This is a question that came in from social media, and I’ve been pondering the answer for a few months. I could say something glib like “When I’ve hit my publisher’s word count!” but of course, this question is, I think, more about when you know that you’ve finished telling the story you wanted to tell – beginning to end and with all the adjustments and edits added during the drafts.
I think, if I may projet, what you’re really asking is, when are you satisfied enough with the manuscript to call it “done” (or at least, done enough to start pitching around or to give to your editor/agent.)
And that’s a hard, hard, hard question for any author, but a doubly hard one for me – see I nearly always write the ending first.
When I start a novel, I usually start by writing the scene that is, for me, the most powerful, the most attractive, the most fun and filled with the most flavor of the book. Usually it’s either the first act, second act, or third act/novel climax, simply because of the way my brain works. By that point I more or less know where in the timeline of these character’s lives the story needs to stop, and where it needs to start. But of course those things can slide depending on edits and the need for background info, epilogues, a better tie-up, etc.
For other writers, they plot the whole book before they sit down, so they know before they start where the ending is. And for others, they just write until it seems done, and solidify that endpoint during the editing phase.
But as for knowing when the story is finished?
Yowza.
That’s a hard question to answer.
Don’t laugh, but for me it’s when the story stops squirming. There’s this feeling I get in my stomach, under my skin, that’s like a wiggly itch – it’s the physical manifestation of knowing that something is off, I just don’t know what yet. When I read the book and there’s no squirm? It’s done. You could also be really morbid and compare it to a pinned live butterfly as well – flipping and flopping all over the place, shedding wing-dust and scales all over the velvet. I have one pin in it – at the tip of a wing – but I have to get another pin into the other wing, and then another in the bottom wings, and another in the thorax and … yeah, okay, I know I sound like a serial killer.
But the idea is the same. When the story is pinned in place from all corners, and the full picture is spread out, beautiful, and legible, then the story is done.
A good way to check is to write the meaning and beats of each scene down on note cards as you re-read the book over, like this:
The Untold Tale
Chapter One:
Scene 1:
Beats: Forsyth sees Mother Mouth approaching with Pip through study window – goes down to meet them in the foyer – they check for/neutralize spells on the body Mouth has brought – body is alive, it’s a woman – Forsyth brings her into the house and they set up a room for her – Forsyth stays by her bedside, ostensibly as a host but really to keep an eye on her in case this is a ploy
Needed Because: Sets up Forsyth as caring and overly servile; intros world, Turn Hall, Mother Mouth; sets up Forsyth as spy (readers don’t know yet); introduces Pip’s scars.
When you have all your cards for all your scenes, pin them to the wall and connect them with color-coded string – for example, anything scene/card that builds Forsyth as the Shadow Hand will be connected by, say, Purple, while anything about Pip and her scars is connected in green. You can also do this with color-coded highlighter marks, sticky notes, stickers, etc.
(I do it digitally via Scrivener, which has a pin-board and color coding built in.)
When you’ve done this all, step back and look at it – does every card have a string attached to it, or a color coded dot in the corner? Do all the things you’ve set up pay off? Do you have a scene that is a repeat of another, does it re-establish something that was already established once, or drags, or is superfluous? Did you describe the same place three times or did the character growth arc flipflop?
And if it doesn’t serve the overall story? Cut it. Or fix it. Or rewrite it.
I call those moments “decks” – we build a lot of decks for our characters to hang out on in fiction, but we should really be building staircases. Your staircase can have some landings, some places to rest up and catch your breath, but ultimately they should be going up up up. If your characters / plot / forward momentum is chilling on a deck with a frosty bevvie, then the deck needs to be rebuilt, tilted upward, and forcing your story back into motion.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying to book has to plow ahead, no-holds-barred. Your story can meander, and linger, and be slow, can treasure quiet moments and have multiple episodes that feed into the main narrative – that’s fine. So long as everything needs to be there. So long as it goes.
But a book should be waterproof and air tight, no matter how many words long it is. Looking over it shouldn’t give you squirmies. Everything should connect, no scene or moment or even sentence should be meaningless.
If you can say that you have ruthlessly reviewed every plot point, every scene, every sentence – going from macro to micro – and can confidently and honestly say that everything that is there is something that needs to be there for the sake of the story, or the plot, or the character arc, or the world and/or word-crafting… then I think that’s when the book is done.
When all of the story that needs telling to make it a story is told, then then the story is complete.
I know it sounds complicated and rigorous, but with any luck, you’ll have your own intuitive version of the squirmies that will let you know when there’s still one more draft to do.
SOCIAL MEDIA REACTIONS
Interesting. For me if I'm ready to write the final chapter, all the rest is already done. I tidy as I go and want all the threads ready to tie.
— Julie Czerneda (@julieczerneda) December 17, 2018
Because writing the ending is THE BEST!
Goin' in to fix my story like pic.twitter.com/KpQsVBB6ix
— Megan Kearney (@SpookyMeggie) December 17, 2018
Because I feel like I could close the book with a deep sigh, meditating over what I've read and possibly fantasizing a sequel
— 🎄Ruthanne *insert holiday pun here* Reid🎄 (@RuthanneReid) December 17, 2018
When you have a finished draft and the next tale calls you…
— James Bow (@jamesbow) December 18, 2018
*
Got a question about the craft or business of writing? Ask it here. Or read other Words for Writers blog posts here.
