Writers of All Things - Not Just Erotica

[lavender]

I have been working on this work for some time. It's a topic that interests me - but as always, I picked a topic that was incredibly time-consuming, amazingly research intensive, and with a fairly new main thesis (and very new sub-theses). I have been writing and researching and researching and writing. I've been editing out my ass on this thing. I keep wanting to add more more more, to make sure that every little detail is backed up, that every thing has some source.

Yes, I know that's how you are supposed to write, but I do it to the extreme. How do you get yourself to just let go, write and edit the damned thing and move on?

 

[seXieleXie]

Yes, I know that's how you are supposed to write, but I do it to the extreme. How do you get yourself to just let go, write and edit the damned thing and move on?

deadlines.

 

[Monazwx]

The writing is easy.
It's knowing to stop editing, cause that can be indefinite.

Sometimes, you just have to give yourself a time limit and stick to it.

 

[medjay]

How do you get yourself to just let go, write and edit the damned thing and move on?

Wait til the absolute last minute. Nothing like a deadline to light the fire under your ass.

 

[KillerMuffin]

I keep wanting to add more more more, to make sure that every little detail is backed up, that every thing has some source.

This is your problem. You don't add when you edit. You delete. You should aim for, on the average, removing no less than 10% of your current draft total. Don't add in an edit unless you're below a specific word count. Legal stuff is no different because someone has to read it when you're done. Clear and concise with a good back-up of most details and all sources you used documented will win out over two thousands pages of detail backing-up. Unless, of course, this is a research paper. If this has anything else, you'll lose your voice and no one will be interested in reading you.

 

[Ms_Lilith]

I outline. Well, no, with essays I outline. Intro, body paragraphs and conclusion. A professor once told me that the best, most simple way to write a paper was this: tell 'em what you're gonna tell em (intro); tell 'em (body); tell 'em what you told 'em (conclusion).

Maybe you need to limit the info you want to include in this work, outline, organize the info into a working outline, which will usually write your work for you from that point.

 

[kotori]

you don't want to lose site of your original thesis. all those very original subtheses might just be distracting.

 

[sunstruck]

I do the research ahead of time. It helps if I already have all the holes filled in. Well, until I create new ones. lol And then I just leave them and move on until I loose the flow, then go back and edit.

But I know what you mean. I'm research obsessed as well.

 

[KillerMuffin]

Oh yeah, you should always have a sex scene.

 

[Ice Cold]

I don't outline at all... I just write from the get go.... while I research I write. I have a clear idea of the topics I want to cover and the points I need to make. The trick is when I have all that typed out to organize it in some kind of flowing structure. If I start obseesing on it, that means I've put too much time on it and it is time to just let go.

 

[Lancecastor]

There are a few good little texts on legal writing. Your library might have the little one written by J. Yogis, which is about the size of most style manuals and has easy pointers.

Take 1 full day completely away from it. Hide it in a closet. Do something totally different. Swim, run, sex, shopping, movies.

Then go back at a time of day different than the usual and start hacking it to bits. Redundant modifiers will save 15% in most anything written by a lawyer type.

KM's right. Less is more. Most subjects can be covered in 12-20 pages anyway if you are economical and concise.

 

[Olivianna]

I concur with KM. Aim for a concise paper. Build up your footnotes, but let the body of your paper stick to your main arguments.

Also, you can have a paper/project that is a work-in-progress for years. In this way, you don't have to consider anything really 'complete.' You can wrap things up at one point and then return to it later, if needed. It is always there for you to go back to - and sometimes time allows needed perspective.