Writer's Woes
So I'm making my third draft (in other words, going through the second draft with my red pen) and discovering how much I hate editing. I mean, I didn't mind it before, but I'm doing this whilst reading On Writing by Stephen King. He noted how he hates passive tense in novels, so as I'm going through, I'm noticing that my book is chalk (chock?) full of them. Not only that, but I've reached the point where all the novel's flaws glare at me and cancel out the positives. I see everything negative and it's causing me to spiral into a sort of depression, at least for today. Each page I read of mine makes me want to go all Oedipus Rex and stab my eyes out.
Of course, I still love my characters, and writing is my savior, my passion, but right now I'm really angry at my past self. The writing is never good enough for my own critical eyes. The flaws just stand out so much right now that it makes me feel hopeless, like the whole thing is no good and I should just start over. But I can't do that, because I know there are little gems hidden there. There might be more gems than I can see, but it makes my blood boil that I can't see them as easily as a reader might be able to. I am my own harshest critic.
Stupid adverbs. Stupid passive tense. Stupid robotic dialogue that pops up every now and then. I know I'm making my novel sound like utter trash, and deep down I know it's really not as bad as I'm viewing it right now, but...well, my mom says every artist goes through this.
Any other writers out there that have gone through this? I'm driving myself crazy. Maybe I'll do some more editing tonight. Maybe I'll read over chapter five again and make sure I didn't go too far into town with my red pen. Oh crap, what if I crossed out something that shouldn't have been crossed out? What if I didn't cross out something that should be deleted?
AGGH!!
Of course, I still love my characters, and writing is my savior, my passion, but right now I'm really angry at my past self. The writing is never good enough for my own critical eyes. The flaws just stand out so much right now that it makes me feel hopeless, like the whole thing is no good and I should just start over. But I can't do that, because I know there are little gems hidden there. There might be more gems than I can see, but it makes my blood boil that I can't see them as easily as a reader might be able to. I am my own harshest critic.
Stupid adverbs. Stupid passive tense. Stupid robotic dialogue that pops up every now and then. I know I'm making my novel sound like utter trash, and deep down I know it's really not as bad as I'm viewing it right now, but...well, my mom says every artist goes through this.
Any other writers out there that have gone through this? I'm driving myself crazy. Maybe I'll do some more editing tonight. Maybe I'll read over chapter five again and make sure I didn't go too far into town with my red pen. Oh crap, what if I crossed out something that shouldn't have been crossed out? What if I didn't cross out something that should be deleted?
AGGH!!