My friend Ruth is an inspiration. She is finishing her MFA in poetry at Bennington this spring, and is in the home stretch with her thesis. Home stretch being one more draft, and then the final edit. And then she is done. Right?
No. She won’t be done. Her thesis will be completed, printed, bound, and put on the shelves. She will give her lecture. But I know her–she will probably tweak the poems at a rest stop on her way up to Vermont. She is not the only poet who continues to tweak. I read three versions of a poem by Seamus Heaney. It changed a bit every time it was published. In poetry, every single word is a critical choice, and rethinking those choices is OK.
Once a novel is published, it is rare that someone goes in and changes it. I have heard it happen when an egregious error needs to be fixed. But is it the norm? No. But…
I have been querying a novel that is “done”. And then I took a workshop with Donald Maass. And now I am considering getting rid of a character, changing a relationship from cordial to icy, and making my protagonist bitchier. Now, I could just take what I learned and apply it to the next book. But since I want this to be a series, and this work would make it a better book, I am going to go back and “fix” it. But I am going to give myself a timeline–it goes back to the “done” pile by July 1.
“Books are never finished, they are merely abandoned.” Oscar Wilde was right. Done is never done, but at some point you need to move on.
Does this happen to you? The obsessive need to tweak? Or is done, done?
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J.A. Hennrikus is the Executive Director of StageSource. She is a mystery writer who has her story “Her Wish” published in DEAD CALM, an anthology by Level Best Books. She is a huge social media fan, and tweets under @JulieHennrikus. She wrestles with allusions of athleticism, is an avid theater goer and a proud member of Red Sox nation.
And the problem is that I am then never quite sure which version I used where…
That happens to me as well. Or I get convinced that another draft has more brilliant edits than the one I am working on now. But that may be part of the process as well
I don’t have anything published yet and I haven’t sent out a novel manuscript, but at least with short stories I’ve tweaked them each time I’ve sent them out.
Interesting note; Neil Gaiman has tweaked his American Gods in pretty much every version it has appeared so far. If I remember correctly the 10th anniversary edition had some 10 pages worth of stuff that had been cut from the first published version.
Interesting about Neil Gaiman. I wonder if authors putting backlists on Kindle, etc. are also looking at their older work.
Done is done — unless it isn’t: I work on something until it feels complete, but then I listen. Sometimes, especially with songs, another verse will appear in my head after I think I am finished, perhaps in the next day or two. When all is done, there is radio silence — no more words appearing in my head related to that project.
I thought I had radio silence, but then the workshop got me thinking. And the thinking won’t stop, so I need to listen again. But the good news is, I am listening.
Aside from the fact I have finished my FIRST book so I’m not exactly an expert, I can answer by saying with nearly everything I do write, including articles, I ALWAYS feel like I want to tweak. I look back on some of my published stuff and cringe. It’s published so that means it’s okay, right? Wrong!
I don’t know if the need to tweak will ever go away. I’m not sure if it’s supposed to but at some point if we don’t let go of the need to tweak, we don’t earn a living, we don’t get to share what we write.
Oops, I meant to say (typo)…I HAVEN’T finished my first book…
I agree, The letting go is critical so we can move on. But it is so hard to do! Especially with longer work, I am finding.
Yes! Some say when it’s done you’ll know…but I think that’s a load of boloney.
It does feel like it can change day to day…
I constantly tweak. Right down to the very last name on my query list, I’ll be changing something.
The best advice I heard about this was from Hallie Ephron. She said to save a file, and then edit away, knowing you can go back it you need to.
Done is and should be done. That which you have chosen to cast a light has been illuminated, and your notion has been completed. Let your new idea inform your next work.
Agreed, though with what I hope is a launch of a series, I want to get it right. But at some point this does need to feed the next book.
Well put. I’ll follow you and check in to see how your writing has progressed. Keep it up!
Thanks for your input – I just started writing again! My writing coach tells me “you can spin quite a yarn!!” but I seem to keep making changes to those pieces already “done” Thought I was crazy – but guess it might me – Normal?
Definitely normal.
Yes, absolutely! In fact: “Books are never finished, they are merely abandoned.” spot on Oscar Wilde – I find myself hiding my poetry from my view for six months before I give it a final tweaking. Even then, a year later I’m not happy with it. It never ends.
Poetry is such a challenge, because each word choice really has weight. Such a process!
I am still working on my first novel and don’t know if it will even be they way i think I wantit to be
Getting what lives in your head on paper with its vibrancy in tact, that is the challenge for me.
I know and then they go and do what they want
What drives me insane is that I think I’m done, that I’m happy with something, so I put it aside. Then I go back and re-read it – geez, every time I see something I want to change, doesn’t feel just right, needs ‘tweaking.’ Since I’m getting a collection of short stories together to self publish, I’ve been sending them to an editor for review. I’ve decided to trust my editor – what he says it what I will go with – it’s helping me to quit questioning myself so much
The outside editor is such a great idea. I should think about that as well. Good luck with the short stories.
The editor I’ve hired is Scott Morgan with http://www.write-hook.com/ His prices have been very reasonable and he’s quite experienced.
