Episode 155: When is the book done?
Today, Fable and the Verbivore are exploring finishing projects and how to know when it's done.
This episode services as the wrap up of our August series on revision and editing. In previous episodes, we’ve covered: Intro to Editing Your Manuscript (Ep. 151), Overwriting and Underwriting (Ep. 152), Editing Resources (Ep. 153), and an Interview with author Sarah Zimmerman that focused on developmental edits and cutting words (Ep. 154).
We start by stepping back into our review of the different types of edits and talk about getting the big things right (plot, story, character arcs) before going on to the sentence and style review followed by the proofreading review. Locking in changes at each level of the edit, so that you’re not constantly going backwards and second guessing your choices. We also mention that Roxane Gay’s MasterClass lecture “Self-Editing: Re-Visioning Your Work” does a great job of breaking down these different thresholds of review. Authors and writer websites also share different versions of final checklists for works of fiction.
Unfortunately, there’s no tried and true method for knowing when it’s time to be done. But here are a few of the pieces of advice we share from our own writing process:
Do smaller writing projects (like poems, vignettes or short stories) and pay attention to how it feels when you know something is complete.
Check in with yourself and listen when you know in your gut something isn't yet right.
Give yourself the time and space to take your work as far as you can take it through multiple levels of edits, but also get feedback from outside perspectives at different stages in the process and early enough to catch plot issues and elements that would require story overhauls before doing sentence polishing level work.
When you have a problem that needs fixing or an elusive element that you haven't been able to pin down, take a step back and let it stew in the background. Do things like: sleep on it, take a shower, brainstorm a list of options, free write, or do other types of work. Something often shakes loose.
Don't lean out from the painful and hard things in your story. Try to embrace them and be fully present in them. Notice when you're not yet emotionally able to engage with those moments and give yourself time to get there.
We also discuss that there are really two different reasons to end a creative project.
The project is done.
I am done with, have learned what I needed from, or just simply ready to move on from the project.
Both of these are completely valid and only we can make this decision. But there are also things that can get in the way that we may want to consider. Such as:
Avoidance can cause us to disengage when things get difficult or painful. So, really getting honest about and digging into the reasons why we're considering walking away from a project can help ensure that we don't fall into the habit of abandoning the work when it gets hard.
Perfectionism can have us fall into the never-ending loop of tweaking things that really weren't a problem and holding off sharing things out of fear. So, reframing this from getting the work perfect to getting the work right – the story there in the way you want to tell it – can reduce that pressure.
Towards the end of this episode, we remind ourselves that perfection isn’t possible. If you can answer “yes” to the question “is this the book I want to tell?”, then read it one more time and put it out into the world. If it’s written with heart and soul, a good story with interesting characters can overcome its flaws.
We hope you enjoy this episode. Keep reading, writing, and putting your voice out there!
Into the woods,
Fable & The Verbivore
Notes:
The Verbivore paraphrases a quote from a James Cameron article. That actual quote is:
“People call me a perfectionist, but I'm not. I'm a rightist. I do something until it's right, and then I move on to the next thing.”
The Verbivore references a scene from the Pixar movie Onward. Here is the quote and link:
Ian Lightfoot: I'm not ready!
Barley Lightfoot: You'll never be ready. Merge!
Here is the specific MasterClass lecture that we mentioned in this conversation:
Here are some articles and videos that we found helpful in preparation for this conversation:
Penguin Randonhouse News for Authors Article “How Do You Know When You’re Done Writing?”
Writer’s Mag Article “From the Front Lines: How can you tell when a work is done?”
K.M. Allen “Writing The Final Draft: What To Check”
Masterclasses Mentioned:
Music from: https://filmmusic.io
‘Friendly day’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
Licence: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)