As I did my recent big edit of my first novel, I kept a list of ideas and thoughts of things I might like to change in the story or stuff that I thought might still be able to be improved. Because I was finishing it up with a deadline in mind (to submit it to the ABNA contest), then the list still exists. I didn’t do every single thing I’d thought of.
Will my novel ever be finished, really?
That’s a very good question. Some of the stuff on the list is mere speculation – could I include some extra description here or there for a character or setting – stuff I would need to sit down and really consider if it improves the novel in any way or not; just ideas that I had as I went along, basically.
Other points on the “still to do” list are about character development – could I go through the novel again and smooth out the development over time of the main characters a little bit more? The main reason this is still on the list is that I tried to do this, and couldn’t. I simply couldn’t read with “new enough” eyes to figure out what a normal reader would understand about a character through actions and description as the story moves along, and therefore I was unable to really plot the development of the characters. Perhaps this is something I could do if I set the novel aside for another couple of months and came back with fresh eyes again; perhaps it’s something I’ll get better at doing with more experience.
Are any novels really finished?
After much angst, I realised that my husband is the same with his paintings, and I felt a little better. There are dozens of his canvases that were considered good enough to bring all the way here from Germany, but most of them are in a pile in the wardrobe because they’re unfinished. What’s more, the paintings that hang on our wall – that everyone who sees them, including me, assumes are finished – mostly also belong to the “unfinished” category, according to the artist.
A while ago I heard an interview with a novelist – I just can’t remember who it was – who said that she never reads her published novels again if she can help it – because she always finds things that she would change. That gives me still more reason to think I’m not insane here but perhaps even a little bit normal.
Can anyone help me out here? Whatever your artistic endeavour, do you actually reach a point where you’re happy with it and truly believe it’s “finished”? Let me know in the comments.
I don’t think a creative mind is ever truly happy with its work, but I reached a point where I thought any more tinkering might make it worse than better.
Hey Amanda,
I have the ‘finished but not finished’ thing with all of my essays – I have to force myself to stop re-reading as I will always want to change something. I don’t think I have ever handed in an essay that I felt was totally finished.
Oddly enough, however, with some of my drawings, I reach a very distinct ‘finished’ point. If I don’t pay attention (as in, use my head too much), I can play around with it until I’ve totally destroyed it. But if I can go with the ‘feel’ of it, I will reach the stage where I can say, ‘It’s done’. That took some practice, I have to admit (kids are really good at that – they will fiddle around with a drawing or painting, and then, out of the blue, state that it’s done. If you suggest something further to be added, they will usually vehemently state that it’s done).
Hope that makes sense :p
I’m never convinced that anything I write is ever finished. It may get handed in for deadlines and things but there is always more to do. I guess you just have to try and pick a point where the majority of the work is done. Editors or proof-readers (or just friend) can really help by telling you if any of the things you think still need work are really that noticeable to readers or if you’re the only one who finds the remaining issues glaringly obvious.
I guess it’s all part of the drive to keep going and to constantly improve. It’s a good thing, if a little frustrating at times.
@ Carmen, I don’t think I’ve reached that no-more-tinkering point with this novel yet, but I guess I won’t know until I try again – good point.
@ Deb, it makes me feel better when you say that about your essays. But I’m jealous about the drawing thing – I wish I could have that with writing! Jan always tells me similar things about kids’ drawings actually – if only we could stop them from “growing up” …
@ CB, good advice I think – after all you have to stop somewhere. I guess I can keep my list going and then ask others for an opinion.
Great post! I am writing a few novels and a play and everytime I think I am almost done the stories create other stories for a series. My play on the other hand is finish, in some sort of way, maybe not because I keep writing it over and over again. I realized that we, artist, never feel finished with our work because we think our work is not good. We are worried with hoping what we create is good that we start to think our work is not finish. This is just me. Great blog!
@ Alexander, good on you for writing *a few* novels, you’re doing much better than me. I think what you say is true for lots of kinds of artists, that we worry that our work is not good enough (= unfinished) and then the revising process begins again … and again …