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How do you know when to stop working on a story?

BelleCanzuto

BelleCanzuto

Professional Sloth
Joined
Mar 19, 2019
Posts
2,755
I'm a very newbie, and I only have seven stories published. But, I'm already addicted to that red "H", and I'm obsessing over my latest potential submission. It's in a genre I've not submitted for before, and it's a premise that I haven't seen in that genre. So, I don't have a good sense of how it will go over.

I sent it to a volunteer editor, and got a positive response. But that aspect of having another person look at it is also feeding my uncertaintiy.

I put it away for a while to work on my Nude Day submission, and a couple of other stories. But I want to finish it without "polishing" it into dust. So, what are your techniques for figuring out when to stop?

(It's a mind control story narrated by the person who's mind is being controlled; who's having a moment of clarity about what's been happening to them)

Thanks for the advice.
 
I stop working on it when it's been published--and I try to do little messing around with it other than filling out some of the detail and honing up some of the thematic work between the first draft and the final publication.
 
I mean, it's done when it's done, no?

You're the writer. If you don't know when you're done, how would we?

Less flippantly, the answer to your question depends entirely on how you work. If you're one of those draft, redraft, reredraft, send to an editor, get it back, rereredraft, tinker, then rerereredraft once more, I can offer nothing because that's not how I work.

I edit as I go. When I'm through with the rough version, I go back through precisely once, and quickly, to make sure it's got good continuity. Then I'm finished. Completely finished. I never go back in and tinker; I'm on to the next one. I dislike creative things (stories, paintings, movies, songs) that are overly polished; I feel the further they get from the creative moment, the less unique they are.
 
I'm fortunate, I think, in that my stories are 98% first draft - it's the rawness that works for me. I self edit as I go along, reviewing the last writing session before I commence the next section, tidying up typos, changing words, tweaking the occasional sentence here and there.

Sometimes, if there's a weaker section, I let it go by as is - I usually find myself circling around an intense section as if to find the right way into it, and there's a calm beforehand. I notice it, but I'm not sure if readers do (or if they do, they're polite enough not to tell me).

That's my approach, I don't scrub my text. If there aren't jewels in it when first written, no amount of rework will discover them. That way, once the storyline reaches its conclusion, the text is ready, too. I'll read it over once or twice, pass it to a beta reader if there's one around, then submit. By that stage I'm usually thinking about my next piece and want to move on from the previous one. I've learned not to fuss.
 
At the risk of sounding flippant: stop when you get to the end.

Like Keith D, I tend to write lean and then add in. But there comes a point when you’ve said what you set out to say. Beyond that point, you are just jabbering.

Good luck.
 
Alas, fiction must make sense, unlike reality. So a made-up story ends when the author senses it to be finished.

It helps to have trained in software analysis, where complex tasks are broken down into discrete steps, like poetry for robots. Initialize; process; terminate. Know the inputs and desired outputs; process as needed. When the output is as desired, it's time to stop re-coding.

I've mentioned some of my fiction-writing techniques.

1) Know the entire script, like a diary or history. Blog it.
2) Visualize an ending. Setup everything to reach that point.
3) Create a setting, some plot points, and players; set them loose and transcribe their words and deeds.

Stop when you're done with a logical unit.
 
electricblue66 said:
I'm fortunate, I think, in that my stories are 98% first draft - it's the rawness that works for me. I self edit as I go along, reviewing the last writing session before I commence the next section, tidying up typos, changing words, tweaking the occasional sentence here and there.

~snip~

That's my approach, I don't scrub my text.
Click to expand...

The only thing I've been doing differently than you is that I do let it sit for a while, then do one last pass through to check for technical errors and get rid of excess verbiage (cuz my initial drafts tend to be overly wordy).

I think the story is 98% done, I'm just having difficulty letting it go, and I'm more nervous about it than the others (though this is about as low stakes as you can get...)
 
BelleCanzuto said:
I think the story is 98% done, I'm just having difficulty letting it go, and I'm more nervous about it than the others (though this is about as low stakes as you can get...)
Click to expand...
You've done all you can do, then. Your little baby will have to stand on its own two feet in the big wide world. Time to push it out of the nest. There are always more eggs :).
 
BelleCanzuto said:
I'm a very newbie, and I only have seven stories published. But, I'm already addicted to that red "H", and I'm obsessing over my latest potential submission. It's in a genre I've not submitted for before, and it's a premise that I haven't seen in that genre. So, I don't have a good sense of how it will go over.

I sent it to a volunteer editor, and got a positive response. But that aspect of having another person look at it is also feeding my uncertaintiy.

I put it away for a while to work on my Nude Day submission, and a couple of other stories. But I want to finish it without "polishing" it into dust. So, what are your techniques for figuring out when to stop?

(It's a mind control story narrated by the person who's mind is being controlled; who's having a moment of clarity about what's been happening to them)

Thanks for the advice.
Click to expand...

It sounds like you've already done a lot of work. Ever heard the question "would you like the work perfect and late or good and on time?" The second option is the right answer in a professional environment, so why not the hobby environment too?

