How Do You Know When a Story is Done?

After my last post about finishing writing projects someone
wrote to ask me when you know a story is, indeed, done.   

Good question.

Unfortunately there’s not a clear cut answer to it.  So I will try to explain how I “know” when it is time to let a story go and move on to writing something else.  

I am the sort of writer who writes draft after draft.  Most of my fiction passes through about
a dozen drafts before I show it to anyone. But even I reach a point where I start to have the vague feeling that a piece is done. 

Usually at that point I can no longer figure out how to make the story better.  I can’t think of
anything to add, or subtract (equally as important, by the way). There is also a mental check list I go through.  I check to see that each scene leads naturally to the next.  I trace the arc of the story from set up, to build up, to climax, to resolution.  I think of this as the skeleton that holds the story up so  I make sure it is strong and complete.  I make sure that my protagonist has gone on a journey and has changed in some way.  This change can be a subtle or major, but must happen for a story to be complete. 

If I am satisfied with all of this, I put the story away for a few weeks and work on other things. 
I put it away so that I can forget it.  So that when I return to it, I read it with fresh eyes.  I am trying to read it like a reader would – not like the author of the story would.  That’s a big difference!

Usually when I read it after a few weeks I spot a few problems.  Maybe something could be
better explained.  Maybe a section drags and the tempo needs to be picked up.  Then I fix those things. 

The very last test I put my story through is to read it out loud.  I never, ever skip this
step.  It is amazing what our eye misses, but our ear quickly picks up.  This is the final word by word edit and each word is tested here to make sure it is the absolute right one.  The English language is large and rich and precise.  Words are my tools and I want to make sure that I have chosen the best ones for the job.  I am also listening for awkward sentences and turns of phrases. 
I’m trying to smooth out all the bumps in the writing.  This stage always feels like I am walking across ice, that I am testing each word with my weight to make sure it holds. 

Knowing when a story is finished is a bit of a black art, but once a piece of writing has passed the “read out loud” test for me, I know it is done.  It’s time to let it go.  And a confession: that moment when I know a story is finished, is my absolute favourite one as a writer.  It is thrilling to be published, and it is great to have readers say nice things about my work, but what I love best is that private moment when I know I have brought a character to life.  That I have let them speak. 
That I have let them use me to tell their story.  

It is that feeling that keeps bringing me back to my desk.