Hi Scott, I give it a try.I guess Every writer dreams of having sort of an absolute internal guide. Experience and intuition sometimes are that guide : you know inside that this page is good, this scene is fine. But in the long way one knows he can't always rely on that feeling. At the end of the day, the story belongs to the reader and only to him. So my approach would be : one, only stop when you feel you've done the job, when you can sleep with a "peaceful consciousness". Two, have your check list all green : plots, characters, rhythm, climax, emotions, themes, all that you can analyze with a critical approach. And then, only then, send your work to three chosen readers, who you know to be neither cynical nor easy going on you. If the three of them say it's ok, I believe you can have your story read on a business level. And from this point, it has to live her own life, and you've done your part.

This reply may be long-winded so be forewarned.

I asked a question similar to this on TriggerStreet.

My question: "How will I know when it's finished?"

One answer stood out ...

"When you see it on the big screen."

How vague and sarcastic is that, right?

But I thought it through and eventually came to the conclusion that there may be no concrete way of knowing...until...yes, you see it on the screen.

Maybe the answer lies...within your gut.

I spent several months writing my first draft then threw it on a site for the the world to read.

It got ripped to shreds.

I sat around and sulked and moaned about it then put it away for a month.

I returned, read through the thing and realized it needed a LOT of work.

Twenty pages of blood, sweat and beers instantly disappeared with the stroke of a "Del" key.

I'm currently nearing completion ...again.

But this time, something inside is beginning to "tell" me that things are taking shape. The end may finally be close at hand.

I've kept structure, dialog, interesting characters...all of that in mind during the process. And of course, what I think to be a great story!

But I will continue to write...and rewrite, until that magical bell rings that tells me to stop...let it go.

Write until you think it's ready. The rewrite the thing. As many times at it takes.

Eventually, you're cell phone will ring...it will be your gut calling telling you to cut the cord.

Good luck and good writing!

If I still like it after not having worked on it or read it for a couple of weeks. Preferably longer. It's so difficult to judge when I'm right in the thick of it, I simply have to get away from it and come back relatively fresh.

And as someone already mentioned, having a trusted reader is tremendously helpful.

I have a strategy but in involves some $ and a bit of courage. This was for my latest, and hopefully, best effort.

I wrote to the 3rd draft, then submitted to a well respected reader who charges a pretty small fee for his take. Got some great notes.

After I got the notes back, I flat out asked him if it sucked. I told him I was fine with any answer. That I didn't want to waste time on it if it was God awful.

Thankfully, he didn't think it sucked. Thought it had great potential. So, I wrote the next draft and entered it in a monthly contest known for excellent feedback. If it scored well there, I know I'm on the right track.

I also submitted it to a proofreader before I entered the contest. Got her feedback as well.

All along I used Pilar Alesandra's free On the Page podcast story analysis episodes to make sure I was on point with each different "pass" she uses to evaluate the script.

Note that if I skipped the proofreader my total cost was about $120 and I got to enter a contest for half of that.

Why, of course, you stop by The GITS Club and have the kind folk over there give it a gander!

(*end of shameless plug*)

In all seriousness... can we ever know? I guess if we use the parameters we all have had gored into our skulls by various gurus over the years... (some form of dramatic structure, characters with some level of depth, etc., etc.)... then perhaps we can rest a little easier?

Ultimately, it boils down to genre. If you wrote a comedy, is it funny? If you wrote a horror flick, is it scary? If you wrote an action flick, does it kick royal ass?

I mean, good lord, take Inception this past weekend. Nolan developed that over, what, like a decade? Longer?

Seems to have, um, paid off...

I like Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac sign off line the best... "Be well, do good work, keep in touch." What more can we do?

Thanks for all your responses. We should definitely have some knowledgeable readers critique our scripts - I don't know a screenwriter alive who doesn't do that, myself included. But at the end of the day, it is rather an instinctual thing.

When nothing niggles.
After that, it's up to the rest of the world to tell you whether you've done good!