How do you know when you're done?

Great question, brutus, I wish I knew. It seems to me that there's a law of diminishing returns. With each revision of the whole ms. one finds fewer things to change and it takes longer to decide what to do about them. I am absolutely positive that I've changed wording one way in one revision, and then changed it back in subsequent revisions.

Too many revisions can strip the spontaneity of a work and make it dull. If you don't know for sure that you need to do another revision, then I'd say it's time to get a second opinion. Find yourself a beta reader or post sections for which you want opinions in the Share Your Work section of this forum.

If there's nothing you're CERTAIN needs to be changed, then I think it's time to submit.

Last word: Final revisions are what the editor gets to advise/decide.

Hi Brutus,

I would say it depends on what your subject is. I gave the advice last week to another writer not to change too much of her own style. She's writing a poignant book about the syndrom of her mother and how it affected her. I think a Psychologist prefers someone to write this as truely as possible. This includes the words she uses, that aren't polished. On the other hand, I can imagine that for a technical book, a more polished style is better.

Odile

I don't think it is ever done. Anytime you go back you can find things to change. Don't finish it. Polish it. Declare it done when you cash the checks.

That is a good question.
For me, it is done when I can muster no more energy to improve a single word, and would just as soon throw the whole MS in the fireplace as look at it again.

Then, it is done.

You have to know what your purpose is for the revision. If your goal is to be readable, conversational, and simple then you will know if a particular revision achieved the goal.

If you don't have any goals except to make it "better" then you will not know if a particular revision achieved anything.

So figure out your goal and then you will know when you are done.

Steve

An artist never really finishes a work, he merely abandons it.