When Is It Ready to Submit?
We've all had one of those moments. You know the ones I mean; when you've edited and rewritten and revised and polished your story until, like a knife that's been sharpened so often its blade has worn away, there's nothing left.
But at the same time, you don't want to submit a story to an editor until it's perfect, do you? You have to polish it until it can't be polished any more, don't you?
The answer is...no.
This may surprise you. I wasn't sure that I dared write it, myself. But it's true. You will never, ever, be able to polish a story until it's perfect. The best you can do is polish a story until the worst of the imperfections are gone, until the plot is pretty much logical and there are no spelling and errors. That much, you can do.
You reach publication by writing often and submitting often. You can't do either if you're constantly polishing one story, reaching for an unattainable perfection.
In ten years, the stories you write now are probably going to seem pretty trite regardless of whether you spend ten hours polishing them or a hundred. It's the act of writing that makes you a better writer. You'll write better if you write ten stories in ten weeks and edit them moderately than if you write one story and edit it for ten weeks.
Of course we want perfection in our work. Of course we don't want to get rejection slips back. But we can't be perfect, and rejection slips will come, and sooner or later, there comes a point where you just have to let go and send your babies off into the big, wide world. And then go write another one.
But at the same time, you don't want to submit a story to an editor until it's perfect, do you? You have to polish it until it can't be polished any more, don't you?
The answer is...no.
This may surprise you. I wasn't sure that I dared write it, myself. But it's true. You will never, ever, be able to polish a story until it's perfect. The best you can do is polish a story until the worst of the imperfections are gone, until the plot is pretty much logical and there are no spelling and errors. That much, you can do.
You reach publication by writing often and submitting often. You can't do either if you're constantly polishing one story, reaching for an unattainable perfection.
In ten years, the stories you write now are probably going to seem pretty trite regardless of whether you spend ten hours polishing them or a hundred. It's the act of writing that makes you a better writer. You'll write better if you write ten stories in ten weeks and edit them moderately than if you write one story and edit it for ten weeks.
Of course we want perfection in our work. Of course we don't want to get rejection slips back. But we can't be perfect, and rejection slips will come, and sooner or later, there comes a point where you just have to let go and send your babies off into the big, wide world. And then go write another one.
posted by Keesa | 1:29 PM
2 Comments:
Exactly.
Kind of like waiting for experience before you actually write. You'll never be 'experienced' - we don't cross a threshhold at a certain age. You'll probably know less about some things after experiencing them than before.
And how can we get experience as a writer without actually writing?
I'll keep that in mind, Keesa. Thanks! :)
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