By Andrea Lewis //
The question is rather uncomfortable than a mystery. It does not require a whole lot of research or knowledge to understand that we are done, when we are done. We “just know,” as Anne Lamott says in Bird by Bird, Some Instructions on Writing and Life. Of course, finishing a book is a process that includes a lot of editing, taking in feedback, applying it, editing… Until “there is simply no more steam in the pressure cooker.” (Lamott)
The “finish” point varies in meaning. It can be the end of the story in a book, or the end of the entire writing process, after all editing has been done. Elizabeth Conte, author of Finding Jane, coming out in March of 2022, emphasizes this differentiation in her answer to my question on how to tell when you are finished writing your book. Writer of single story books, Elizabeth knows from the start where her story will end, “usually upon the completion of [her] protagonist’s journey. “It is finished when you have no more to say! […] The end. Now, editing is an entirely different story!”
Countless great books of humanity once went through the same finishing process, until their authors decided they were done and gave them out to the world to read and judge. For some writers, it may be easy to let go of their work. For many of us, however, various reasons prevent this from happening. Here are a few of such reasons, as well as a list of possible signs that could help us recognize when we are nearing that finishing point.
1. Reasons
The fear of feedback, of being judged for what we wrote and how we wrote can be paralyzing. But the reasons to finish a book and send it out offer by far more rewards:
- “Act of bravery.” In his Masterclass, Neil Gaiman invites writers to think of finishing and sending out a book as an act of bravery. Quite like dealing with a dangerous situation. Because it will be judged. Since “perfect does not happen in this universe,” we have to be brave, finish and let it go out. Once we do let go, we can start working on the next one. Imagine your work being accepted for publication, and you being asked for more of your work. And voila, you have it!
- “Writers are people who finish books.” Salman Rushdie urges writers to get to the end because that is when they become writers. (Masterclass)
- Well-being and marketing. Billie Kelpin, author of Falling Idols: The Courage to Question, published in November 2021, proved practical when asked about finishing her novel and putting it out into the world: “when your counselor/psychologist tells you [that you] really have to for your mental well-being.” Her other reason was marketing. “You have to sell it. How can you sell it if it isn’t finished?”
2. Signs that show writers they are done with a book
After the story is completed and all edits are made, authors go through different feelings towards their work. The general opinion gathered from the sources below, both from writers and editors, is that letting a work go, putting it out into the world isn’t easy, but it is necessary, for all the reasons quoted above. Here are a few signs that will help identify the finishing stages.
* “Fallen in love with the content again.” Susan Mary Malone of “Malone Editorial,” has found that when writers themselves wonder whether their book is finished or not, it probably still needs work. In her editorial experience, most authors “don’t want to let go of [a book] because [they’ve] fallen in love with the content all over again.” She compares letting go of a book with having a “baby ripped from one’s arms and tossed into the world.”
* “Editing for the sake of editing.” On her site Helping Writers Become Authors, writer K.M. Weiland identifies that authors are usually done, or the book is done with them when the last stages of their editing is obsessively focused on:
* Changing minor details like punctuation, or editing for the sake of editing, “as a delaying tactic to avoid sending their work out into the world.”
* Writing “the same story over and over again,” is part of the same tactic. It prevents writers from allowing new ideas to come out.
* Not setting or observing deadlines. Even if it takes longer than we have initially planned, a tentative deadline “can be useful in moving a stubborn story to the finished pile.”
Word of caution from the author of Coraline, Neil Gaiman, “writers [should] never make major changes unless required by their editor, and if it does not contradict their beliefs about the story.” For how do we know something needs to be fixed without someone telling us it doesn’t work for them?
3. Editors’ point of view
Milena Schmidt of Penguin Random House has collected insight from a variety of editors, adding to the list of signs:
- When “it is the best expression of what it can be.”
- When the editor receives one of the passes of the book and does not have a single note to make.
- When “the writer and editor can’t bring [themselves] to looking at it one more time.”
- Only the author knows when they are done. Regardless of any further editorial suggestions, in the end, it is “the author’s book, with their name on the cover, not the editor’s.”
I took on this topic looking to answer my own dilemma – what keeps me from finishing my memoir. Aside from my unequalled (or so I think), consistent capability of building my own obstacles on this journey, I have a superstition: although my story is about past events, I don’t want my story to end in real life. When my memoir comes out, you will see what I mean.
While the articles that I searched had great insight on the reasons why writers delay the “finish & send out” part of the writing process, along with signs to help us diagnose the problem, and urge from writers like Gaiman and Rushdie that we have to finish, not much focus was on how to get out of it. Perhaps the “how-to” lies in the opposite of the signs: set deadlines and keep them, stop editing when it worsens rather than improves the book, ask for opinions… Or, perhaps the solution for those of us going through this struggle is to look at the writing process as a race without a finish line (a concept borrowed from an ad from years ago) finish this book now, so you can write the next beautiful story that has been itching to come out, so you can continue your journey of writing.
Have you gone through such struggles? How did you get out of them? Share your insight below.
ANDREA LEWIS lives and writes in Huntington Beach. She was born in Romania and moved to the United States at the age of 34, after meeting and marrying her husband. She writes memoir and personal essays, with a recent attempt at freeform poetry. Her work has been featured in the Los Angeles Times.