Do you ever feel like you’re too close to your work?
*Hugs my manuscript*
No. Not like that.
What I mean is, do you feel like your work isn’t as good as you want it to be? Like you’ve written and rewritten it to the point where you don’t know if you’ve polished out the spark or made it shine?
I feel like this a lot these days.
Sometimes, it’s just a matter of my natural process (which changes fairly frequently and that’s annoying.) Sometimes when I get to the middle, I get unsure of or frustrated with a book.
In the paranormal romance I’m writing I’m unsure of my hero. He wants the heroine, but he’s denying it. To himself, to her, to others. I’m not sure if that’s working for the story.
I’m in the middle of the book. I’ve been working on the story for a while. So it could be my process. It could be the saggy middle syndrome. Or it could be that I’m too close to the book.
For me, one of the most beautiful parts of my process is when I let a book rest.
This is my tip.
When you’re too close to your work, let it rest.
For me, a week is the minimum I need.
And the longer the work, the longer it needs to rest.
So for the short story I just revised, I let it rest a week. It is 2,000 words.
For a novel, it needs to rest a month. Maybe two.
Further, I might need to let a story rest more than once. Perhaps in between writing and revising and revising again.
My point is, time away from your story allows you something you can’t get any other way. Fresh eyes.
This reminds me of when I’m working on a graphic design project. I’ll often highlight the text I’m working with and then scroll through various fonts, which means the text changes from typeface to typeface. And after a while, my eyes glaze over and I legit forget how to spell the most basic words. Sad but true.
This is the same after you’d ready your manuscript one too many times.
Give your eyes a break. Give your brain a rest. Let the manuscript sit for a bit.
Mark a date in your calendar to pick it back up and then leave it alone until that date.
Give it a try and see if this method works for you.
