Perfected or Abandoned

III · Nov 26, 2007

There's a saying that art is never finished, only abandoned. Do you feel that way about your writing, or do you actually reach a point when you say "this cannot be polished further" or "this is exactly what I wanted it to be"? Do you feel you can achieve completion on shorter works or individual chapters, even if you can't achieve it in a novel?

seun · Nov 26, 2007

I've had the perfected idea before...but then after returning to the work a few weeks or months later, I see great chunks of crap that can be vastly improved.

With the piece I'm editing now, I'm very happy with the story but there are definite areas I can improve on.

Prawn · Nov 26, 2007

I only feel "i can't polish this anymore right now" I can always make things better. I do have certain paragraphs, even certain scenes that I think are as good as I could make them, but not books.

KTC · Nov 26, 2007

I definitely abandon. I find I could edit one novel for the rest of my life. I have to abandon them...the obsessive compulsive in me makes me. Otherwise, I'd go mad. Nothing is perfect.

CaroGirl · Nov 26, 2007

Perfect, of course. Everything I write is perfect. Golden, in fact.

I abandon, actually. But not until I've done the striving for perfection thing.

KTC · Nov 26, 2007

CaroGirl said:
Perfect, of course. Everything I write is perfect. Golden, in fact.

Yeah. You're a friggin' shiny jewel.

CaroGirl · Nov 26, 2007

KTC said:
Yeah. You're a friggin' shiny jewel.

I sense a note of sarcasm in your response, Kevin. You cut me deep.

III · Nov 26, 2007

KTC said:
I definitely abandon. I find I could edit one novel for the rest of my life. I have to abandon them...the obsessive compulsive in me makes me. Otherwise, I'd go mad. Nothing is perfect.

So what about shorter works, such as poems?

Shadow_Ferret · Nov 26, 2007

Good enough for government work. That's what I call it and then I send it out.

KTC · Nov 26, 2007

III said:
So what about shorter works, such as poems?

Oh. Don't open that can of worms here, my man. I just throw them down and never look back. I generally don't edit poetry. (on occasion, I have...but almost never.) I just throw it down off the top of my head and abandon it. Sometimes I never even go back and read it. It's FAR from perfect, but I just use it to limber up...I'm not overly concerned with the end product of my poetry writing.

KTC · Nov 26, 2007

CaroGirl said:
I sense a note of sarcasm in your response, Kevin. You cut me deep.

Puuulease. Sarcasm? Me? Never.

Gray Rose · Nov 26, 2007

They are not abandoned. They are born.

I stop editing at some point, which suggests I am not a perfectionist. But it has to be done, otherwise I would be working on the same story, or even the same page of the same story, for ever and ever. And I do not want that; the idea is to make it as good as possible, send it out to betas, get feedback, let it sit, and re-edit; then let go. A distance of a month or two does wonders to one's editing process.

To work on the same WIP forever would be boring anyway.

sunna · Nov 26, 2007

I abandon after several drafts, when I realize that I've made it as good as I can and further edits are actually making it worse now. I've felt something I've written is perfect, or at least pretty damn good, fairly often in my life...and I've gotten old/experienced/cynical enough to know that's generally when my work needs the most work.

*sigh*

If I ever get published, I'm sure I'll never be able to look at the finished product, as I'll just sit there nitpicking until I go craaaaaaaazy.

III · Nov 26, 2007

Shadow_Ferret said:
Good enough for government work.

That was always my dad's favorite expression. You just made me smile.

CandlestickJay · Nov 26, 2007

I read this quote once -

“Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement; then it becomes a mistress, and then it becomes a master, and then a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster, and fling him out to the public.”

Basically, when it gets to the monster stage, you've done all you can to it. Polished, 'perfected' that is it there is no more!

maestrowork · Nov 26, 2007

All I know is that I have abandoned stories -- they were good ideas but I felt I couldn't do any more with them. They were practice runs. It doesn't mean I will never go back and try to rework them. But for now, I have other stories to take care of.

JohnDavidPaxton · Nov 26, 2007

As I've never made anything perfect, it's most assuredly abandon.

JoNightshade · Nov 26, 2007

Perfection is for deities. And all my novels are about imperfect people. Trying to acheive something I try to knock in my own novels would be a bit hypocritical, methinks.

Danger Jane · Nov 26, 2007

Abandon. I could always find SOMETHING new wrong with it if I spent long enough looking.

Death Wizard · Nov 26, 2007

All you can do is the best you can do ... and then move on. Right now I'm reading book six of Steven Erikson's series and I find that I get so caught up in "what's going to happen" that I pay little attention to the prose. Or at least it feels that way to me. Probably his brilliance as a writer is the reason I'm paying so little attention.

Spiral Stairs · Nov 26, 2007

Definitely abandon. That's why I hate it when people say things like, "Don't send your work to agents/publishers unless it's perfect! And you can't make it any better!"

With the benefit of time, I can make anything better. Hell, just within the last couple of weeks I have had some new thoughts about the book that's the subject of queries right now. And if, by some accident of quantum physics, that book is ever bound and published, I will find it in a bookstore and have another idea about how to make it better.

NeuroFizz · Nov 26, 2007

Do your best and then work like hell to make something of it. If it doesn't fly, find out why and see if you can give it wings. That way, even if it never leaves the ground, you'll still learn something and advance your craft. Giving up can become a lifestyle in this business.

ACEnders · Nov 26, 2007

Good enough for government work. That's what I call it and then I send it out.

Shadow - do you work for the gov't? I do, and that so made me laugh! Sad, but true.

I'd like to say there will be a moment when I am perfectly satisfied with my writing. I've written a few poems (for my husband, not published) and I was perfectly satisfied with those, but I've been through my wip so many times..I'm not sure i'll ever say "This is perfect." I think there will always be things I can change.

ishtar'sgate · Nov 26, 2007

III said:
There's a saying that art is never finished, only abandoned. Do you feel that way about your writing, or do you actually reach a point when you say "this cannot be polished further" or "this is exactly what I wanted it to be"? Do you feel you can achieve completion on shorter works or individual chapters, even if you can't achieve it in a novel?

For me, it's true. I reach a point where I must stop tinkering but I'm never completely satisfied. It really doesn't matter to me whether the work is a short piece or novel length, I always feel there's room for improvement. I've just learned when to stop.
Linnea

Feathers · Nov 28, 2007

Some stuff I abandon, knowing that I've written it and never meant to do anymore with it. Some stuff just feels finished. Other times I nit-pick until the deadline is up, read it one more time after I've sent it in, and tear my hair out after seeing all the mistakes I missed. After that I usually calm down, though.

I tend to rely on a feeling of accomplishment. As long as i've done what I set out to do, then it doesn't matter where the writing is, I'm finished. Yay.

-Feathers

Perfected or Abandoned

rockin the suburbs

Horror Man

Writing is finite,revising infinite

Stand in the Place Where You Live

Living the dream

Stand in the Place Where You Live

Living the dream

rockin the suburbs

Court Jester

Stand in the Place Where You Live

Stand in the Place Where You Live

Beware of the Thorns!

rockin the suburbs

Fear the Death Ray

has finally arrived

Tumhe na koci puujetha

The grad students did it

Self-Banned

living in the past

emerging from the writing cave