Rewrites?

[Rob_Royale]

Do you do them or leave sleeping stories lie?
Sometimes I start a series without a clear ending in mind and that has proven to be very messy.
Because I'll take a stab at an ending only to sort of phone it in because it's not clear to me. Later on when I've had time to think about it, I realize I now have to do more work to get something I can be proud of, out of it. I'm currently combining Freebody Manor 1 and a heavily edited chapter 2, and adding an ending to that rather than do a chapter 3. MILF Chaser 3 is slated for deletion and it will get a complete rewrite because what I posted is total crap.

So, do you polish the turds or just step over them and continue on your way?

 

[Erozetta]

Do you do them or leave sleeping stories lie?
Sometimes I start a series without a clear ending in mind and that has proven to be very messy.
Because I'll take a stab at an ending only to sort of phone it in because it's not clear to me. Later on when I've had time to think about it, I realize I now have to do more work to get something I can be proud of, out of it. I'm currently combining Freebody Manor 1 and a heavily edited chapter 2, and adding an ending to that rather than do a chapter 3. MILF Chaser 3 is slated for deletion and it will get a complete rewrite because what I posted is total crap.

So, do you polish the turds or just step over them and continue on your way?

I rewrite when I feel I didn't give an idea it's full due for whatever reason.

I pretty much think all of my stories are crap, but I still like the ideas.

 

[Jmanchu]

I rewrite a lot. I'm right now working on completely rewriting the first three parts of a story I published here a couple of years ago. Mainly updating the prose, to add a lot more polish and flair and complete rewriting of the voice that just feels rough and awkwardly phrased to read, and rewriting parts of the story.

 

[lovecraft68]

If it's a wip I'll go back and rewrite something, but once its done, its done.

Time is at a premium, so I've adopted the always forward never backward mantra

 

[UsuallyPresent]

What I’ve put up has been rewritten, occasionally multiple times, before it was published. I have reposted some work due to error on my part but I try quite hard to prevent the need to do so. Being human, I’m not 100% successful.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Do you do them or leave sleeping stories lie?
Sometimes I start a series without a clear ending in mind and that has proven to be very messy.
Because I'll take a stab at an ending only to sort of phone it in because it's not clear to me. Later on when I've had time to think about it, I realize I now have to do more work to get something I can be proud of, out of it. I'm currently combining Freebody Manor 1 and a heavily edited chapter 2, and adding an ending to that rather than do a chapter 3. MILF Chaser 3 is slated for deletion and it will get a complete rewrite because what I posted is total crap.

So, do you polish the turds or just step over them and continue on your way?

I have done a few updates to fix things like naming issues, but like @lovecraft68, once it's done, it's pretty much done.

Before it's published, though, I will rewrite and rewrite until I can't find anything else to change(And still find errors after they go live).
I've had stories sit in Pending for over a year until I was happy with them.

 

[AwkwardMD]

I have one that I can't let go of, even after a year, to the point that I've commissioned an audiobook version.

 

[Bazzle]

Do you do them or leave sleeping stories lie?
Sometimes I start a series without a clear ending in mind and that has proven to be very messy.
Because I'll take a stab at an ending only to sort of phone it in because it's not clear to me. Later on when I've had time to think about it, I realize I now have to do more work to get something I can be proud of, out of it. I'm currently combining Freebody Manor 1 and a heavily edited chapter 2, and adding an ending to that rather than do a chapter 3. MILF Chaser 3 is slated for deletion and it will get a complete rewrite because what I posted is total crap.

So, do you polish the turds or just step over them and continue on your way?

I have gone back through most of my stories and polished them. I have not deleted them. Just because I want the best version out there!

 

[ElectricBlue]

I can't see myself ever doing a rewrite. Once a story is done and out there, that's it. I read my old stories on occasion, see flaws, but on the whole, the writing's not bad. They're how I got to where I am, not where I was.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I have one that I can't let go of, even after a year, to the point that I've commissioned an audiobook version.

Where do you go to commission an audio book? I have one I’d love to have a young female voice do. “Just a Walk in the Park.”

 

[AwkwardMD]

Where do you go to commission an audio book? I have one I’d love to have a young female voice do. “Just a Walk in the Park.”

Feel like I should make a separate thread for that. I'll tag you when I do

 

[EmilyMiller]

Do you do them or leave sleeping stories lie?

I’ve rewritten all of my first five stories published here twice. Once to remove some content I was no longer happy with, once to sort out what passed for dialog when I first started writing.

And I rewrote / expanded the ten chapter story I published as RolloJTomasi and put the resulting novella up on this account (with Laurel’s permission).

I’ve done minor rewrites to a few others.

 

[iwatchus]

I am so tempted to rework so many of my early stories. I started to rework my original series into a single novel instead of 21 semi-autonomous stories. But I have too many new things to write to spend the time going back to them.

 

[EmilyMiller]

But I have too many new things to write to spend the time going back to them.

I found it was a good filler activity if I needed a break from new story writing.

 

[iwatchus]

I found it was a good filler activity if I needed a break from new story writing.

I've been reading when I need a break. Either fiction (here and elsewhere) or things about writing. Wither way, I think it helps my writing for future projects.

I had stopped reading fiction almost completely decades ago, so I need to get back into it. And I never learned any of the approaches to writing. Until last weekend, almost everything I knew about writing, beyond my own guesswork, came from this forum.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I had stopped reading fiction almost completely decades ago

I read mainstream novels, always have. But I’ve no formal writing training beyond some college classes. I find practice helps.

 

[iwatchus]

I read mainstream novels, always have. But I’ve no formal writing training beyond some college classes. I find practice helps.

