How do you know when you’ve (finally) finished writing a book?

George Orwell’s famous essay ‘Why I Write’ contains one of my favourite quotes about writing a book.  It goes like this:

“Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist or understand.” 

Rightly or wrongly, I’m suspicious of people who find it easy to write books.  I’m not convinced that they care enough. Writing a book involves taking an idea out your head, where everything is safe and makes sense, then turning it into something strangers want to read.

That’s hard.  It needs to be taken seriously.

And yet…

I know from experience that a book project can run on and on (and on), sometimes for years.  Unless there are real-world deadlines involved, I don’t think that’s wrong or bad.  “Write every day” is popular advice, but it can be hard to follow.  Life has an annoying habit of getting in the way.

There’s just one thing, though: if your book project is running on and on (and on), how do you know when you’ve come to the end?

I’ve recently finished my first fiction novel, called Something Else. I can say “recently finished” for definite.  At certain other points in the past, I’d tried to convince myself that this is it.  The book is finished!  The story is told!  There is nothing more to be done!

Each time I was proved wrong.  Finishing the first draft was just the beginning.  Test readers kindly offered feedback, and the story grew and evolved through successive drafts.  I dumped thousands more words than I kept.  And my characters wouldn’t shut up, even on the days I didn’t write, because I don’t write every day.

I soon got into the habit of scribbling the things my characters said to me in notebooks, or on Post-It notes, or into my phone.  Later, I’d read the notes back, and sometimes they didn’t make sense.  I worried at first, but then I got used to it.  If a note didn’t make sense, it wasn’t important enough.

I finished my final draft just before Christmas last year.  I know it’s the final draft, because my characters have stopped talking to me.  They’ve left a strange feeling behind them that’s sort-of sad and sort-of empty, but also good.  My characters aren’t talking to me anymore because they don’t need to.  I’ve told their story.

What does this mean in the real world?  You haven’t finished writing a book if something’s still niggling you about it.

I don’t mean “is my book good enough?” or “will people like it?”.  You can be finished and still worry about those things.  I mean “my characters won’t shut up”, or “I think that scene’s OK, but does it really, honestly work?”

Writing a book means writing until the niggles stop.  You won’t always want to, because dumping words and changing course are hard and frustrating things to do.  Do them, though, and you’ll be rewarded with the book you – and your readers – deserve.

(New voices have started whispering in my head.  I didn’t think I’d want to write a second novel, but it looks like I will be.  George Orwell was right about being driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist or understand).

Oh, and if you’d like to talk your book into being, break through a writing rut, or refine an established story, my mentoring sessions might be just the thing.