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re-editing older work

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karaline

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After a bit of a hiatus I've decided to add an epilogue to one of my series, to tie up some lose ends, but also because people keep asking. It had been a while since I started writing it so I re-read the whole thing, it had been long enough since I'd read those earlier to get a kind of fresh perspective.

Big Mistake.

Urghh, its so bad, so bad. I'm amazed anyone made it passed the first 3 chapters. On a brighter note I can see a marked improvement in my writing as the story progresses. So, my question is, have any of you had a similar experience? and if so have you gone back and re-written the earlier work? part of me wants to rewrite, part of me wants to leave it as a sort of monument to how my writing has changed.

In a way I'd just like to just concentrate on getting the other plot bunnies out of my head and on to the page but on the other hand I hate the idea that it isn't as good as it could be.
 
I pulled a 60,000 word story from Literotica that I published as an e-Book, Love So Young.

Then, I rewrote it as a 120,000 word story, Young Woman with Older Man.

I reposted it to Literotica and published as a two volume e-Book.

Before I rewrote it, I debated if I should just let it go and write something else.

Only, I really liked the story and knew that I could write it better.

Good luck.
 
This may not be exactly what you asked but ....

I mentioned in a thread recently, that I have a couple of old series' that I never finished, it's been several years and I was asking advice on how to continue it after all this time.

I didn't mention I planned on doing some editing, but it is fairly easy, I did a change of name on one earlier, it's all spelled out int he FAQs on how to edit and re-post. And I've been thinking of doing it for several stories that have some glaring typos, the kind that get mentioned in the comments section.

One suggestion that was posted about continuing an old series is to start a new series, and put and explanation in the comments section of both the old and new stories, once the new one is posted. I thought that if/when I do it that I will entitle the continuation series so that it falls alphabetically right after the old series. Also start with a short synopsis of the situation for those readers who get to it, but haven't read the old one.

The rational for doing a continuation with a new series rather than just additional chapters is that new readers may not want to read through all the old series before getting to the new stories.
 
No, I don't go back and reedit what's on Lit. I just move ahead. There's no such thing as perfect copy, and most of my work here has already been through editing by someone else and been published--and still has mistakes. I think we're all pretty much in the same boat on that.
 
Love it that the protagonist of Love So Young is named Freddie. :D
 
My first story here makes me cringe when I look at it. I have thought about editing it....but then I decided to leave it alone as a way to see how far I've come.

What I find a little annoying is readers apparently don't look at story dates, or maybe just assume you have always written to the same level because I have gotten a lot of comments on older stories to the effect of "wow, you must have really rushed this one, its no where near as good as ...."

Maybe it just never occurs to them that we improve over time
 
SusanJillParker said:
I pulled a 60,000 word story from Literotica that I published as an e-Book, Love So Young.

Then, I rewrote it as a 120,000 word story, Young Woman with Older Man.

I reposted it to Literotica and published as a two volume e-Book.

Before I rewrote it, I debated if I should just let it go and write something else.

Only, I really liked the story and knew that I could write it better.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

I had a copy of the original Love so young on the kindle app for my lap top....but last time I tried to open the app it was corrupted somehow:rolleyes:
 
lovecraft68 said:
My first story here makes me cringe when I look at it. I have thought about editing it....but then I decided to leave it alone as a way to see how far I've come.
Click to expand...

I left a few of my first stories up, too. Do I cringe when I think of them? Yes, but they're a reminder of how little I knew when I began writing back in Jan/Feb. of 2007.
 
_Lynn_ said:
I left a few of my first stories up, too. Do I cringe when I think of them? Yes, but they're a reminder of how little I knew when I began writing back in Jan/Feb. of 2007.
Click to expand...

Exactly...

I did end up doing an edit of that story because I used it as a scene in a much larger novel and I think I took over a thousand words out of it so I did get a taste of what I could do with it now, but I wouldn't replace the one here.
 
lovecraft68 said:
Exactly...

I did end up doing an edit of that story because I used it as a scene in a much larger novel and I think I took over a thousand words out of it so I did get a taste of what I could do with it now, but I wouldn't replace the one here.
Click to expand...

I should edit my previous post because my first pieces were not stories . . . they were scenes. :rolleyes:
 
The only story I've pulled back was one that eventually became a chapter in a novella and I pulled it here when I posted the novella, including that chapter, to Lit. And I can't remember if I've ever posted an edit.
 
_Lynn_ said:
I should edit my previous post because my first pieces were not stories . . . they were scenes. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I often wonder about the difference....I see a lot of short stroke type pieces that I don't feel are stories, but more like the written version of a five minute porn clip of just sex.

But people claim if it has a start middle and end its a story so...starting sex, sex, and the climax qualifies...I guess....but I like an actual story personally
 
The more traditional definition of a short story (leaving aside the "being able to read at one sitting" aspect) is dilemma/change/resolution (or purposeful failure to change/resolve). That's where many of what we call "stroker" stories here fall into scenario rather than story. They are missing one or more of these elements. That said, there's a great market for stroker scenarios here, so that's reason enough to do them here.
 
sr71plt said:
The more traditional definition of a short story (leaving aside the "being able to read at one sitting" aspect) is dilemma/change/resolution (or purposeful failure to change/resolve). That's where many of what we call "stroker" stories here fall into scenario rather than story. They are missing one or more of these elements. That said, there's a great market for stroker scenarios here, so that's reason enough to do them here.
Click to expand...

