Hemingway Shot Himself

Today is slow at work and I'm continuing with my umteenth round of editing on my book. On this latest pass-through one of the more significant changes was in a line of Griff's exgirlfriend's dialogue when she's talking to Vince.

Old version: "Now that I'm graduated I can finally start my life, but [Griff] just seems unwilling to do anything."

New version: "Now that I'm graduated I can finally start my life, but now that he's graduated he acts like his is over."

That change sums up something I'd been feeling about Griff but hadn't found a way to express until now. Also it heightens my fear of never being done. Purely hypothetically, what if the book gets published after the 14th revision, but if I'd done a 15th something wonderful would've gotten added?

It was pointed out to me that F. Scott Fitzgerald went insane trying to get his books perfect, and Hemingway shot himself. "At some point," I was advised, "you have to tell yourself that you're done and move on."

But that's easier said than done, especially when it comes to the kind of stuff I write. Oh, I wish I were a storyteller. Stories have obvious endings and completions. Unfortunately I'm a peopleteller, and the problem with that is that I'm always learning more about people. There is always one more quirk or motivation that can be added to a character to make him more realistic.

I think part of me would enjoy eventually having a dramatic demise in the halls of a looney-bin or at the end of a shotgun. However, I'd prefer not to do it after the first book.