The Bound Forum

Curiosity question:

Very often when I start writing something, even if it's an incomplete idea at first, I feel a pretty strong compulsion to keep going back and working on it, until it's "done". I know I have some OCD, so that's a possible cause, but I wonder how common this is among story writers in general. I find for myself, it's much more prevalent with respect to story writing than most other projects I do.

Is this common among writers in general, or more specific to me and my peculiarities? Just curious, TIA.

I have a similar, but not exactly the same, feeling.

Often, when I re-read one of my stories, I'll find something I want to tweak or improve and will often make additional edits even if my intention was just to re-read the story.

I don't feel compelled to work on a story until it's "done," partially because I sometimes get frustrated with writing, but moreover because stories never feel "done" to me. There's an old saying: "Movies are never finished. They're just abandoned." That's how I feel about writing: a story is never done; I may just decide that it's time to share it or to do something else.

I will start a story, and then work on it for years!

I may get the story basically told in a reasonable amount of time, but I will keep going back and tweaking it. No matter how many times I have edited a story I will always find a typo or poorly phrased section, especially if I haven't read it over in a while.

Eventually, I will decide that it is good enough to share. But even after it has been made available to the public, I will still go back and tweak.

R.Mc.