One of the real traps of writing is that the revision stage can literally last forever, if you let it. There’s always some phrase that could be just a little bit better, always some piece that doesn’t really need to be there, or, as if often the case, some section that needs just a little more explanation or clarification.
It happened to me yet again last night.
My wife, Liz, finished reading the most current draft of my manuscript. She really liked it overall, but she had a few questOne of the real traps of writing is that the revision stage can literally last forever, if you let it. There’s always some phrase that could be just a little bit better, always some piece that doesn’t really need to be there, or, as if often the case, some section that needs just a little more explanation or clarification.
It happened to me yet again last night.
My wife, Liz, finished reading the most current draft of my manuscript. She really liked it overall, but she had a few questions. Some of them I had actually answered the draft she read, but she had simply forgotten, but some others … well, they needed a little something.
Which is such a killer. Forgive the overuse of the quote, but when it comes to this book, it’s like every time I’m out, they pull me back in.
And the thing is, her question was right on the money. It involved a section toward the end that really did need just a little more explanation. It didn’t take long to update, so it wasn’t any trouble, it’s just that I’D FINALLY LOVE TO BE DONE FOR GOOD!
And yet, I don’t want any loose threads or unexplained sections floating around out there. I’m not going to rewrite any turns of phrase or passages that I look back at and think they could be better. At this point, what’s there is there. But when it comes to logic lines or plot, if something’s not quite right, or just doesn’t add up, then I’ll go back and tweak it.
You always think you’re done, but the truth is there’s always something that could be fixed and updated. It’s just a matter of making a decision to be done, and living with it. If you revise forever, that’s all you ever do.
Eventually, it’s just time to move on.
I’d love to say I’m absolutely done at this point–I don’t have any plans to make any more revisions–but if that’s what the manuscript needs, then that’s what I’ll do. It won’t stop me from sending it out to get published, but I’ll tweak if necessary.
Hopefully, I won’t need to tweak for much longer.
