Genuine or Edited

[WastelandVoice]

I'm fairly new to this site. Been lurking around for some time before I decided to finally join. I have a few pieces up under "WastelandVoice" that have received generally positive reviews and feedback.

I tend to write while I am aroused and in the mood. I don't usually go back and edit things very much except to correct spelling errors.

I have a couple of audio recordings as well and I don't use a script- I speak off the cuff while I'm in the mood to be dirty.

Part of me feels as though it is more genuine to work this way, that realistic feelings, thoughts, and words come through more than they would otherwise. The other part feels as though editing and correcting may be a better fit. My question is:

What do you all think? And how much editing do you do on your work? A lot? A little? Not much at all? None?

 

[sr71plt]

I think there's a difference between "edited" and "changed" in this context. But I'm with you on not changing much after the initial write. I do edit, but just to make clearer/more correct what I meant to convey in the "heat" of the writing.

 

[PennLady]

The goal of editing would be to make your story sharper, clearer and more effective. "Change" isn't necessarily a bad thing, in terms of changing things to make them better. I'm all for spontaneity, but a little review can't hurt.

 

[Errantry]

I'm madly in favor of edited stories. I have no idea how many stories on literotica and similar sites I have closed in disgust after a paragraph or two of grammar atrocity, but it is no small number.

I copy-check my own writing as much as personal sanity and looming deadlines allow. A writer owes at least this much to the readers.

Competent editing doesn't diminish the passion in writing any more than a skilled editor cuts it from a movie. Editing is part of the essential craft of any creative endeavor.

Editing of course is not enough. Polish turds all you want and they still stink. But editing can turn a diamond in the rough into a jewel. What could be more satisfying?

Errantry

 

[Noira]

Edit!

You might think the geniuneness makes it more realistic, and you might think the heat of the moment is captured fully within all of your mistakes and one-handed typing... but no. It's not better that way.

Firstly, there are the people like me who are turned off by bad grammar... I don't think there's anyone who's turned ON by bad grammar... there are people who don't care, but you will lose readers by putting up a sloppily edited story. If there are a lot of mistakes, I leave. Enough said. What was hot when you were wanking and writing is now a manuscript you are considering putting up for other people to read--and you need to take it and turn it into something hot for wanking for them. They are not you and they did not have your experience.

Secondly, a first draft is always a turd. This is why I strongly advocate NaNoWriMo. Get your first draft and then polish the shit out of it. Write tons of shit and cull it out until you find the little gems in amidst all the char. This is the only way you will get a truly excellent story worthy of publication. No one publishes draft one.

However, this is Literotica. If you have a natural ear for grammar, and don't make a lot of mistakes, and just want quantity over quality... go ahead and post your rough draft. I read over my stories once once they were finished and tweaked here and there. I'm never going to print these. I know I have a natural talent for the English language and whipping it into shape and as such I feel confident posting with minimal editing.

I will always advocate editing, however. Changing things can increase the clarity, sometimes you can think of better words when your head is clear, and sometimes you'll realize the story was a flop. I'm a big fan of fast first drafts and polished second drafts, and as such, that can be the only advice I give: to write it and then once your head is clear, go back and read over it and polish it at least once! If not for you and your growth as a writer, for your readers.

 

[PacoFear]

Waster,

Not to pile on, but throw my vote in with SR, PL, Noira, and Errantry. Don't post a first draft. People can't distinguish a skilled story teller's heat of the moment ramblings from something vomited out by a complete hack. The unoriginal (and less crude) analogy for what we do here is a sculptor's proces.

In the heat of passion, Waster, you've grabbed a chisel and carved out an outline of what you're trying to relate. You know what it's supposed to be because you're the one working on the darn thing, but not many other folks will. You need to come back to your work later. Cooler, calmer, you fine tune your work. Cut a little more away. Smooth and refine your details. Make it flow. Pace it right.

In fact, want to hear something funny? I don't think I actually like writing first drafts that much. I prefer the fine tuning part afterwards. I'll never be prolific because I waste so much time fiddling, but dammit, I like fiddling and I'm happy. XD

G'luck,

-PF

 

[estragon]

I'm madly in favor of edited stories. I have no idea how many stories on literotica and similar sites I have closed in disgust after a paragraph or two of grammar atrocity, but it is no small number.

I copy-check my own writing as much as personal sanity and looming deadlines allow. A writer owes at least this much to the readers.

