Author:
How long does it take to post a story? Some wise person once said to me, "If you have to post one letter today then it will take you all day to post one letter. But if you have a hundred to post you will find a way to do that in one day. So I have my first story sitting here on disk. I have it ready. I just have not yet clicked the "submit" button. So many stupid little questions keep getting in the way. Is that comma in the right place? Are all the pronouns right? Does the timeline still make sense if I restructure it this way? Are all the mechanics right? What if no one likes it?
So many delaying tactics. So many little rocks in the road. Was that a rock I just hit? Let me stop[ and check to see if there is any damage. Damn, I'm good at putting things off. I guess that it needs just one more read through. Just one more. Wait did I say that twice? Why did I not see that before? The whole story will be wrecked if I post it like that. Better rewrite this. And that. And this other part. Now. How's the time line now?
And back to the beginning. OK. set it aside for a while. I'll spend some time on this one instead.
How long does it take? How long can I make it take? Another four years?
Comments
Just do it, already!
Stories are never finished, by definition.
You will never, ever have a result that you will be satisfied with. Trust me, I speak from experience, and it will be the experience of most authors here. Every story ever written has errors or omissions, even after many edits, revisions and reprints. You will never find them all.
Do not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. On the other hand, "good enough" is a very difficult standard to define.
Stories take long enough to write anyway. If you procrastinate long enough, nobody will ever see it. Just do it. If there are gross errors, the lovely readers here will make sure you know about them, and you can then fix them.
Wouldn't you rather be busy on your next story?
Penny
I agree with Penny
You're never going to feel that it's ready for posting. I feel that all the time and before hitting that submit button I usually check it over a few more times worried that I missed something important. But if I keep worrying about that then it would never get posted and I would never get feedback from people other than my own overly critical self unless I just bite the bullet and post it. The same goes for you, and any author here, I should think. Just post it and then you'll know for sure if it needs more work through feedback. There is an edit feature for reasons ;)
Good luck posting, I hope you do it soon, for your own sake and for all the readers here.
*big hugs*
Amethyst
Don't take me too seriously. I'm just kitten around. :3
Proofreaders
I've recently become a fan of beta readers or proofreaders. There are a number of people here who will gladly give the story the once over or perhaps even the twice over as a favor to another author (I'm one) and with their input, you can get a more polished piece. I often recruit a half dozen or so. I've found that each of them find things the others miss. You can get as little as grammar/punctuation check all the way up to plot line advice.
As far as anyone liking it. That's just gravy for me. I usually have a story in me that I just have to get out. The to make the process complete, I put out a call for proof/beta readers. Once they've gotten back to me, I either take their suggestions as made, or rework the spot, or sometime write back an explain why I'm not taking it. But it's all good. After that, I publish.
So my suggestion is to ask for a few more sets of eyes to look it over before publishing.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin eine Mann
I think editing /
I think editing / proofreading is very important. I proofread people's works, and I also have mine proofread. Even though I proofread, I find my go to proofreader finds errors in my own, even after I've gone through things.
Also, comments in the text can help you know if something is as funny as you'd hoped, or just doesn't work.
It is a process that can really help the flow of your text.
Hugs!
Rosemary
The posting is the fastest part
I don't start posting until the story is completely written. That said, I keep re-reading all the unposted chapters and making tweaks.
While I'm writing, I re-read the old chapters. By the time I'm writing the last chapter, I'm pretty tired of the first one, which makes it easy to post. Once the whole thing is done, I've had enough of it and want to move to the next thing. For that reason, posting the last chapter is an enormous relief.
My "Minority of One" was only nine chapters of 5000-6000 words each, but it took me six months to write. That was me at my absolute slowest, but it was worth it to me.
The posting I spaced out over a little less than three weeks.
The thing is, when you look at the beginning chapters from the vantage point of the last couple chapters, it's pretty easy to see what works and what doesn't.
Then, I re-read it a few months later, to fix anything I missed.
- io