In my case, none of my novels have ever even made it to “done”, and it’s because of that insesent desire to tweek. I have one novel I’ve been working on for approximately 10 years now. I have rewritten it (from scratch!) at least four times, and because of that continuing desire to go back and fix some things (and completely change others) I’ve never actually gotten to the end of that story. It drives me mad, but I keep doing it. I’m working on something else at the moment, but I’ll always return to that particular story, and every time I return to it I’ll find something to change. >.<
I can completely relate to this. I am coming up to 8 years on this one novel, that I can’t stop changing and tweeking. It’s driving me nuts.
NaNoWriMo actually helped me with that problem…not cured, but helped. lol Since I desperately want to complete the challenge, writing during NaNoWriMo is the one time of the year when I don’t constantly edit and rewrite. I just WRITE. It’s quite freeing, really.
The novel I wrote about has been “cooking” for several years. I do hear from friends with contracts that I will miss these days of tweaking should I ever have contractual deadlines. That must be an adjustment.
I have the tendency to be done right away with poetry. It comes, I think from somewhere not even in me, and when it happens I better have a pen ready or it’s gone. I rarely tweak. With other writing, it’s different every time. Sometimes one tweak, sometimes ten!
Sounds like you and your poetry muse have a great thing going. My muse and I keep wrestling.
This happens to me everytime I hit the Publish button! After posting a random thought, I have to go back to it and tweak it a bit..
The great thing about blogging is that you can always tweak if you want to. I’ve made mistakes that readers have pointed out, and been able to correct them while riding the subway. How cool is that?
Pretty cool
Yep, me too, an inveterate tweaker who often gets up in the middle of the night to jot down the latest amendment. Are we perfectionists or just ditherers? If you love theatre you might enjoy my blog about Shakespeare’s 400th anniversary on 23rd April 1964.
My daughter lives in Vermont and I have never been there. How I wish I could. Hope it goes well.
Will check out your blog! “Are we perfectionists or just ditherers” is the quote of the day. I suspect I dither far too often…
I do it to my bolg posts all the time. I have to tell myself to stop and leave it alone, unless it is something that needs to be fixed, like a typo or something.
I wonder how a blog of the same post edited daily would look? Or a blog post edited by a lot of people? There is always something to change…
A blog edited by a lot of people would be like Wikipedia. I wonder if the intent of the content would change like a whisper game of “Pass it along.”
It would be an interesting experiment.
It might be fun for a poem or blog to be edited by anyone who reads it – there could be a fabulous outcome but it would not reflect the blogger’s initial feelings. But sometimes you just see where a different word or line could make a good blog great.
hi j.a., i have a novel that has been accepted for publication but at one stage i had a longer version of it that i lost. i keep itching to have another search for it so i can put the ‘extra’ bits in my current version.
Congratulations on your publication! And I hear you about “adding”, but maybe your new vision is actually better?
I tweak and tweak and eventually I just have to let it be done. I try not to look at the work again, because if I did, I would want to tweak it more.
I think that may be the answer. I get caught every time I go to a workshop and need to bring my WIP. The tweaking starts again.
I am a tweaker and I can’t see when it is done. I need someone else to tell me that.
Preferably someone who is going to publish it.
This happens to me a lot, and is why I sometimes wonder if I’m a better poet than novelist. I like writing both, but this obsessive perfectionism is a large part of the reason it took me a very long time to get past chapter 1 in my novel. I can only get past it by accepting that there are things I’ve written I’ll want to change and refusing to change them until I’ve finished a draft.
With a short poem I can much more easily finish a draft before the tweaking begins. Then I tweak plenty.
They are very different worlds, and skill sets. I don’t know if being a novelist requires less perfectionism, or if it requires a broader lens.
You’re right about them being very different. I think writing a novel probably does require as much perfectionism as writing a poem, but for me at least I have to bury that perfectionism if I want the story to go anywhere. Then I give it free rein in the editing stage!
Poetry is not my line of specialization.But judging from what you said it seem to interest the writer and the reader at the same time.With your help I will try it soon
Have fun–I am a terrible poet, but I try. My words require a much longer form.
Hi Julie,
Great post. I worry that I’m too much of a perfectionist to get something “Done”. As a result I have a lot of fiction that has never seen the light of day. Simply because I don’t believe it is done.
Now I’ve bitten the bullet and started contributing to story-time.me, a serial novel site set up by a friend of mine. I think this will help me a lot as it encourages regular publication of the next chapter (the direction of which is determined by readers’ votes) so there’s a self-imposed deadline I guess, to get it written to satisfaction to the point of Done. If I don’t have a deadline I’ll never stop revising!
Thanks again.
Cheers,
R
I am going to check out story-time.me. It sounds fascinating. And deadlines are a good thing. SO helpful.
Great! Thanks Julie. Love to know what you think of it.
Thank goodness the obsessive need to tweak is not a pitfall for me with my writing. Weighing the moral leadership and faith leadership positions I am implying with each segment completed IS something that holds me back from time to time. Then I study some more helpful feedback and guidance from trusted online sources (such as this blog!) and move on.