Clea Simon (she has a great blog, cats, crime and rock and roll) asked a great question about when you know a book is done. For me, it usually has to do with feeling. I can't think of anyplace else to go with it. I've read it so many times, and shown it to enough people that I can't find any openings to even add in an adjective. This is when I use my outlines and synopsis and character mapping--that lets me see if I have any holes in the story. Of course, a novel is never really done. You can always think of more things that you wished you had changed, can't you?
For me, though, a lot has to do with my next project. It starts taking on more life and crowds out the old project, bit by bit.
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What scares me is that often I think I'm done and then I'll revisit it a month or two later (say, after the agent has finally read it or the editor) and say to myself, "What was I thinking?" And rush to rewrite. Maybe I'm just too hasty (I'm no Ent, if there are other Tolkein fans out there.) Maybe in part its because I write very plot-based fiction, so I tend to think that once I'm done with the STORY then I'm done. And it is often far from the case.
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