Am I the only one...

[wayfaringwordhack]

...who 2/3-3/4 of the way into a wip feels the need to stop and reread the whole project again, even if I've been working steadily on it and it should all, theoretically, still be fairly fresh in my mind (specifically because the dratted thing is under 60K)?

I have this overwhelming, paralyzing sense of *needing* to reread it because I feel l'm waffling all over the place. However, if I do reread, I may not be content to make notes of the genre, "flesh this out; remember to add detail F; make X clearer, so Y is foreshadowed," etc. I may get sucked into to polishing and I just don't want that right now. This is not the draft for that. This is the draft for forward motion, and the reread impulse seems contrary to that. I. just. want. to. finish. and. set. it. aside. YESTERDAY!

I don't believe the story is too *big*--it is rather straightforward, linear, and contained--so from whence does this I-have-to-reread-NOW! feeling come?  

Comments

[cathemery.livejournal.com]

I can't say whether it was good, helpful, or horrible, but I have always wanted to reread. I have found it encouraging when I encounter favorite parts, or parts that I felt worked well, and it made me feel the need to improve other parts and to make additional sections as 'good'.

Also, I have a terrible time keeping a whole book in my head in any coherent form. Re-reading gives me the impression that I know what the story is about. It can cause slowing down and polish-mania, though.

Which is a rambly answer that could be boiled down to this: no, you aren't the only one to be seized by re-read fever. Nor are you the only one to wonder if it is a bad idea! :)

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

I'm still seesawing with it. Actually, I think the only way I will do it is to quickly sketch out the essentials of the last scenes, so I do have a "finished" draft and then go back. In the meantime, type type type...

[rabiagale.livejournal.com]

I feel that way too, about Quartz. I will definitely reread before I go back to it in August. Sometimes you just need to do that to get a sense of the bigger picture. I find that I get so bogged down in the minutiae of subplots that I often forget the main story. Re-reading helps me to keep it in perspective--and also to reintroduce me to characters and threads I forgot about and left languishing in limbo--oops!

So.... if you feel a compelling need to re-read, by all means, do! Just remember to lock your Internal Editor in a closet before you do. :)

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

*looks for her lock and key, just in case*

[barbarienne.livejournal.com]

You are not the only one. I find that the Big Reread helps a lot, so long as I don't do it every week.

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

*nods* I think I'm going to have to do it. Might as well get my focus back instead of having to re-lay the tracks later on.

[pjthompson]

You're not the only one. RESIST THAT URGE. It is your psyche trying to play tricks on you and delay finishment. :-)

[pjthompson]

Then again, I seem to be swimming against the tide here. It's fatal for me to do that. YMMV.

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

Yeah, as I said to cathemery, if I do go back, I do a sketchy scene list first.

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

bwahahaha...That's what my other voice is saying. >:}

[footlingagain.livejournal.com]

I'm desperately fighting the urge to re-read, because I know I'll hate what I've just done. I always do!

So I'm checking back on my chapter list (for once I've actually made one) and telling myself it doesn't matter if I've gone off track, that can be interesting. As long as I bring myself back to where I should be at some point.

But oh, the printer is begging me to do just one teeny little chapter. Or maybe two *g*

[footlingagain.livejournal.com]

I followed the link from your 'Sound off!' btw. Hello :)

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

Hello! :D

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

*lol*

And then three, four, five, sixseveneight, oh heck, just do all of it. :P