beaglegod

I was just reading an interview with Dean Koontz and when asked how he writes and edits he basically said he takes it one page at a time. He told the interviewer that he will write a page and review it, edit it as many times as he needs to untill he feels its time to move on, when hes finished with the last page of his book, well he's actually finished.

I was thinking that this sounds like a nice organized approach but than again what do I know. So how do you feel this approach stacks up, does it sound like a good idea to write a page or two and refine those first and than move on?

RomanticRose

It will work for some people; it won't work for others. I tried it and had to put it into the "doesn't work for me" category.

It's all about experimenting and finding what works for you.

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kip

What Rose said. Personally, I like to write the whole story before taking a summary look at it and deciding whether it's worth editing at all, or simply setting aside and moving on to the next idea.

starseed

I'm constantly writing and rewriting and writing new stuff. It's not as simple as "one page" at a time. I go back to however far I feel the need to go back, rewrite, then write some new stuff, then go back again to wherever I want, changing things here and there. I'm pretty much always rewriting something.

Dancer Preston

For Dean Koontz, a seasoned writer, this might easy. But this is probably the easiest way for a beginning writer to NOT write since you will always be returning to the previous page in order to perfect it; in such a way, no work actually gets done. This especially true if we're talking about a novel, which is the marathon in the writing world.

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lin

As opposed to editing several pages at once? How would you do that? And/or why?

I think he's been watching sports on TV.

His next interview he'll say he just shows up, comes to write, gives 100 per cent, is no more important than the rest of the publishing team, isn't looking past the next book, doesn't care about records, just the wins.

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JHB

Who is this Dean bucko?

kip

Kurt Vonnegut also did this. Whatever works.

lisajane

I edit after I'm finished the whole story. If I were to write a page, and then edit it, no writing would get done.

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JHB

Every time I finish a paragraph I go back and check it, and everything that came before it, to make sure it flows correctly.

Ilasir Maroa

Don't look at this comment in isolation. Whether this works or not depends on how one sets one's outlines, how far one is willing or planning to deviate from a set storyline. It's only a small part of his process, and if you take it on its own, it's liable to get you into trouble.

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tehuti88

I would get too bogged down on perfecting the details to be able to continue with the rest of the story if I followed this approach myself. While it's true I don't really "edit" or write drafts--I try to get it right the first time--I do go back and proofread and correct any errors that do show up. I tend to do this before the story is finished, but this is only because my stories are long serials and I post parts to the Web as I'm still working on it (meaning, I have to edit the chapters before they go public). But even with this approach, I don't immediately edit every page (or even every chapter) right after I've written it.

I notice at times that when I'm unsure about a detail in my writing, if I stop to think about it, the entire story bogs down and I get nowhere. Sometimes it's best to just write and fix the smaller problems later.

I wouldn't recommend Koontz's approach to new writers, because they might get fixated on getting one page just right rather than finishing the rest of the story, but like everyone else said, it's best to just do what works for you.

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