You can try to improve something forever and it will never be quite perfect. If you got some positive feedback from people saying "hey this good." and "Oh wow, I like this" then it's probably ready for the world, and then you have another story to write.

I mean, the hint of what you posted already sounds interesting enough of a premise, and if you've got the big H's before, than you obviously know how to write.

So are waiting for a little bit more feedback or are you trying to chase the ever moving goal post of 'perfection'?
 
Hemingway said something like, "Writing is easy. Just sit at the keyboard and bleed." When you're bled out, the story is done.
 
BelleCanzuto said:
I think the story is 98% done, I'm just having difficulty letting it go, and I'm more nervous about it than the others (though this is about as low stakes as you can get...)
Click to expand...

If it only feels like 98%, there may be something in there that doesn't feel quite right, but you haven't put the finger on yet. My first drafts usually have bits that range from "doesn't quite hit the right tone", to "jarringly out of place". My final passes are about finding these and fixing them. There does come a time when being tired of looking at it outweighs any lingering doubt. That's when I know I'm done.
 
I’m relatively new here as well, with 2 stories published. I go with Maeven’s thought - is it good, or is it perfect? If you wait until you think it’s perfect, you’ve published your last story.

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head about being addicted to the hot tag. Forget it. My first story went “H” and is still there. My follow up isn’t, but has more views and likes. Which is the better story? Personally I think the second, because the first now looks very amateurish.

I write what I want for me first, then if someone else likes it, great.

It’s not like our livelihood is hanging on what we publish here, just our egos.

Russ
 
BelleCanzuto said:
The only thing I've been doing differently than you is that I do let it sit for a while, then do one last pass through to check for technical errors and get rid of excess verbiage (cuz my initial drafts tend to be overly wordy).

I think the story is 98% done, I'm just having difficulty letting it go, and I'm more nervous about it than the others (though this is about as low stakes as you can get...)
Click to expand...

This is my approach:

1: Write the story - no editing as it ruins the flow
2. Read and edit. Add everything I forgot the first time: age, hair colour, sharpen the dialogue
3. Let it rest for a few days/weeks
4. Read and edit again. Add more text if the plotline is too weak. Realising: "Did I write this?"
5. Post and close your eyes
6. Wait and pray that some readers will like it. Still, you've written it for yourself, haven't you?

As for the red H. Yes, I adore those as well, but when you're new to a category it's not easy to know what is appreciated and what is not. You'll learn that by the feedback. Generally, a good story is a good story, no matter which category you put it in.

So, the best advice will be: Just publish and wait for the response. You can always post an edited version if needed. Just knowing that is possible makes it easier for me to hit the publish button.

Hope that this helps :)

P.S. I just published my first werewolf story in NonHuman. Total agony. Expected to be eaten alive, basically. Result: a lot of new readers and a nice shiny H on the story. Puuuh. Sometimes it pays off to gamble. Just go for it! :D
 
I don't really have this problem. The problem for me looms earlier in the process. My pace of writing varies to an extreme degree. Usually as I write I go through periods of doubt about whether the story is worth it. I edit a lot as I go.

By the time I'm finished, the story usually is in pretty good shape. I'll edit it, and then proofread it a few times, and then hit the submit button. I'm eager to get it off my desk, so to speak, and to move on to one of the many other stories on my story idea list. I don't worry about whether it's polished to perfection. One of the primary goals of submitting stories on Literotica is to keep getting better with my writing, and I figure I'm better off spending my time writing new stories than polishing old ones to perfection.

My impression, too, is that you have little to gain in terms of your story's performance by proofing and re-proofing. Literotica readers are fairly tolerant of proofreading mistakes. They care more about the story, the characters, and the sex, and by the time my first draft is done it's not likely that I'm going to change any of those very much. So at that point I have no difficulty letting my babies go.
 
electricblue66 said:
Once you get the little darlings written. Are you having more luck with that, these days?
Click to expand...

Not much. They've been slow developing. My attention has been focused elsewhere. I want to submit a story for the summer lovin competition but I'd have to dramatically increase my writing pace to make a go of it. I'm going to try.
 
SimonDoom said:
Not much. They've been slow developing. My attention has been focused elsewhere. I want to submit a story for the summer lovin competition but I'd have to dramatically increase my writing pace to make a go of it. I'm going to try.
Click to expand...
You gotta stop getting distracted around here, then ;).

Good luck!
 
I'm surprised to read how many writers here edit while they're writing. I think I've mentioned it before in a different thread on here, but use what I like to call the "run and don't look back" approach. I plan out the general storyline of my story beforehand and then just start writing, and don't stop until the story is done. Then I leave it for a few days at least, and go back to edit it in several passes. Usually by the second or third time I'm fairly convinced it's about done, it's more so to catch typos, grammar issues, inconsistencies and other big problems. If I let myself edit while writing I will keep tinkering and the story will never be done.
 
ThisNameIsntTakenYet said:
I'm surprised to read how many writers here edit while they're writing. I think I've mentioned it before in a different thread on here, but use what I like to call the "run and don't look back" approach. I plan out the general storyline of my story beforehand and then just start writing, and don't stop until the story is done. Then I leave it for a few days at least, and go back to edit it in several passes. Usually by the second or third time I'm fairly convinced it's about done, it's more so to catch typos, grammar issues, inconsistencies and other big problems. If I let myself edit while writing I will keep tinkering and the story will never be done.
Click to expand...