Practice definitely helps. As I was discussing in another thread. I have not had an English class since high school. And that was a VERY long time ago. And I remember much more about who I sat with in that class than any lessons I learned about writing.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Practice definitely helps. As I was discussing in another thread. I have not had an English class since high school. And that was a VERY long time ago. And I remember much more about who I sat with in that class than any lessons I learned about writing.

I did some English in college, and it’s wasn’t that long ago. But I get what you mean.

 

[iwatchus]

I did some English in college, and it’s wasn’t that long ago. But I get what you mean.

But now you have me thinking about that HS English class. I started the year sitting with someone I had been romantically involved with for the better part of a year. We learned a lot together, but I wasn't ready to go as far a they wanted. We broke up a month or two into the school year. We actually both got married to the next person we dated. Who, for me, was who I ended that year sitting with. So i remember that English class well. Just none of the lessons about writing. We read MacBeth and The Awakening. I did a paper comparing the view of women in The Total Woman (look it up if you haven't heard of it) to the view in The Feminine Mystique. And my teacher got scolded by the admin for encouraging several of the female students to read Looking for Mr Goodbar. That was a really good year.

 

[ChuckWolf]

I have too many new things to write to spend the time going back to them.

I feel the same and if I were to change stuff, it'd only be things like the title or moving the old story in a better category.

I don't have writer's block (in fact I have the opposite), but if I did, I wonder if that might be the time to take a look at older works?

You might improve the story and perhaps the process would cure the writer's block?

 

[MetaBob]

Do you do them or leave sleeping stories lie?
Sometimes I start a series without a clear ending in mind and that has proven to be very messy.
Because I'll take a stab at an ending only to sort of phone it in because it's not clear to me. Later on when I've had time to think about it, I realize I now have to do more work to get something I can be proud of, out of it. I'm currently combining Freebody Manor 1 and a heavily edited chapter 2, and adding an ending to that rather than do a chapter 3. MILF Chaser 3 is slated for deletion and it will get a complete rewrite because what I posted is total crap.

So, do you polish the turds or just step over them and continue on your way?

I am a perfectionist. I agonize over every word. My first published novel was initially submitted for a Summer Lovin' contest here 4 or 5 years ago. It did well but not well enough (~4.63, if I remember correctly) to win any Lit prizes. I doubt that I ever will. I kept tinkering with my original source text, and eventually decided to send it to a publisher. They accepted it two weeks later and scheduled it for publication seven months after that. I immediately asked Laurel to delete it from here and she did. It's probably still out there in some wayback archive. In the meantime, I continued tinkering, finding little things here and there that I thought could be better. A month after I submitted my final draft to my publisher, it became their best-selling title (out of 700+) for the next six weeks and in their top 15 for the next six months. When I got the printed copy, I noticed a typo. Someone else noticed another. Two typos, gods! As a perfectionist I'd done every possible thing I could think of to prevent this from happening, yet it had. I fixed the typos in my source text, plus a slowing trickle of other minor issues ever since.

Do I re-read things I wrote that I'm proud of writing? Yes, I do. I also read my favorite pieces from other authors that have inspired me. Sometime I reach out to those other authors to suggest changes when I see typos, which happens, but I won't invest the effort unless I've already received confirmation that those authors would welcome such feedback. Sometimes those other authors reply, and sometimes they incorporate the error-correcting that I provide. Sometimes they offer to reciprocate, and sometimes I accept. When they do, I always carefully consider their contributions even though sometimes those contributions indicate clearly that they didn't actually read my fucking piece, just made assumptions about where they feared it was going. That's a risk with volunteer editors.

I used to submit corrections to Laurel for my stories here. Then only when I thought my errors were egregious, but that hasn't happened for years even though if I see an error in my previous work, I will definitely correct the source text. I've learned to try hard to make sure the essentials are correct before I submit a piece. So, all of you who've noticed that I sometimes confused "rudder" with "tiller" in my most recent submission, which was for this year's Summer Lovin' contest, rest assured that in some future revision that might never see the light of day, it's fixed. And I'm happy. (er).

 

[SkyBubble]

One of my professors said that "the best writing is rewriting."

I'm editing a couple of my existing stories now, while working on a couple of new ones.

 

[WendyTrilby]

I’ve been on LE for almost three years now, and in that time, I’ve only published 14 stories. What you don’t see, though, are the 10 or so others sitting half-finished in my in-development files. It’s not any one thing holding them back. I never start a story unless I already know the ending, but my short attention span often gets the better of me. Sometimes I burn out before I reach that finish line. When that happens, I set the piece aside, wander off into my fantasies, and begin something new.

Still, like an old boyfriend, I never truly forget those stories and often find myself fantasizing about them. Every so often, I circle back for a “booty call,” revisiting them with fresh eyes and renewed energy. If rereading sparks that same tingle I get from great erotica—whether mine or someone else’s—I dive back in. A few of them I’ve picked up three or four times. None of that work is wasted, just delayed. They’re all still on track to be finished eventually.

Which brings me to today. For the Summer Fun contest, I published a piece that began life as an excerpt from a much longer misadventure. The larger story follows a couple who buy a summer home in Bar Harbor, Maine, only to find themselves caught up in the manipulative sexual games of the locals. Tucked inside that tale was a short side story about two strangers meeting in a restaurant and sharing an anonymous affair over the course of one day.

That little detour turned out strong enough to stand on its own, so I spun it off and published it today as The Maine Attraction. If you read it, you’ll notice a fleeting mention of an attractive real estate agent and a young couple entering the restaurant. They pass quickly through the scene, barely noticed—but in the full manuscript, their sordid threesome lives on, waiting on my hard drive for its day in the sun.

For now, I hope you enjoy this self-contained slice of that larger, twisted world.

Time to open the unfinished story files and see which of them excites me the most, and give a writer's booty call and say, "hey, you up to letting me finish you off?"

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