing what we already have.