I don't like the quote, "A book is never finished, it's abandoned." I don't like it, because it's true. I think that if I never sat down at a keyboard and tried to type out a manuscript, I might have been blissfully ignorant of this. But, as most of you know, this isn't my fate. And it's probably not yours either.
Writing brings out in me a horrible obsessive compulsive disorder. And I know that this sounds familiar to all of you. You go back over your manuscript once, twice, three times, a fourth time, an eight time, and a twentieth time.
With each pass, you think, "It's perfect" and then on page 2 you notice an error you somehow missed all the nineteen other times. It's maddening.
And even really good editors don't catch all the mistakes. And your prose could always be tightened, reworded, it seems endlessly.
"It was a dark and stormy night."
"Dark clouds and lightning streaks reduced the night to highlights and shadows."
"A storm rolled in and the night wept under its caress."
And on and on and on and on and on.
You could say the same frickin' thing a million different ways.
And thus, you could rewrite every sentence in your book a million different ways. And one of those might be slightly more perfect than the one that you chose.
This is what happens to me sometimes. So eventually, I abandon my work. But I never stop feeling insecure about it. And of course, the reviewers pick it up and point out things as if they were obvious to anyone with an IQ of 80 with an almost condescending "I'd never have this in my own manuscript" tone to their commentary.
So yeah, I'm insecure about abandoning my books and moving on to other stories. But it needs to be done. If you don't let go, you could spend endless years writing and rewriting and editing things. I think I need to be more like my friend Michelle Davidson Argyle. I need to just be happy when I send the manuscript flying out the door and resist the urge to try and revisit it. Oh writer OCD, how I loathe thee *shakes fist at the screen.
Have a great Wednesday.
Absolutely. I 'finished' my first book in 2008...and I've been tinkering with it ever since. I don't feel like it will ever be done.
ReplyDeleteI think this tinkering lessens over time, and you just know how you like to say things. I recently got some unasked-for feedback on some work, saying I use the word "and" too much and I tend to put everything in linear order. To which I thought ... I like things in linear order! And I like the word and! Also, get lost!
ReplyDeleteSo, be assured that when you get to the point of confidence where you're not tweaking and re-tweaking, someone else will try to do it for you. :-)
You need to take on a new project and leave the old ones for a while. That way when you go back you'll have a refreshed perspective and better odds of picking something you'll actually complete and be satisfied with.
ReplyDeleteI've worried about this so many times. It's true that each sentence can be worded so many ways it's ridiculous. If we don't eventually abandon our work, there would be no books for any of us to read.
ReplyDeleteYikes. This is so true. But we go on. We have to.
ReplyDeleteI think the only way to be really done with a book is to move on to the next one. Too busy with the new one to tinker with the old one.
ReplyDeletemood
Moody Writing
Just let them try to write a perfect book!
ReplyDeleteHey, I go over mine so many times, I start changing sentences back to the way they were in the first draft. That's since become the indicator that I am done.
Why do you think I've never read either of my books once they were published? I'd rather not know...
Hi, Michael,
ReplyDeleteThe worst part is when you're still editing after the book is out. Usually though, a red light goes on in my head when I start taking out the commas I put in last time. Yeah, learning to let go is something that comes hard to many of us.
I'm right there with you. It doesn't matter how compulsive I am about it... there is always one more error that I missed. Always.
ReplyDeleteBut you keep getting stuff done. So good for you.
It's always tempting to go on and keep tweaking. Good thing most of us don't have the same power as George Lucas and so once it's out the door it's out of our hands.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely know what you mean. It's a gift and a curse.
ReplyDeleteThis made me laugh. It's so true! Eventually the book needs to be abandoned though, otherwise the next story can't come through.
ReplyDeleteI think "endlessly" is the key word. There is no end to revising. Ever. I've never heard that quote before, I like it.
ReplyDeleteIt's a true quote. I've heard other authors word it slightly differently. One thing you hear a lot in a writing program is people asking guest writers/authors "How do you know when a book/article/poem is done?"
ReplyDeleteThey pretty much always say "It's never done. You just stop working on it."
Writer OCD. Yep. That's me exactly. After this round of revisions, I know I could go over it again, but I know it's good enough (I just joined the group and talked about this), but I have other stories to write and that will never happen if I keep looking back. It's as good as I know how to make it. If an agent or editor catches the magic and has ideas to make it better, I'm all ears. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the label to my insanity.
ReplyDeleteTolkien never voluntarily published anything.
ReplyDeleteI totally understand what you're saying. I continue to edit old posts that no one even reads anymore. When I was an illustrator I knew when a picture was done; it was done when I realized I could only make my illustration different, not better. That was when I signed my name to the piece and that was that. It's been my experience that this sense of finality and completion doesn't happen with writing.
ReplyDeleteMonday night, Mr Bunches (the younger of our twins, for those who don't know) was up late, unable to sleep, at about 9:30 p.m.
ReplyDeleteHe asked for a "Krabby Patty," which is a gummi treat shaped like Spongebob's famous burgers. He loves those things. He is addicted to them.