Competent editing doesn't diminish the passion in writing any more than a skilled editor cuts it from a movie. Editing is part of the essential craft of any creative endeavor.

Editing of course is not enough. Polish turds all you want and they still stink. But editing can turn a diamond in the rough into a jewel. What could be more satisfying?

Errantry

My own view is that you write it first, get it down, then go back maybe at once, maybe next day. Clean up grammar, syntax, tenses, point(s) of view. Then let it rest a while--at least a day, because you won't know if it's any good until you've read it over in cold blood, as a reader coming to it afresh might do. Then polish if needed. Repeat out loud the saying of Isaac Bashevis Singer (1902-1991, Nobel Prize for Literature 1978): "The wastebasket is the writer's best friend."

 

[sr71plt]

Can't say I'm in the "first draft is always a turd" group. First, nothing is "always," and, second, some folks have minds that polish something pretty well before a first draft is written. Pretty much everything I submit here and get published elsewhere is close to the first draft. It just gets copyedited and cleaned up a bit there for consistency and coherence--which I do need someone else to help do.

 

[MatthewVett]

I feel the same as most everyone else. I write when inspired, but later, when I'm in a different frame of mind, I go back and make sure it's still good. I mostly just mess with diction, but sometimes I rearrange stuff or add in things to cover plot holes I didn't realize were there. Sometimes I forget not everyone knows the details in my head, so I need to make more stuff explicit.

 

[dave110256]

I totally agree with all of the above. My first story I wrote and posted quickly, excited just to get in on the site. Then I read it, disgusted with the errors.
My next story was better, I spent a little time going back to it....still tons on mistakes. My ratings reflected this as well.
I've written 6 published stories now, it takes me about 3 or 4 hours to complete each one. I have a million ideas I'd like to put in print.
My stories still are not perfect, but I'm trying harder to pay attention to detail and Improve with each one. My latter stories aren't drawing bad ratings or reviews either, that's encouraging.
I'm hoping eventually to be a decent writer, never expecting to be perfect or one of the best on the site. I just plain love reading and writing erotica.
So many people here forget that people are here mostly to read erotica, get turned on by it. Not to pick apart a few gramatical errors.
I' was a member of this site for 7 years before getting up the nerve to write my first story and continued because of the encouragement given to me by a few readers, others were ruthless.....but that's just life.

 

[favoritesgoddess]

My first drafts are pretty darn good, but when I write, I tend to do most of the writing work while the words are still in my head. Once they're out, they tend to be less amenable to being messed with. My editing is really pretty minimal.

However, what I find is that when I read it back to myself, I've left out on paper stuff that stayed in my head. It's like I thought it, but forgot to write it, if that makes any sense. Sometimes I have to edit for clarification so that something that makes sense to me makes sense to someone reading it for the first time.

I also like to get it out of my head and let it lie there on the page for awhile. I go back after a week or even just a few days and I can see very easily where it needs improving. Sort of like when you cook something and it tastes good, but it's even better after spending a night in the fridge, you know? Sometimes those flavors need time to come together. It's an odd metaphor, I know.

I guess I'm saying some editing, but maybe not a whole rewrite. Let it sit and go back and "taste" it later and see if it needs flavoring.

 

[Mrtouf]

As long as you have a backup of each major draft, editing is the way to go. If you're ever in doubt about whether your edited work still has the spirit of what you originally wrote, just look back at your first draft.

I don't think that it has to be any less genuine just because you fine-tune the placement of words and events to better represent what's in your head. It is fair to say that on looking at your draft with an eye to improving it, you will think of things that you didn't originally envisage. But you will also think of things that are missing from the written page, as the above poster has pointed out.

Of course the ideal thing would be to edit in your head, before your fingers even hit the keys. There's a scene I'm about to write which I have re-imagined several times, to try out different ideas. Just pulling that out from your memory can be arousing.

 

[Zodia195]

I feel the same as most everyone else. I write when inspired, but later, when I'm in a different frame of mind, I go back and make sure it's still good. I mostly just mess with diction, but sometimes I rearrange stuff or add in things to cover plot holes I didn't realize were there. Sometimes I forget not everyone knows the details in my head, so I need to make more stuff explicit.

I totally agree with LM here. Also to everyone else, I think Wastedland was implying that he does check for grammar probs but as far as changing the content, he lets it be.