Completed Stories that feels Incomplete

[tooeviltoknow]

I was just wondering if anyone here feels the same as I do about my stories. Not the unfinished ones, but the ones that you’re done with. Have you ever have that joyous feeling when you’re finished with a story (short stories, novels, it doesn’t matter) only to come back to it about a month or two later to read it and feel like it’s not yet completed, or worst, feels like it‘s crap?

Well, I do. It's like there’s something in your story that’s missing, but you don‘t know what it is. To be honest, it’s kinda frustrating and it’s driving me crazy. Makes me want to delete those stories and start over from scratch.

Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone ever feels this way about their story; how it’s complete but doesn’t feel that way… or maybe this is all just in my head…

[Sid_Fallon]

In a way, perhaps I do. Mostly, I think it's the nonstop flow of ideas that any writer should get. With my own stories I've realized the story itself is fine the way it is, but I get related ideas or ways to improve my writer overall. It means you have more to say, and that's a good thing.

[tordot]

That’s probably our subconscious telling us the story isn’t polished. When I feel that way, I can usually find something to add or something to cut out from the story. You’ve probably put a lot of hours and hard work into your stories, so it’s pretty wasteful to simply discard the whole thing. There’s got to be some merit to the story or you wouldn’t have written it to begin with. I pinpoint the parts of the story I love, and edit the hell out of the parts I don’t.

[Expendable]

Some stories it's okay to have that 'incomplete' feeling - it means you can come back to it later and write new stories to fill it.

But if you didn't mean to have that 'incomplete' feeling, you might want to ask others to read the stories and give you their impressions. Then maybe that'll help you find where that feeling's coming from.

[tooeviltoknow]

But if you didn't mean to have that 'incomplete' feeling, you might want to ask others to read the stories and give you their impressions. Then maybe that'll help you find where that feeling's coming from.


True. It's just that the short story I have I'm planning on publishing (Writers of the Future comes to mind), so I'm afraid to post it here because it would be considered published already (although I could be wrong). So those that are willing to read my stories (family members mainly) don’t know what to look for and are generally saying, “Oh, that’s good.”

Anyone ever have that problem, by the way?

[Dawnstorm]

True. It's just that the short story I have I'm planning on publishing (Writers of the Future comes to mind), so I'm afraid to post it here because it would be considered published already (although I could be wrong). So those that are willing to read my stories (family members mainly) don’t know what to look for and are generally saying, “Oh, that’s good.”

Anyone ever have that problem, by the way?

You can always offer to mail the story to interested parties.

[Expendable]

True. It's just that the short story I have I'm planning on publishing (Writers of the Future comes to mind), so I'm afraid to post it here because it would be considered published already (although I could be wrong). So those that are willing to read my stories (family members mainly) don’t know what to look for and are generally saying, “Oh, that’s good.”

Anyone ever have that problem, by the way?

Friends and family are usually ok to ask if a story's good. (watch out for bias)

To pick a story apart, you need another writer. If you've got a writer's group in your area (they love bookstores with a coffee shop) you can try them, or do what Dawnstorm suggested and see if anyone's willing to look at your story for a private critique.

[Banger]

True. It's just that the short story I have I'm planning on publishing (Writers of the Future comes to mind), so I'm afraid to post it here because it would be considered published already (although I could be wrong). So those that are willing to read my stories (family members mainly) don’t know what to look for and are generally saying, “Oh, that’s good.”

Anyone ever have that problem, by the way?

[removes Staff hat and puts on amateur writer hat]

I use Critters (http://www.critters.org). It's free, but you have to critique others' stories to get yours critiqued. The critiques are a mixed bag, but after sifting out the non-helpful stuff I always find some really helpful feedback. Many of the people in Critters have been published. In fact, I critiqued one of the stories in last month's issue of Analog (http://www.analogsf.com/0602/issue_02.shtml).