Knowing when a fic is done...

[annerbhp]

I probably spend more time than I should thinking about writing (rather than, uh, actually writing), but something on my mind lately is the issue  of knowing when a fic is really done and ready to post. 
I know this can vary from fic to fic, depending on what you're writing and why (comment fic, say, or a quick sliver of crack can be pumped out in

Comments

[schjesska]

Hm, very, very interesting

[annerbhp]

Very true. I had this English teacher a billion years ago who loved to say, "Done is better than good!" whenever we started obsessing over our projects. She was like, "if you don't stop obsessing you are never going to do it and get an F. Is that what you want?" Lol. I remember thinking she was mad at the time, now I am finally appreciating her wisdom

[schjesska]

Hm. No, I don't find it hard to leave my stories alone since I sadly gave up being really obsessed with them some time ago, because real live has really taken its toll on me. But I understand it, when I was younger I totally lived in my stories...

No, don't be in awe. For me it totally depens on the stories if I have to write them in English or in German, depends on how ambitious I am, if it gets more complex, if I want to address more things on different levels, I'll have to write it in German.
But for shorter things, English is just fine... Depends.
Yeah, it's really, really cool, because nobody judges you despite yourself...
But I also experienced rather positive things in RL writing workshops...
Love.

[holdouttrout]

Yeah. I'm all mysterious. "It's done when it's done." Or..."When I can no longer stand to look at it sitting on my harddrive."

Which basically means that I am not yet at the same place you are about it.

[annerbhp]

Ah, yes. The mysteries of the muse. I think "Bleh! I just want to be done with this damn thing already!" has decided the issue for me far too many times. lol

You probably just aren't as mental as me. Ok, not probably, definitely. ;)

[beanpot]

It all depends on why I'm writing something. If it is just a drabble or a little ficlet, then I tend to walk away for a bit (24 hours) before returning to tweak and post. If it is a fic that I am writing just for me and for anyone else who may decide to read it, than I will send it to a beta and may spend a few days on it.

However, if it is something for a ficathon or for someone personally, than I end up fretting, pondering, rearranging, changing, sending drafts and re-drafts to betas, and hoping they don't hate it.

[annerbhp]

It's amazing how much stress we put on ourselves over the ficathon pieces. For some reason, I never think of them as being for someone in particular (which maybe is bad), but I assume people signed up for it for the same reasons I did: they wanted an excuse to write a fic. I swear I turn my fic in and then am always surprised when I see a fic written with my prompt I couldn't even remember giving. lol. I think I am actually more likely to churn out a ficathon a bit early just because of that hard and fast deadline.

If I swear to give up ficathons is there any chance of anyone believing me? ;)

[gabolange]

I'm currently working on draft four of a story. My process involves thinking, writing, editing, sending off to a beta, discussing, rewriting, editing, repeating until both my beta and I can figure out that it's where we think it needs to be for it to be comprehensible and well-received.

This process of working through ideas and then bouncing them around with someone else is one of my favorite things about writing--especially because sometimes I get so involved that I have a hard time stepping back and making sure my read on a character or a situation is the right one and having another set of eyes is extraordinarily valuable. Then again, the whole thing can take for freakin' ever! Draft four! :D

[pellucid]

You could call it tweaking draft 3 if you prefer, I think, in this particular case. Depends on whether you'd rather wear the four drafts like a badge! :)

[gabolange]

Nah. And you're right, it really is more like draft 3+. I didn't start a new file, so it must not truly be draft four! :)

[annerbhp]

Yes, I think betas are essential to this process, especially a beta who won't let you get away with anything, the ones who just *know* when you are cheating. My problem is that I get all anal about letting a beta even look at it before I'm completely satisfied. Which is dumb, because there is nothing, absolutely nothing more valuable than someone willing to read and say, "ok, this is what worked for me, is this is what didn't. this and that were unclear." It makes me see those bits I was valiantly trying to ignore.

Wow, draft four. Maybe I'm not so crazy. ;)

[pellucid]

Interesting post!

I've had a bumpy relationship with revision in fic-writing. Because I spend a large part of my professional life reading and writing analytical non-fiction (and revising it over and over and over again) and another large part of it teaching other people how to do the same, one might think that I would have applied that same good writing habits to my fanfic writing right off the bat. One would be wrong. Much of fanfic's appeal has always been that it's not work writing: no pressure, none of the icky unpleasant part of work writing, and for a while this meant I didn't do a great deal of revision. Sure, I made sure all the grammar was right and all that, but nothing more.

The problem was, though, that I wanted to write better fanfic, and the person-with-good-writing-skills in me well knows that one of the main ways to get better is to revise. I've been coming to it slowly and have finally started to really relish it as part of the fanfic process (somehow it still feels no-pressure, but it has become fun instead of

[gabolange]

As for when I know something is done? When gabolange tells me it is! :)

Hee! And it absolutely goes both ways!

[annerbhp]

It's always great to have a partner in crime, someone willing to talk a lot about the process. Writing can be a lonely activity sometimes!

As for when I know something is done? When gabolange tells me it is! :) (or when the ficathon entry is due!)

Ha! When your beta tells you to just get over it, I imagine that must be a point to let go. Lol. Deadlines seem to have less and less sway over me. That used to be the number one reason I liked ficathons! Deadlines! But I seem to be able to ignore them quite well now. Bummer.