How do you know It's Done.

Raphee · May 4, 2012

I have a short story that is 95% done. It needs polishing, and a couple of revisions. But I always feel with my shorts that I need to sit on them, and this way I'll improve the finished product. At least with the one short I recently sold, it did improve.
This tends to make me write much less.
I've also noticed that a lot of you here submit a lot.
I do need to improve my writing habits, I know. Yet, I can't seem to just submit, until it feels perfect.
Is it because I primarily think like a novelist, novels are my first love. The time investment in a novel is so considerable that we tend to make it as good as we can.

Also, I'll appreciate advice on improving my skills for writing shorts.

Lycoplax · May 4, 2012

I think that whatever we write, be it short stories, novels, memoir, etc, is ours. We created it, and we want it at its best.

I'm only now really applying myself to querying agents. I've been sitting on mine and my husband's work for a while now, convinced I had to make it all perfect before anyone but us laid eyes on it. It's a book series, totaling over one million words cumulatively. I'd be revising for years before I thought it was perfect. But if we are fortunate and determined enough to enter into the publication process, we won't be alone in making it just right.

Does that help?

alimay · May 4, 2012

What does 100% finished mean? Does it mean that it matches up to the perfect image of the story you hold in your mind? I'm not sure it's ever going to be possible to match this. 95% might be the best anyone ever gets... Maybe 98% on a good day.

It's the law of diminishing returns. At some point, revisions aren't going to achieve anything, and you're just fiddling with the words.

The best way to improve your short stories is to write them and to read them. As many as you can.

Ali

Jamesaritchie · May 4, 2012

I rewrite/edit as I go, so when I hit the end, the story is ready for submission. This doesn't take long. Often no more than four or five hours, for a story that's 3,000 words or under, and almost never more than two days.

But write the story, read through it once, fix whatever you found wrong, then submit it. You can keep revising a story forever, but it doesn't take long before you're just stirring mud. Revision should make a story better, not just different.

MJNL · May 4, 2012

Well, you might have found the editing cycle that naturally works for you (but you should probably do your best to disabuse yourself of the notion that you can make a story 'perfect'--that's just not gonna happen. Nobody's perfect, and no product is perfect), but there's no reason it should make you write less. What are you doing while you're giving one story its down time? Couldn't you use that space to write something new?

RobJ · May 4, 2012

It's done when you're happy to send it out. I don't know of any other meaningful criteria, unless you're working to a deadline. If you submit something before you're satisfied with it and it gets accepted, you may look back and be embarrassed by it later.

Don't try to compete with other writers on numbers, especially numbers submitted. The number accepted is more important, but there are so many other variables (payment, reputation of the place it's published, readership etc) that simple numbers don't provide a particularly worthwhile comparison.

Whatever your own personal writing goals are, try to see your output and achievements in those terms.

Jamesaritchie · May 4, 2012

RobJ said:
It's done when you're happy to send it out. I don't know of any other meaningful criteria, unless you're working to a deadline. If you submit something before you're satisfied with it and it gets accepted, you may look back and be embarrassed by it later.

.

If you're embarrassed by a story that was good enough to sell, you have bigger problems than when to submit.

RobJ · May 4, 2012

Jamesaritchie said:
If you're embarrassed by a story that was good enough to sell, you have bigger problems than when to submit.

Ha, yeah, you're probably right. And I embarrass easily.

Burl Kenneth Sloan · May 4, 2012

"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to cut away." -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

sarahthegrey · May 4, 2012

Burl Kenneth Sloan said:
"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to cut away." -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I've deleted entire stories based on that quote.

It's done when I can't stand looking at the stupid thing anymore. That's when it's time for someone else to look at it--preferably an editor, but a slush reader works, too.

gettingby · May 4, 2012

Do not sit on stories. Send them out and then write another one. The more you do this, the better and faster you will get.

magicmint · May 4, 2012

I don't think a project is every truly done because I can always look at it with a different perspective six months later an chane it. That being said, I think a work is 'done' when I feel any changes I think need making are beyond my capabilities. At this point I submit the work, or move onto the next project.

Rhoda Nightingale · May 7, 2012

sarahthegrey said:
It's done when I can't stand looking at the stupid thing anymore. That's when it's time for someone else to look at it--preferably an editor, but a slush reader works, too.

Same here. When I'm sick of looking at it, and when all I'm doing edit-wise is switching up a word here and there. That's when it's time to let it go.