I got him one and let him eat it and then said "Okay, now go to sleep."
A little while later, he called for me and said "Can I have another Krabby Patty?"
It was 9:45. I got him one, and said "After you eat that, go to sleep."
About 10:15, he called me again and asked if he could have another Krabby Patty. I said "Okay, but this is the absolute last one. No more Krabby Patties" until tomorrow, because I am tough like that. (It's called "parenting.")
As I gave him the Krabby Patty, he said "Last one," and I said "Yeah" and he looked at me with an expression of sadness and betrayal in his eyes because I have never before in six years told him he could not have more Krabby Patties. That look haunts me to this day.
(Granted, it is only a few days later, but it haunts me.)
The moral? I don't know. Something about something. Also, guilt.
Yeah, I get obsessive like that too. But when I really do come down to that point where I'm like Oscar Wilde -- putting a comma in in the morning and taking it out in the afternoon, I know it's time to move on and let someone else worry about it.
ReplyDeleteThere was an artist who had to be banished from the museum because he kept perfecting his piece. For something that doesn't fit under fact, how can we not think each word, sentence, chapter, character, and so on could be improved?
ReplyDeleteI resist the urge to go through a book 'one more time' before sending it out the door. And I'm not too critical of finding the occasional mistake in a book because it's really impossible to catch every one.
ReplyDeleteI don't like that term at all. You are so right. We could rewrite sentences for the rest of our lives and never finish a book.
ReplyDeleteHi Michael
ReplyDeleteIt truly is difficult to stop re-working your story.
Nancy
I talked to my writer friend last night and said almost the same thing. Writers could revise ENDLESSLY. You have to let it go at some point.
ReplyDeleteI still don't like the term "abandoning" for a book, but I can see how it fits. There comes a point when we have to say enough and let it go. And everything can be rewritten, but if it can take time to learn when we shouldn't rewrite something and move on. :)
ReplyDeleteI guess for people who self pub, they never abandon their book. They are free to update it as often as they want even after publishing. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad one. At some point you just have to let go. Says the girl who has never published a novel. :/
ReplyDeleteI have writer OCD, too. It's getting easier to let them go lately. Although, I still hesitate before hitting 'publish', thinking I should read it one more time. Problem is, I'm no longer seeing it straight at that point.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how many mistakes I still come across. My current wip has been to a couple of beta readers and my primary cp has read it 3 times (!!!) and still there are typos and grammar errors that weren't caught the first fifteen times. To be honest? I'll be glad to let it go and start working on something else.
ReplyDeleteI feel that way. However, it's just like children. You always feel they're never ready for the world on their own but you eventually have to let go.
ReplyDeleteYou and I seem to be channeling a similar insecurity this week. It's difficult to ever get it completely right, but you're correct when you say we do eventually have to abandon our manuscript *gulp* and move on.
ReplyDeleteThere's always a point when I think that a passage or chapter in my latest manuscript is really, really good. But later when I'm in the editing stages I find mistakes, or I think some sentences are mediocre, or that the scene is missing something -- can't quite put my finger on it. It seems that if you're not neurotic when you begin writing a story, you're definitely neurotic by the time you're finished.
ReplyDeleteThat writer OCD gets me too... so hard to finally say a book is finished. I could tinker with my story forever.
ReplyDeleteYou said it best...."Oh writer OCD, how I loathe thee *shakes fist at the screen.*"
ReplyDeleteI had a hard time letting go of my last project, to finally accept it, and move on to another, but I did... for now. :D
Oh writer OCD, how I loathe thee *shakes fist at the screen.
ReplyDeleteUh huh, says it all Mike.
I sent my women's fiction novel out to about 6 critiquers. They all had excellent (and varied) responses to the novel. I eventually had to put the book aside and get some distance from the feedback because I wanted to revise based on everything.
Eventually; you have to make a decision, use or not use what is offered, and be satisfied enough with the result to send to a publisher/agent.
"The End" isn't just a couple words that ends the ms. Its a whole concept the author has to accept. It can be devastating, and invigorating, and ambiguous.
......dhole
Aww, you mentioned me! If it helps you any, The Breakaway is doing amazingly well right now, and I still feel incredibly insecure about the book. In fact, I sometimes think it's the worst thing I've ever written. Notice I say the word "sometimes" ... my emotions for that book swing back and forth like you wouldn't believe. The problem is that I revisited it! And I revisited it because I had to revisit it in order to write the sequel. It was difficult not to call up my publisher and say, hey, there's like 800 things I'd like to tweak in The Breakaway. Can we do a second edition? Yeah, right!
ReplyDeleteYou're right that you need to be happy when you send a book out there. Being confident in your work ... even when you know it has flaws ... is the sign of a great writer, I think. :)
I totally hear you on this one. You probably guessed that though, considering it took me eleven years to get from first idea to final product. Even now, I'm still worried about decisions I could/should have made. But like you say, sooner or later, you have to abandon it!
ReplyDeleteIt sure is tough when you want everything to be perfect. I love it when I change a word or a phrase, just to change it back on the next editing round. That's when I know it's time to stop.
ReplyDelete