So when it comes to making assessments about the quality of your writing, it's not always easy to figure out whether your stuff works. It's not easy to automatically see where you possibly went wrong with the script and why.
After all, as a writer, it's pretty much guaranteed that you tend to get lost in the process as you keep going. The longer you write, the less you're able to see the forest for the trees, no matter how much you might keep telling yourself otherwise.
At the same time, once you actually manage to take that break from writing and get yourself a fresh pair of eyes, things change considerably. It's pretty remarkable how quick and accurate your assessment about the script can be sometimes.
For example, if I take that break from my project and later (the very next day with articles) get back to the task, even a fast glimpse at the text can show that things don't work. A quick cursory look is all that it might take to see that there are problems.
What this means in practice is that if I'm about to start rewriting the article and have read the first half of it (that works), I might already see that there's a problem with the latter half. Without reading the rest, my eyes are already telling me that I screwed up.
The reason for this is that even though I haven't read the full text, I already see that there's something wrong with it length-wise (missing stuff, too short). My mind can see (based on the pacing & the correct structure) how the text should look when it's done right.
After all, as a writer, it's pretty much guaranteed that you tend to get lost in the process as you keep going. The longer you write, the less you're able to see the forest for the trees, no matter how much you might keep telling yourself otherwise.
At the same time, once you actually manage to take that break from writing and get yourself a fresh pair of eyes, things change considerably. It's pretty remarkable how quick and accurate your assessment about the script can be sometimes.
For example, if I take that break from my project and later (the very next day with articles) get back to the task, even a fast glimpse at the text can show that things don't work. A quick cursory look is all that it might take to see that there are problems.
What this means in practice is that if I'm about to start rewriting the article and have read the first half of it (that works), I might already see that there's a problem with the latter half. Without reading the rest, my eyes are already telling me that I screwed up.
The reason for this is that even though I haven't read the full text, I already see that there's something wrong with it length-wise (missing stuff, too short). My mind can see (based on the pacing & the correct structure) how the text should look when it's done right.
After all, if you notice that the second half of the text seems to be too short (or way too long), it's certain that there are logical / transition problems that need to be fixed. (note: 'correct' length doesn't guarantee that the text works as it should).
This same approach - trusting your eyes - also applies to bigger projects like books where you really have to make sure that your structure / pacing works well. In these cases it's crucial that you're able to see when things don't seem to work.
For example, when I started rewriting my book and went through the pages on my notepad, it became obvious pretty fast that there were problems. As I went through the pages, my eyes (that looked at the sidebar) knew that the pacing was simply off.
By that I mean that once I had read the first 1/3rd in the story (structure-wise), as I kept checking the sidebar, I noticed that I had already gone past the 50% mark in actual pages. This was an absolutely terrible thing pacing-wise and meant that I was in trouble.
After all, even though the script doesn't have to be completely in sync with the story 'structure' or the 'formula', it still has to be close enough. You cannot tell a good story if (for example) the latter half of the story happens in the last 10% of the pages.
Fortunately, in this case, once I started rewriting the story and tried to make sure that the chapters would be well paced, little by little the script started to look better. It didn't seem like the pacing was as obviously off as it was in the beginning.
After all, once I had finished the rewriting process, I noticed that the whole thing seemed to work really well now. The story had finally a solid flow from start to finish and actually felt good (I had increased the word count by a whopping 60%).
In that sense, when it comes to this whole thing, it's pretty clear that if you ever find yourself in a situation where it 'looks' like there's a problem with your script, you should take that feeling seriously. You should take the gut feeling seriously and not ignore it.
After all, even though there are certainly exceptions to the rule (like being too tired from too much writing), in most cases your eyes are onto something. They know that there's a problem, even though your brain might not have figured out the details yet.
In that sense, especially when it comes to my book project, it's fairly clear that had I not trusted my eyes when I re-read the draft, I probably would have not fixed the script. It's very likely that I would have just thought that the book was good already and that was it.
After all, especially considering that I had gotten good reviews from my readers and other stuffs, I was clearly in the danger zone here. There was every reason for me to get too comfortable and complacent with my 'very first book ever'.
Fortunately though, even though I lacked experience, in the end, I did trust my eyes once I gave the draft a fresh look after a break. Once I gave another look at the script, I knew that there was a big problem and that my work with the task had not been finished.
Fortunately, in this case, once I started rewriting the story and tried to make sure that the chapters would be well paced, little by little the script started to look better. It didn't seem like the pacing was as obviously off as it was in the beginning.
After all, once I had finished the rewriting process, I noticed that the whole thing seemed to work really well now. The story had finally a solid flow from start to finish and actually felt good (I had increased the word count by a whopping 60%).
In that sense, when it comes to this whole thing, it's pretty clear that if you ever find yourself in a situation where it 'looks' like there's a problem with your script, you should take that feeling seriously. You should take the gut feeling seriously and not ignore it.
After all, even though there are certainly exceptions to the rule (like being too tired from too much writing), in most cases your eyes are onto something. They know that there's a problem, even though your brain might not have figured out the details yet.
In that sense, especially when it comes to my book project, it's fairly clear that had I not trusted my eyes when I re-read the draft, I probably would have not fixed the script. It's very likely that I would have just thought that the book was good already and that was it.
After all, especially considering that I had gotten good reviews from my readers and other stuffs, I was clearly in the danger zone here. There was every reason for me to get too comfortable and complacent with my 'very first book ever'.
Fortunately though, even though I lacked experience, in the end, I did trust my eyes once I gave the draft a fresh look after a break. Once I gave another look at the script, I knew that there was a big problem and that my work with the task had not been finished.
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