When I think back on the first draft of my current (first) novel, I remember how the words just seemed to fly from my fingertips. The characters became living, breathing entities, and I cared about them. Yeah, the writing may have been a little flowery, wordy, and full of technical errors, but it came to life just the same.
A couple years later, my computer crashed.
I had to begin the long process of retyping the whole thing. While I typed, I edited... and edited... and edited. Somewhere along the way, I lost touch with my characters. I lost track of the story, and traded authentic for technical.
I think I've killed Sarah and Michael. At the very least, I dumped them off on a dirt road somewhere to find their own way home. Oh, what have I done? For now, I'll continue to type it back in, one chapter at a time. But from now on, no editing, just typing. Once I find them again, we'll deal with the technical issues.
Have you ever written something you loved just to over edit it to death?