I don't know how I would write this way, because as I write I often get new ideas about how to do things that require going back and rewriting previous sections. If I did not do it when the idea comes to me, then I might forget it. Plus, if I know I'm going to go back and rewrite something I've written -- inserting something relevant to the plot, for example -- then why wouldn't I do it immediately? Assuming I'm determined to make the edit, then if I don't make the edit my story no longer makes sense. I like to make sure that as I write everything I've written up to that point makes sense. If I have to go back at the end and redo it I'm much more likely to miss things and it's much more likely to be a mess.
 
BelleCanzuto said:
I put it away for a while to work on my Nude Day submission, and a couple of other stories. But I want to finish it without "polishing" it into dust. So, what are your techniques for figuring out when to stop?
Click to expand...
My stories go through a process - write, edit, send to beta-readers, incorporate their feedback, send to editor, incorporate his edits, publish. That gets my story up to a level of polish that I'm happy with. The story doesn't have to be perfect when I send it out to beta-readers as I'll know I'll make quite a few changes when I get their feedback.
 
SimonDoom said:
I don't know how I would write this way, because as I write I often get new ideas about how to do things that require going back and rewriting previous sections. If I did not do it when the idea comes to me, then I might forget it. Plus, if I know I'm going to go back and rewrite something I've written -- inserting something relevant to the plot, for example -- then why wouldn't I do it immediately? Assuming I'm determined to make the edit, then if I don't make the edit my story no longer makes sense. I like to make sure that as I write everything I've written up to that point makes sense. If I have to go back at the end and redo it I'm much more likely to miss things and it's much more likely to be a mess.
Click to expand...

I understood editing to mean fixing small stuff like phrasing and grammar. If I do need to rewrite a part because I have a new idea or need to fix something because it's now inconsistent with a scene I wrote later I'll do that right away of course. I just meant that I don't stress grammar and phrasing too much until the story is done and then fix all those smaller issues in one go, rather than a little at a time.
 
ThisNameIsntTakenYet said:
I understood editing to mean fixing small stuff like phrasing and grammar. If I do need to rewrite a part because I have a new idea or need to fix something because it's now inconsistent with a scene I wrote later I'll do that right away of course. I just meant that I don't stress grammar and phrasing too much until the story is done and then fix all those smaller issues in one go, rather than a little at a time.
Click to expand...

OK, got it. I didn't understand what you meant. In that case my method isn't too different. I do try to take care with spelling and grammar as I write my first draft and if I find mistakes I'll correct them before I'm done, but I don't visit what I've written over and over again for editing purposes of that sort.
 
ThisNameIsntTakenYet said:
I'm surprised to read how many writers here edit while they're writing. I think I've mentioned it before in a different thread on here, but use what I like to call the "run and don't look back" approach. I plan out the general storyline of my story beforehand and then just start writing, and don't stop until the story is done. Then I leave it for a few days at least, and go back to edit it in several passes. Usually by the second or third time I'm fairly convinced it's about done, it's more so to catch typos, grammar issues, inconsistencies and other big problems. If I let myself edit while writing I will keep tinkering and the story will never be done.
Click to expand...
I do much like this. I'm a plotter, so I develop my characters as I write. Occasionally, I've developed my characters enough that I feel like I need to go back and review what I've written to get everything consistent. Sometimes I'll have an idea that I plan to write about that I discover I need to have sooner than I was expecting, and that'll force a total story review. Or I am about to write the final sex scene (which I almost always dread writing) so I'll do a full story review as a way of stalling.
 
ThisNameIsntTakenYet said:
I'm surprised to read how many writers here edit while they're writing. I think I've mentioned it before in a different thread on here, but use what I like to call the "run and don't look back" approach. I plan out the general storyline of my story beforehand and then just start writing, and don't stop until the story is done. Then I leave it for a few days at least, and go back to edit it in several passes. Usually by the second or third time I'm fairly convinced it's about done, it's more so to catch typos, grammar issues, inconsistencies and other big problems. If I let myself edit while writing I will keep tinkering and the story will never be done.
Click to expand...

For me, the entire concept of "keep tinkering" doesn't enter into it. If I'm in full spate, all the pistons firing, cranking out words, it's no problem for me to think about what I just wrote, decide whether it's good, and then go back and change it to something stronger. The whole piece is a constant work in progress.

Until, more to the topic of this thread, it's not.

I know that no tinkering is needed afterward because the tinkering has already been done by the time I'm finished. The more I tinker after that, the further it gets from my original, genuine voice. So I don't.

To me, it's more of a mindset than a technique. Can a piece be made perfect, or is that a chimera? If it can be made perfect, is that desirable if it's not what the writer produced at (or near) the moment the idea emerged?

Editing, to me, is always just a hunt for typos and small errors. It's never a wholesale rewriting. Pieces that get written from start to finish, over days rather than weeks, seldom have big continuity errors.
 
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