(2/2) my q is: how in the ever-loving fuck do u decide ok this scene/chapter/whatever is as 'done' as it'll get, and actually finish tinkering with it and continue on to the next thing. editing is so fun and it's easy to play there forever but WHEN DO U STOP. like, it's so hard to make finite the infinite?? I like finishing things for my own satisfaction lol, but sometimes it's hard to decide when enough is enough!
about the first part of your ask: thank you so much you're so sweet<3 i'm so happy you've scooted over from ao3!! and i also had to dust that blog lol i found some really concerning things from 8-9 years ago...
this is a good question! i'll only answer with what works for me, but of course, as you've said in the previous ask, writing is a personal affair, and it might not resonate with you, i hope it does tho
as unsatisfying as it sounds, the easiest answer is: it's never done.
technically, you could edit forever. language is slimy; you can shape it, stretch it, and play with it for as long as you want. and you can, if that's what you enjoy doing. i know a lot of writers who work their projects for years just because they like the process of playing with language, or because it's therapeutic, but it's not meant to be read by anyone else but themselves. i think, at the core of it, lies the question of: do you want to write for yourself, or to be read?
let's work through that. writing to me (might not be to you) is like working a problem. every time i'm writing something, i'm answering a question: what's the end goal? am i moving the plot forward? am i doing some character study? what image am i painting, what feeling do i want the reader to experience? do i like the sound of that? those questions don't matter to us as readers, not unless we become critics, but they matter to us as writers. most of the scenes i take out or decide i don't want to write don't answer any questions. if it answers the question; then I'm done with it. that's how you stop yourself, you close down the question
still feel unsatisfied? push it to the extreme. work it to the bone, stretch the language. then, come the questions again: do i still recognize the original idea? does this sound better, work better, is it closer to what i had imagined? there's a fine line between better and different: and this is exactly where the stopping point is.
unfortunately, it's probably never going to be enough unless someone reads you, or at least, unless you think of it as work that's going to be read. because it shifts your perspective from being a reader (of your own work) to being a writer (writing for an audience).
writing fic online is wonderful for that, because there's immediacy to it: immediate feedback, but also immediate audience. so you start reading yourself differently, with different stakes. the point is no longer to make only yourself happy, it's also to generate something in your reader. to make sure they see where you're going. that they see through your eyes.
make people read you! friends, parents, people online, beta readers, whatever you want. and you'll find out that we're often much harder on ourselves than our readers are.
lastly, the question that always, always comes last for me, and drives me to that stopping point, is: am i proud of it? if not, what's bugging me? if yes, let's fucking go!
and if i reread it after it's out and think i should've done it differently, then i will the next time. gotta be gentler with ourselves. writing is a craft, if there's nothing more to learn, then what's the point?
i hope this answers your question, thank you<3
