When is good enough (for your WIPs, I mean) not good enough? It’s something I’ve been pondering lately as my idea well for blog posts has run dry and I’m desperate for topics to discuss.
Things that I may have overlooked in rough drafts are no longer ignored. Poor phrasing, vague words, anything that went under “I’ll fix it later”…well, it’s later. Characterization must be consistent. Plot holes are filled. And overused words are hunted and destroyed.
I’ve not been published yet. The three books that I’ve been working on for the past three years have not reached that fabled status of “Final Draft”, although after over a year of edits, one is approaching it (it’s at least at the stage where it can’t get any better without outside input). This means that only recently has good enough become not good enough.
Not that I haven’t felt close before—key word being “felt”. There have been plenty of stories I’ve slaved over, several of which are now classified under “I had no idea what I was doing.” But this book is not one of those. Years of reading YA and publishing blogs means I’ve learned all the contradictory rules to writing a novel. I can’t say for certain that GLITCH will be the first thing I ever have published (I’m actually thinking that, for several reasons, it will not be), but it will be the first to reach the end stages as a fully realized work.
Special! Magical! Well, that’s how it feels to me. So what are your stories about “final” drafts? Have you ever reached the point where good enough isn’t good enough?
