Someone recently asked me how you know when you are done writing your book, and it wasn’t the first time I heard that. I’ve asked it myself.

When I worked at my previous job, this was something I wondered when I was working on shorter pieces that would be posted to the website (they were something like a blog post with a heavy, dry tech lean). How would I know what to include and how much detail I should go into? How would I know when I was done, when the range was 1-2 pages? Was 1 page ok, or did it mean I was too lazy to write more?

The best advice I got was from one of my mentors. She said, “Stop writing when you have finished telling the story.” So how do you know when you’ve finished telling the story?

The answer isn’t, “When you’re out of coffee.”

Think about the purpose of the piece and all the questions that you want to answer. When you started writing, you might have come up with a list of questions, themes, points to address, etc., which will make this part way easier to think about. If you didn’t, you can always consider your book from the big picture. What questions did you intend to address?

Write them down.

Basically, you want to ensure that your audience is satisfied with the feeling they have at the end.

For fiction: You might also think about where you want to leave your character both physically and mentally. Did your character undergo growth or change? Was it complete? Did you accomplish everything that readers of your genre would expect in reading the book?

For inspiring non-fiction: Determine if you have provided enough information to inspire your reader to take action in their own lives. Especially if you hope to guide the reader in a new way of thinking, make sure you not only gave them the information to make them want to join you on this journey, but also gave them simple steps to follow, lists of questions to ask themselves, and other tools to ease the process.

Once you think you have answered all the questions you need to at the appropriate level of detail, take a break for a month or so. Really! Give yourself some time to forget all that you wrote. You want to look at it from a new reader’s point of view.

Then read your book from your reader’s perspective. Be really picky when you read, and write down any questions you have in the book, along with wherever you had the question. If you answer the question later in the book, you can remove the question (and for inspiring non-fiction writer’s, you might want to make a note where you had the question so the reader will know that you address the question later).

For example, in a fiction book, you might read a part about a character vaguely mentioning an event that happened in their past, which seems to intersect with the story. Why is that mentioned? It must be important. How does that affect the story? Three chapters later, you could add in the reason this was so important. Maybe it gave the character sympathy for another character. This would help the reader understand the connection between the characters.

In a non-fiction book, you might ask a question about why a certain process is important. If you answer that question closer to the end of the chapter, that information might need to be moved back so you get it when the process is being explained. I always like to know the why before I get into the how.

If you think your book is complete, ask some people you trust to act as beta readers. You can even post in certain Facebook groups requesting beta readers. Tell them what your purpose is, and ask them if you met it.

Also, ask your beta readers for general feedback on anything they thought was confusing or great. This information will help you grow as an author, hone your writing, and demonstrate your strengths.

Don’t feel embarrassed about asking someone for feedback on what they liked about your writing. After all, you want people to like your book. That is your main goal: if people like it, people will buy it. So you want to put out the best product possible!

When you’ve met the expectations of your audience and answered everything that your audience wants you to answer, you are finished writing.

And now you edit. You know that’s my favorite part!

Because some people will edit ad nauseum, I want to tell you that you can’t edit forever. You must set a deadline. You must decide that you are done editing. Don’t fiddle with your book until you have made a mess. Clean it up and send it off to your publisher, agent, or printer. Be done with it. Completo.