When is a Piece Done?

I hear this asked often. How do I know it's ready to be sent out? Or how do I know when to stop? The simple answer is: When you can't find anything else to change.

But how do you get there? Well, there are a few ways.

First, never send out your rough draft. I have to confess, when I started out 41 years ago, I did not follow this advice. Why? Because I was writing on a typewriter. That meant mistakes had to be corrected with White Out. Further, since I was writing screenplays, I had to worry about keeping the format. Adding or deleting more than a few words could cause a page to run on into a new, partial page or leave a large blank space on the existing page. This was unacceptable, visually. In screenwriting, format is pretty much the whole game, at least visually. Structurally as well, since each full page with a balance of white and black - ink and space - is the rough equivalent of one minute of screen time. So, format is important.

But I was new and eager and, well, lazy. Lucky for me, or maybe not, my first screenplay found an agent within a few weeks. (That hasn't happened since - and that was 1979!). Because of that incredible luck, I believed that I could write until it was done and that was that. Send it out!

Wrong. It never worked again.

It took me decades to get to the point that I could do multiple sets of revisions without whining. (Thanks to computers!) But then! I learned the value of that work, as I have discussed in other posts.

However, another "problem" emerged. Okay, now that I am willing to revise as much as is needed... how much IS needed? How do I stop? How do I know WHEN to stop?

So, full circle. Here are some ideas that I shared with my students. #1: Put it down! Once you get through a draft, whether it's a short story, screenplay, or novel: Put it down! Walk away. Work on something else. You need that distance to get a perspective on what you have done. So, it is REALLY important to work on something else, even something short, for a week at least. Totally get away from what you wrote - even better if you can get to the place where you forget what you wrote! That way, you really can see it with fresh eyes. It works.

In my case, I always have several projects going that are in different stages ON the rare occasion that I don't, I create a new one or go back to an old piece and work on that. Anything to break my "dependence" on the piece in question. I use that word because we become dependent on its success. That creates a relationship with the piece that is hard to ignore - impossible if we don't get away from it completely for a while.

How long? That depends - on the length of the piece, how much work you've put into it already, how much time. I.e., how "attached" you are to it. The idea is to break that attachment so that you can be fair and honest about the writing when you go back to it. I'm sure the length of time is different for everyone, but for me it's something like this. For a short story, I will wait at least a few days, maybe a week or two if I have the time. For screenplays, which typically run 105-115 pages for me, I wait at least a week - a month if I can spare it. For a novel, at least 2-3 weeks before going back - preferably a month or two. And again, I ALWAYS work on something else in between. Sometimes, I wait to go back to the first one until I have written another completely, a rough draft, which can take months and months. At that point, it really is interesting to go back to the first piece as I truly don't remember much of it. Sometimes MOST of it! So, it's fun!

So, how do I know when I can do no more? It isn't science; there is no set formula. I think over the years, the longer you do it, the better sense you gain of what that moment is. For me, it's when I go through it, a full Page One rewrite/revision, and feel that I have solved all the plot issues, and the story flows; the dialogue is as it should be, tight and effective; and I have PROBABLY caught all the typos and errata I can. Hint: you can NEVER find them all. But you can find most of them. I use every trick Word offers me: green lines, blue lines, red lines. Not all of them mean there is an error, but most of them do. When there are few of those, and I have checked every one to make sure it is not a problem, I feel that the manuscript is as clean as I can probably get it.

Another trick I taught that has always worked for me, especially with screenplays, is a speed read. I just let my eyes fly over the text. You will be surprised at how many missing words, misused words, etc., you can find doing this. Again, the object is a clean read.

But what about overall? Is it ready to go out? This is of course a subjective call, or can be. But you can also be objective about it. Ask yourself if there are any large changes you feel might be needed. Obviously, if the answer is yes, you are not ready to send it out. But if you feel relatively confident that you have dealt with all the large issues, then allow yourself a sigh of relief.

Ask yourself if you have been honest about finding and fixing all the little stuff. A sloppy manuscript is going to be a rejected manuscript. But even the harshest editors know they too miss things on occasion. So, if you are relatively sure that you have it as clean as it can be, another sigh.

Finally, ask yourself a simple question: Do I like it? Are you, for the most part, happy with the work? Is it what you set out to do? Is it the best you feel you CAN do OVERALL? Are you excited to have someone read it now that you have done all this work? If these answers are yes, let it go. Send it out. Move on.

Keep in mind, you can always go back and work on it some more, later - after you have worked on one or two other projects and completed them at least as rough drafts. Often, I find this is the perfect time to revisit an older piece. I have some distance and I don't feel any pressure to finish it on any schedule. Just loll about and enjoy it! And, when you see that damned typo you missed, fix it. You will likely find some sentences that could be better, a piece of dialogue, a description - something unnecessary that can be cut. Be happy. You have made it better and the next time you send it out, you will feel even better about it.

Should you worry about the one you already sent out now that you know it had a few minor problems? NO! Fuggedaboutit! It's out there. They will either like it or not - and most likely their decision will have nothing to do with the minor changes you made or errors you found. They will be interested in the content, style, and story. If they like or hate your writing, it will have little or nothing to do with your minor errors. If they are looking for a reason to reject it, you never had a chance anyway. So relax and move on.

To recap. The idea is to get your piece as clean as you can with a story as effective as you can make it. You have to be objective and subjective at the same time; but mainly you have to be honest about the writing. How does it work? DOES it work? Do you LIKE it? Is it as good as you can get it RIGHT NOW? Do you want to send it out and see what happens? Do you have something else to work on so you don't drive yourself crazy in the meantime?!

If you answer these yes, send it out - and write, write, write the next stuff. As time goes by, as the years of experience pile up, knowing when it is ready will get easier and easier. It is inevitable.

One last thought. If what you have written is not working - if you just can't make it work - let it go. It happens to all of us. It just happened to me this late in the game. I have a novel I have been piddling with for five years. I put it away, go back to it a year later, start at Page One, get to Act II - and it just stops. No matter what I have tried, I cannot get it to continue. Finally, just the other day, I said: Fuck it. It ain't gonna work. Let it go.

Now THAT is a sigh that feels good.