Not literally, obviously. Drafting should be a quick, almost frenetic process. Placeholder names, notes that say “add description here”, the works. Only go back if you have a major plot setup to insert and only if it can be done in less than a minute. When you’re drafting you should be pumping out hundreds of words an hour. Don’t think, just do.
After you’re done, take a break for a while. Then come back in editing mode and scrape the mess into something palatable.
Write drunk, edit sober.
Not literally, obviously. Drafting should be a quick, almost frenetic process. Placeholder names, notes that say “add description here”, the works. Only go back if you have a major plot setup to insert and only if it can be done in less than a minute. When you’re drafting you should be pumping out hundreds of words an hour. Don’t think, just do.
After you’re done, take a break for a while. Then come back in editing mode and scrape the mess into something palatable.
Just read Bradbury’s Death is a Lonely Business (introspective, life-affirming, lightly fatphobic), and in it he writes something like:
Good read for writers, fence sitters, and half-livers