Should writers edit while drafting? Or finish the book first?

this will shock you, but: it depends

Apr 13, 2026

If you ask a panel of authors whether a new writer should edit while they draft or wait until the manuscript is finished, you’ll get a whole range of answers. Yes. No. Absolutely not. And idk it’s up to you.

Here’s how to decode that.

The case for finishing

One of the best, most confidence-boosting things any new writer can do is finish the draft.

Look, if you can finish a first draft, you can finish a second one. You can start new manuscripts and finish them, too. They don’t even have to be good. They just have to be finished. They only need to exist.

If you can finish it, you can fix it.

When you hear established authors say to finish the draft, we’re often thinking about all the people who come up to us and say they started writing a book three years ago, but haven’t finished it yet.

Maybe they’re afraid of moving forward because they don’t want to mess it up. Or maybe they’re in an endless cycle of circling back to the beginning to start over. So many people begin but don’t finish, which means that if you can finish a draft, you’re already doing more than most.

Aside from the immense confidence boost, finishing your first draft gives you a better understanding of the story you wanted to write.

By that I mean: unless you’re a sneaky genius (lucky you; most of us aren’t!), it can be hard to see the overall story until it’s on the page. Then you can read the whole thing within a few days or a week, like a reader might, and actually begin to see what’s working and what’s . . . not.

Most writers learn a lot about their story, characters, and themes as they draft. For many writers, this is the stage where they really get to know the characters and figure out what parts of the story interest them. By reaching the end, you’ll have a more complete view of the story, which will give you a ton of insight as to how you might want to revise the beginning.

When you have a destination, you know how to plan the journey.

The case for revising as you go

Revising as you go is, of course, a spectrum of intensity and thoroughness. Maybe you’re going back to fix typos or shiny up the prose from the day before. Sometimes you realize you forgot to include something, so you go back to do that.

And sometimes the story’s just not working.

There are lots of reasons why a writer might want to go back and revise a little before moving forward; I know lots of people who like to do a light revision on yesterday’s work to get some momentum for today!

Honestly, some of that, I barely count as revising as you go. I mean, I guess technically it is, but if you think of something you want to add earlier and you know exactly where to do it, why not go back and add it? Why not take a peek at yesterday’s chapter to give you a little more runway on today’s?

If you’re not going to let it suck you into an endless loop, and you know exactly what you need to do, sometimes it’s easier to just get that little task out of your head.

And when it comes to big changes . . . while some writers might be able to continue writing as though those changes are already in place, plenty of writers cannot move on until they’ve got at least the foundations of character and plot on the page, and if something is wrong there . . . well, they hit a wall.

Sometimes, you really just need to go back and fix it.

How do you know what to do?

That depends.

Sometimes, knowing what you need to do comes down to experience.

Are you the kind of writer who gets trapped in revision cycles without finishing something? Finish your book.

Or do you know, bone deep, that you made a wrong turn two chapters ago, and until you get that straightened out, nothing is going to lay right? Go fix it.

Only you can decide what the right answer is here, but I do have a few tips, having done . . . both things recently, actually: I wrote a book straight through before going back to fix anything big, and I wrote another that demanded a couple hefty revisions at 15k, a couple more at 30k, several major rewrites at 40k — like, everything I had — and then after that I still had to go back every 10-15k words and do some revision or outright rewriting.1 Is it a first draft? Eightieth draft? I don’t even know what to call it.2

ANYWAY. Tips:

Keep a list of things you want to go back and fix. Do not rely on your memory for this! My last one included things like “Rename X family,” and “Seed in more [worldbuilding thing] throughout,” and “Figure out what people look like,”3 and “Find a place to include that characters did [something important but not important enough for a whole scene].”
If you find yourself fussing with sentences, and that’s going to take up all your writing time . . . it’s probably okay to leave it and just move forward. Fussing isn’t going to finish your book.
If you think you made a wrong turn but you’re not sure where, think back to the last place you were certain about the story and judge every decision from there. Could a character be acting out of character? Did you forget something happening off screen? Did the tension drop for some reason?
If, like I was recently, you’re restarting again and again, write a synopsis or outline; this might help you see the story more fully. Where do things look weak? Where are your protagonists not being proactive enough? Do you actually know where you’re going with this story?4
If you’re tinkering with the beginning because you’re afraid of messing up the rest of the book, good news: all first drafts are messed up. You’ll fit right in. Now finish your book.
If you’re tinkering (or even full-on rewriting) because you’re not actually sure where the book goes, write a synopsis. Figure out five or six big moments you’re excited to write that will get you to the end. What do your characters want, and what are they willing to do to get it? What’s stopping them? You might just need to spend more time developing the story. And then go finish your book.

Ultimately, only you can decide what you need to do — go back and fix things, or charge forward and fix ‘em later — and I actually feel pretty confident in saying that this process will evolve for you over time. Experience helps a lot here. And so does the kind of book you’re writing.

My book I was able to write straight through? Well, I did have to stop in the middle of it and think until my brain hurt, but aside from jumping back to add a couple details and whatever as I thought of them (I knew this would not derail me), I just saved any big edits for the next pass. It helped that it wasn’t a complex book with lots of moving parts!

But the book I rewrote a bunch? Many moving parts! And way more complex than I was originally anticipating. I also had not spent enough time letting the story simmer before I dove in to start writing. Mistakes were made. But it’s fine now. I’m fine. Everything’s fine.5

Okay, good luck!

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