The following is edited from my post for writers in a private, online forum.
It also applies to art, in general.
I’ve worked as an editor. The greatest tragedy is to see a first draft of a book that was raw and full of creative energy, but then… the “polished” draft that the author sends is technically better, but it’s lost its energy.
It won’t sell. If it earns any reviews, they’ll use words like “lackluster” and “disappointing.”
(If this doesn’t make sense to you, think of all the rock bands you loved when they were new and fresh and raw. Their later work is more technically perfect, but it’s lost the energy. It sounds derivative.)
The first version of your book might need a few tweaks, but it had a spark.
That’s what ignites enthusiasm in most readers.
So, don’t edit as you go along. 80% of the time, your book will reach the finish line and need just minor edits.
You may not be able to see that, clearly, when it’s in progress.
Monet’s paintings didn’t look like photographs. His fifth-grade art teacher would probably have taken his pencil away and told him he didn’t get the number of windows right in his cathedral paintings.
Copland’s music, “Appalachian Spring” doesn’t have any birds in it. Not really.
Like Monet’s work, it’s his impression of something worth sharing with others.
Hold your writing to a creative standard, not to some level of supposed perfection that you inherited from some English teacher, or a voice in your head that insists you need to “try harder.” (Seriously, in the arts, that phrase probably needs to be banned.)
Your unique voice makes a book great, far more than technical perfection. The energy you convey is what matters. It’s practically your signature.
You get your spark of energy from the initial idea.
Keep that spark alive. Don’t choke it with editing as you go along.
And, at least when you’re a struggling writer, don’t share your ideas — or your unpublished books — with others. Too many will eagerly shovel fertilizer for self-doubts onto what’s best about your work.
Be uniquely you. Use every tool you can to maintain that unique voice, and keep the creative spark alive.