I wrote a short story because I had a very clear image (storyline, voice, writing style, etc.) of what I wanted it to be. The result is ok, but it is not quite mind-grabbing as I imagined it to be before writing it. It still needs some editing, but I don't want to change it too much because that might change its balance and ruin it. I think it works in part because it is simple, but if one focuses on the details, one might also learn about another way to read what is going on, adding a layer of interest hopefully. The point is I don't think I can make it any better than what it is at this moment, even though I don't think it is a particularly good story. Yet I like it. I feel satisfied as a first try. I am not the kind who experiments over and over in a particular writing style. Does it sound to you like I am done with it? Do you think I should resist this urge to let it go, and make an effort, experiment to find better ways to express the same concept? This is a (general) question I am facing with another couple of short stories that I dropped because I wasn't able to pull it together or I lost control altogether (not a good feeling).
Depends. Some ideas are inherently mediocre and no level of execution can elevate them. Other ideas are great but are poorly executed and have significant room for improvement. Tough to tell which is which, though certain ideas/characters do have well defined ceilings that are easy to spot right from the git. Potential is fairly easy to spot if you know what to look for. Look for one thing the story does well and see if it can be expanded.
My suggestion would be to give it space. Say its done for now. Maybe you havnt hit the place in your life where you know how to make it better. Maybe this is something you put away for months, years, decades before returning. And that is 100% okay.
thanks for the advice. I think you are right I need first to give it a rest of a couple of months to get it substantially out of my head. Then once I read it again I will decide what to do. I also like the idea of looking for one thing that has potential/that the story does well and try expanding it. And even if I don't expand it, I realize I need to evaluate the/any story for good points to become more conscious of those.
The advice to let the thing rest for a good long while is best, in my opinion. You need to be able to look at what you've actually written, totally divorced from what you thought you were writing. That takes time. And maybe beta input as well, if that's available to you. The good news is, once you achieve that distance, you'll know if the story is still worthwhile. If story elements do need changing to improve the thing, you'll have no problem seeing—and making—those changes. Killing your darlings is easy, once you've fallen out of love with them.
If it's not good, how can editing and changing things really ruin it? Something is not working, and you say this is an ongoing problem for you with short stories. Sure, you can put things off. And there is something to say about fresh eyes. But is this procrastination? Are you just putting off problems. Editing is a lot of work. I put more efforts into editing and rewriting than I do the first draft. For me, it's important to really work with a story to get it to where it needs to be and that means taking care of the things I know need attention. If you're already aware of problems, why would you put off fixing them? And if you're doing this with several of your short stories, I'm not sure how you are going to grow out of this problem. Really, don't be worried that you're going to ruin a story by working on it. Sometimes we have to ruin a story because there is a better story in it. It doesn't matter if it's a good story or you ruin it if you're not doing anything with it anyway. My best work has come out of those stories you could say I ruined (or had the same fear as you) because I addressed the things that were keeping them from being good stories.
You will always have your original draft. Never edit in the same file. Then even if you do ruin it, is ok because you have the original intact! I've done what you're describing with my novel. I know it is not a good story and editing needs to be done. I also like it and am satisfied. The difference though is this novel has taken me 12 years and I've had enough I wish to take what I've learnt to make a new novel now. It's been long enough. But if you haven't really even attempted at improving and editing it, then chances are you should definitely do that
this is a short story, so the way I approach it differs from a novel, where editing reigns. In general I write when I am in flow, in the zone. That is when I have a clear image of a close-to-completed short story, including its voice. I do edit in this phase, too, just not as heavily because the voice changes. After I get out of the zone, the problem is that I try to add/change things unwittingly trying to make it "clever" rather than because something rings true or resonates with me. So, something that started as simple and clear becomes overloaded with out of place details I added after writing. When I know everything that happens, I edit for sentence structure and details. So editing is always present, but sometimes I get the feeling from how people talk in this forum about their writing, that there is a lot of heavy editing going on all the time, and I don't do that quite as much. I think editing is important, vital, but I don't use it as much as to develop a story. Do people agree?
