Something that I find fascinating about the writing/creative process is the edit-as-you-go opportunities that present themselves. Unlike many writers that I have spoken with, I do not like to write an extremely rough draft of a book and then go back and make a ton of editorial changes. I tend to perfect the piece as I go along so that, at the back of my mind, there is a little voice saying, "You can move forward with this story because you've put your best into it."My mother taught me good grammar and was very diligent to make sure I had put my best effort into my work. I think that instilled the right habits into my writing for the present day.
Would it surprise you to know that my third published novel, Key Of Living Fire, underwent only one major draft before I sent it to the publisher? And my editor was very pleased with the results. I say this because I believe that making our first efforts our best efforts is better than allowing a sloppy or second-rate job.
I imagine that some of the historical authors that I respect and admire did the same. They had to write it all out by hand, so the editorial process would have been even more involved if they did not pay attention to sentence structure, grammar, and the flow of the story. I can picture Jules Verne and H.G. Wells pondering hard over their stories before actually touching their quill to the paper.
