Fragmentary authorship requires caution against treating unfinished drafts as definitive

Evidence

But, unfortunately for writers, there’s no intellectual equivalent of the sexual climax; they don’t always know when they’ve finished. — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 46 (#expands, via linked claim)

I have ninety-seven notebooks in a wooden box. I do not count them as suppressed volumes. I work on the principle that there is no failed work, only work pending: that there is nothing I won’t say, only what I haven’t said yet. — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 65 (#qualifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Posthumously edited works cannot be treated as definitive authorial statements; Writers can treat unfinished drafts as pending work rather than failures. — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 65; Writers lack a clear signal that their piece is complete — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 46 (+1 more)

Related

• Writers can treat unfinished drafts as pending work rather than failures. (similarity 0.87)
• Writers lack a clear signal that their piece is complete (similarity 0.84)
• Unpolished, in-process writing draws more response than polished work (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• Writers lack a clear signal that their piece is complete #expands (0.75) — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 46
• Writers can treat unfinished drafts as pending work rather than failures. #qualifies (0.72) — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 65