Darkwing · May 7, 2012

I find that my stories are "done" when I look at them and the only thing I feel really compelled to do is fiddle with the language. I'll allow myself a couple editing run-throughs to tighten everything up, and then I start subbing. After it's been rejected a few times I'll revisit it and either find something big to revise or simply do more language tightening.

I always let my stories sit for about a week after completing a first draft, as I know I won't be capable of catching problems if I've come off a fresh draft.

And finally, there are stories that are in a stage where they could be submitted, but that I won't submit. These stories have major plot problems that I'm aware about but don't know how to fix yet. These I sit on for as long as needed before I a) figure it out and revise them, b) trunk them, c) submit them anyway and move on to something different. Usually the third happens before the second, as I figure that even if it's not perfect, I should submit it as long as it has a chance to be published and as long as I accept it will be rejected from my first choices in markets.

But really, I never feel that my stories are really "done." Just okay enough that they should go out and make the rounds while I start something new.

Raphee · May 8, 2012

First of all my apologies for disappearing, and not answering in time. The answers are varied, and shows how all of us approach our writiing differently.

Lycoplax said:
I think that whatever we write, be it short stories, novels, memoir, etc, is ours. We created it, and we want it at its best.

This is exactly what I'm beginning to fear: Am I trying to approach perfection, and delaying my progress as a writer.

alimay said:
What does 100% finished mean? Does it mean that it matches up to the perfect image of the story you hold in your mind? I'm not sure it's ever going to be possible to match this. 95% might be the best anyone ever gets... Maybe 98% on a good day.

It's the law of diminishing returns. At some point, revisions aren't going to achieve anything, and you're just fiddling with the words.
Ali

Thanks Ali for a great reply.
I do not hold an image of the perfect story. Especially since I am a panster. I know the word 'inspiration' is frowned upon, but for me it is important. So basically, I am trying to write a story that meets my idea. But where I delay is when I have it finished, and then I wonder, is it really done?
With the current short, I do feel I can go either way: Submit or improve. Its good enough to go, but I feel confident that with a few days behind me I'll improve the central theme and the characters. I might be wrong on both counts.

Jamesaritchie said:
But write the story, read through it once, fix whatever you found wrong, then submit it. You can keep revising a story forever, but it doesn't take long before you're just stirring mud. Revision should make a story better, not just different.

James, What you do needs great confidence I think. Yes, I am afraid that I am stirring quite a lot. Hence I asked the question. If you don't mind, has this approach been successful?

Raphee · May 8, 2012

MJNL said:
Well, you might have found the editing cycle that naturally works for you

What are you doing while you're giving one story its down time? Couldn't you use that space to write something new?

I think this works, but the price is slow progress in my career as a short story writer. We all know how long the journals take to reply.
What I do in the rest of the time is work on my novel. That actually also keeps me away from my short.

RobJ said:
It's done when you're happy to send it out.

Whatever your own personal writing goals are, try to see your output and achievements in those terms.

Rob, thanks. Well that has been my motto so far, send when I'm happy. Is that the correct approach? I am unsure.
I have two personal goals for my shorts:
a) Good reputation journals.
b) To be able to sell a collection of shorts. (perhaps).

I think that if I write enough good shorts in a short while, I may get a chance at a collection. Or am I faulty?

Darkwing said:
I find that my stories are "done" when I look at them and the only thing I feel really compelled to do is fiddle with the language.

At this point with my short I feel that I can do more than fiddle with the language. That I can actually improve the story and the characterization. At the same time it is decent enough to be subbed.
If I were only shifting commas around, I'd definitely submit.

Everyone thank you for great replies.

RobJ · May 8, 2012

Raphee said:
I have two personal goals for my shorts:
a) Good reputation journals.
b) To be able to sell a collection of shorts. (perhaps).

I think that if I write enough good shorts in a short while, I may get a chance at a collection. Or am I faulty?

It's certainly possible. I know several people who've developed a catalogue of stories through placing in literary mags and competitions and had them published as a collection through smaller, independent publishers. Might take a little while to build up a collection of suitable quality.

How do you know It's Done.

Raphee

In debt to AW

Lycoplax

alimay

Jamesaritchie

MJNL

A Little Lost

RobJ

Jamesaritchie

RobJ

Burl Kenneth Sloan

sarahthegrey

gettingby

magicmint

Rhoda Nightingale

Vampire Junkie

Darkwing

Raphee

In debt to AW

Raphee

In debt to AW

RobJ