Not just here, it sells in the pay market, most often as anthologies, but I've seen 2k e-books that are just fucking do well on amazon.

I keep telling myself I will go that route sometime just to see what happens....then find I seem unable to pull it off.
 
Over the past week, I've have a reader send me e-mails bringing up stories I've written and posted here, and wanting to discuss the deeper meaning in them. Although there are some things to discuss with them, I keep wanting to say, "These were strokers written on a single image to serve the stroker crowd. I have stories built on deeper themes. Why are you zeroing in on the strokers?"--but I've decided just to be happy that they want to talk about any of the stories.
 
lovecraft68 said:
My first story here makes me cringe when I look at it. I have thought about editing it....but then I decided to leave it alone as a way to see how far I've come.

What I find a little annoying is readers apparently don't look at story dates, or maybe just assume you have always written to the same level because I have gotten a lot of comments on older stories to the effect of "wow, you must have really rushed this one, its no where near as good as ...."

Maybe it just never occurs to them that we improve over time
Click to expand...

That's something I hadn't thought of, now a couple of feedbacks I've gotten make a little more sense. It seems so obvious to me to look at dates when I read more than one story from an author.
 
thanks everyone. Still undecided, but its good to have all your perspectives.
 
karaline said:
After a bit of a hiatus I've decided to add an epilogue to one of my series, to tie up some lose ends, but also because people keep asking. It had been a while since I started writing it so I re-read the whole thing, it had been long enough since I'd read those earlier to get a kind of fresh perspective.

In a way I'd just like to just concentrate on getting the other plot bunnies out of my head and on to the page but on the other hand I hate the idea that it isn't as good as it could be.
Click to expand...


You readers have had no such qualms, or so it seems, and are eager for more.
Go ahead and write the Epilogue. Please your readers.
 
I have been doing multiple re-edits of a novel for years. Finally I decided, for several different reasons, to start posting the chapters in here in search of feedback.

I did it with the aim of using the feedback to edit again and think about whether to put the novel back on Smashwords and Amazon Kindle.

I have had some really great feedback and am looking at editing (yet again! :( ) the first few chapters at least, hopefully with the help of an editor when I can find one.

Quite a few writers will publish chapters up here which they then work on in line with feedback, and put up for sale on Smash and Amazon - I know Bramblethorn did this. You can get a different wider audience, and use the words of praise from here to promote the story on those sites.
:rose:
 
There are limits here to what you can do like that here. You aren't supposed to put a partial on here as a teaser with direct links (or directions) to buying another version of it elsewhere. That's a form of bait and switch.
 
sr71plt said:
There are limits here to what you can do like that here. You aren't supposed to put a partial on here as a teaser with direct links (or directions) to buying another version of it elsewhere. That's a form of bait and switch.
Click to expand...

You stated the rule correctly, but like the rest of them...do you see it enforced?
 
I don't bother to research such things, but over the years I've seen the the occasional query of "what happened to my story," with the answer that it was pulled because it was a tease linked to a buy elsewhere. Similarly, I've seen reference to rejected based on links to a paid version. Conversely, I was bitten myself for editing (for free) a book-length piece for one of the authors here cited for high-quality stories only to have a third of it posted here (and heavily announced on the forum) and then you have to go to Amazon to pay for the full version. As far as I know the incomplete part is still here. (I haven't checked.)
 
sr71plt said:
I don't bother to research such things, but over the years I've seen the the occasional query of "what happened to my story," with the answer that it was pulled because it was a tease linked to a buy elsewhere. Similarly, I've seen reference to rejected based on links to a paid version. Conversely, I was bitten myself for editing (for free) a book-length piece for one of the authors here cited for high-quality stories only to have a third of it posted here (and heavily announced on the forum) and then you have to go to Amazon to pay for the full version. As far as I know the incomplete part is still here. (I haven't checked.)
Click to expand...

There's quite a few I have stumbled across just by browsing here over time.

Someone you know well has a page full of them, but like I've said about many things if the rule maker has no interest in enforcing things I'm not going to bother anyone and do it for her.
 
sr71plt said:
There are limits here to what you can do like that here. You aren't supposed to put a partial on here as a teaser with direct links (or directions) to buying another version of it elsewhere. That's a form of bait and switch.
Click to expand...

No, I mean running the whole thing out on here, and then tidying it up for sale. People will buy an edited version even if it's up here for free, I believe. Sometimes people put it here for a while, tidy it up and take it down from here when they publish elsewhere too - I presume that's OK cuz everyone has had a chance to read it all.
 
NaokoSmith said:
No, I mean running the whole thing out on here, and then tidying it up for sale. People will buy an edited version even if it's up here for free, I believe. Sometimes people put it here for a while, tidy it up and take it down from here when they publish elsewhere too - I presume that's OK cuz everyone has had a chance to read it all.
Click to expand...

That's fine from this end, I'm sure. Not from Amazon's end if you leave a version on here for free. Of course that way you've destroyed at least some of its profit value. I do it the other way around--publish it to the marketplace and in some distant time post a version here (and elsewhere).
 
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