I just finished rereading Season 1 of my animated series, and it got me thinking about something I'd love to hear other writers weigh in on.
Do you ever reach a point where you feel like you're constantly editing your work?
Not because anything is necessarily wrong with it, but because every time you revisit it, you see a line you'd tweak, a scene you'd expand, or a small detail you'd plant for a future payoff.
As I've been rereading my scripts, I've found myself making little improvements here and there. Sometimes it's a meaningful addition that strengthens a later episode, and other times it's simply seeing the story with fresh eyes.
At what point do you decide, "This is enough. It's time to let it go and move forward"?
Do you have a personal rule for knowing when a script is ready, or do you think the urge to revise never completely goes away?
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I think the urge to edit never goes away. I think you have to just force yourself to let it go. You know you're a talented writer.
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The urge never goes away, but it's critical that I don't let that get in the way of creating new projects. Better to put a script on the shelf for a few months, write a draft of something new, let that one sit for a while, and go back to the other thing with fresh eyes. Leapfrogging like that will benefit all my projects, and I'll end up with more to show. As for knowing'when' it's ready, my personal bar is pretty high. If I consistently win or place in the top 1% of comps, and I get recommendations from readers through Stage 32 or elsewhere, that's when I say enough is enough. That doesn't mean everyone I pitch it to will like it. My top 1% specs get rejected more often than not. It just means they're probably as good as I can make them, and it's a matter of finding that one producer/manager who believes in them as much as I do. In the meantime, I work on new IP. Rinse and repeat.
Thanks for the feedback.
I don’t think the urge to revise ever really goes away. There’s always a line to tweak or a scene that could feel a bit stronger. A script starts to feel ready when the story makes sense, the emotions land the way you want, and any changes left are just tiny details. That’s when I try to step back and let it be. How about you—how do you know it’s ready?