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Q&A Writing a trilogy and editing

In my opinion, you should. It's a good thing to plan ahead for sequels, but a first draft is not a finished book. There are at least two reasons that I can see to edit before going forward: Y...

posted 5y ago by Liquid‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-13T11:56:49Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42197
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T10:52:53Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42197
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T10:52:53Z (over 4 years ago)
In my opinion, you should.

It's a good thing to plan ahead for sequels, but a first draft is not a finished book.

There are at least two reasons that I can see to edit before going forward:

1. You may want to start sending your book one to an editor. In that case, it's way better to get out of the way any error, at least, the most amateurish ones. Don't get me wrong - drafts will always have errors (even simple typos) but the first one is particularly vulnerable. You may want to be sure that there is no major issue in the structure of the story, in character development, no inconsistencies in the plot and so on. Also, it would be nice to rework your introduction to "hook in" any potential reader.

2. Before you continue with book two, you may want to be sure that you have solid ground to build upon. Even if now you may have the impression that book one is perfect, this is not always the case. Make sure that book one is "solid" in terms of plot and characters, and that it stands on its legs without any major issue. It's better to rewrite some chapters now rather than risking to rework an entire trilogy from the start (as small the risk might be).

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-02-13T15:17:01Z (about 5 years ago)
Original score: 7