Can I edit stories already published?

[JohnSS123]

Or is it too late?

 

[barefootgirl69]

https://www.literotica.com/faq/publishing/editing-published-work

This will tell you how to edit something that's already published.

 

[barefootgirl69]

An angry face? What did I do?

 

[PennyThompson]

Barefootgirl's got the answer! I'll just chime in to say that story edits are very low on the moderator priority list, and you can expect an edit to take between three and five weeks to be processed. It will sit in your Pending queue, seemingly untouched, until then.

So you can make edits, but I wouldn't bother for minor typos or errors, I've only ever submitted edits for major formatting errors. Better to get yourself an editor or beta-reader, or just do multiple passes of diligent self-editing, before publishing!

 

[JohnSS123]

An angry face? What did I do?

Barefootgirl's got the answer! I'll just chime in to say that story edits are very low on the moderator priority list, and you can expect an edit to take between three and five weeks to be processed. It will sit in your Pending queue, seemingly untouched, until then.

So you can make edits, but I wouldn't bother for minor typos or errors, I've only ever submitted edits for major formatting errors. Better to get yourself an editor or beta-reader, or just do multiple passes of diligent self-editing, before publishing!

I'm now disappointed, because hundreds of people have already read my story, so even if I edit it, those people have already read the version with that sloppy sentence. Now I can't get that thought out of my mind, and it's killed my mood to keep writing.

 

[barefootgirl69]

Were there comments made about it, or just something you noticed?

To be fair, there are many stories out there with that type of thing - even those that had help from an editor. But, I also see it in "professional" novels. Things get missed.

I do hope that it won't keep you from writing more for very long.

 

[PennyThompson]

I'm now disappointed, because hundreds of people have already read my story, so even if I edit it, those people have already read the version with that sloppy sentence. Now I can't get that thought out of my mind, and it's killed my mood to keep writing.

If it's just a couple minor typos or grammatical errors, you'll notice it far more than most readers.

If it's a ton of errors all of over the place, then that's just a hard lesson in the need for proof reading

 

[JohnSS123]

If it's just a couple minor typos or grammatical errors, you'll notice it far more than most readers.

If it's a ton of errors all of over the place, then that's just a hard lesson in the need for proof reading

It's a sloppy sentence with unclear meaning, but I can't get over the fact that it escaped my attention after all those hours I spent editing and that hundreds of people have read the version with that sloppy sentence. I'm so broken after that, that I don't want to continue that story or write anything else. So I guess my journey on Literotica ends here. Goodbye.

 

[PennyThompson]

It's a sloppy sentence with unclear meaning, but I can't get over the fact that it escaped my attention after all those hours I spent editing and that hundreds of people have read the version with that sloppy sentence. I'm so broken after that, that I don't want to continue that story or write anything else. So I guess my journey on Literotica ends here. Goodbye.

Go take a walk buddy, you'll be okay

 

[orangecurious]

It's a sloppy sentence with unclear meaning, but I can't get over the fact that it escaped my attention after all those hours I spent editing and that hundreds of people have read the version with that sloppy sentence. I'm so broken after that, that I don't want to continue that story or write anything else. So I guess my journey on Literotica ends here. Goodbye.

we've all done it. I gave up reading my stuff once it went live for that reason, there is always something to change, improve, delete.

Just laugh it off (easy for me to say and something i cannot do) and carry on once the mojo comes back.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Go take a walk buddy, you'll be okay

Penny,

I think the OP is a reincarnation of another Johnsomething123 who turned up a year or so ago, going on about how hard it was to keep writing, but never in fact wrote a thing. This would be his third or fourth "departure" from Lit.

 

[JohnSS123]

Penny,

I think the OP is a reincarnation of another Johnsomething123 who turned up a year or so ago, going on about how hard it was to keep writing, but never in fact wrote a thing. This would be his third or fourth "departure" from Lit.

This time I wrote something, but my realization that I made a blunder, which hundreds of people saw, killed my mood to keep writing. So I'll probably never bring myself to finishing my story.

 

[PennyThompson]

This time I wrote something, but my realization that I made blunder, which hundreds of people saw, killed my mood to keep writing. So I'll probably never bring myself to finishing my story.

if it doesn't come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don't do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don't do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don't do it.
...
if you have to wait for it to roar out of
you,
then wait patiently.
if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.
...
when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.

-bukowski on writing

 

[Tigersman]

The problem you mentioned is a common mistake that I see a lot of. I recently read a series where the author relied on Spellcheck too much and where the author used lower case to start a sentence. All these problems could have been avoided had the author reread slowly the story. When I say, "read slowly" I mean just that. If a person rereads a story like they normally would then they will automatically correct the spelling in their mind although it's misspelled. I made this mistake on a college paper. It cost me an "A". All Spellcheck does is tell you if the word used is spelled correctly, not if it's the word you meant to use. An example is typing "perm" when you meant "sperm." When in doubt if the spelling is correct, open your browser, then go to the search window and type "definition of "word you are using" and hit enter. The search will bring up a page listing several dictionaries with a short meaning. You can click on any or all if you are unsure. Also, this will let you see if the word is hyphenated or is all one word or two words.

 

[JohnSS123]

The problem you mentioned is a common mistake that I see a lot of. I recently read a series where the author relied on Spellcheck too much and where the author used lower case to start a sentence. All these problems could have been avoided had the author reread slowly the story. When I say, "read slowly" I mean just that. If a person rereads a story like they normally would then they will automatically correct the spelling in their mind although it's misspelled. I made this mistake on a college paper. It cost me an "A". All Spellcheck does is tell you if the word used is spelled correctly, not if it's the word you meant to use. An example is typing "perm" when you meant "sperm." When in doubt if the spelling is correct, open your browser, then go to the search window and type "definition of "word you are using" and hit enter. The search will bring up a page listing several dictionaries with a short meaning. You can click on any or all if you are unsure. Also, this will let you see if the word is hyphenated or is all one word or two words.

Too late. I published the flawed version, there's nothing I can do about that, and I'm in no mood to continue that story or write anything else.