Rewrite:

[loquere]

I've rewritten stories in the past, due to:


-Small plot flaw corrections
-My bad editing


However now I'd like to transform a few stories for bad conclusions, and others for an entire plot change requiring a complete rewrite.


What are some of the thing you may want to change in your stories, explain?

 

[sr71plt]

I normally just go onto the next story. I try to do all my rewriting (which is rare) before I release the story in the first place.

I do find I sometime rewrite/expand a story I've written for Lit. before putting it in the marketplace, but I'm usually going the other way, marketplace first, Lit. later, and I'm almost never prompted to rewrite when going that direction.

I think some authors at Lit. overestimate what posting a story to a site like Lit. means. This isn't the New Yorker or even the marketplace. This is a fishbowl, not the ocean.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Rarely do I rewrite. Once it's down, it's usually cast in stone.

I have pulled a story, not for a rewrite, but for expansion. The part that is there I have in the past punched it up by adding stuff to the beginning and/or the end.

 

[loquere]

I normally just go onto the next story. I try to do all my rewriting (which is rare) before I release the story in the first place.

I do find I sometime rewrite/expand a story I've written for Lit. before putting it in the marketplace, but I'm usually going the other way, marketplace first, Lit. later, and I'm almost never prompted to rewrite when going that direction.

I think some authors at Lit. overestimate what posting a story to a site like Lit. means. This isn't the New Yorker or even the marketplace. This is a fishbowl, not the ocean.

Yes I agree. It's important to move on, it improves our writing.
However sometimes you realize there were missed opportunities in the plot.

What were the typical things you went back to edit?

 

[loquere]

Rarely do I rewrite. Once it's down, it's usually cast in stone.

I have pulled a story, not for a rewrite, but for expansion. The part that is there I have in the past punched it up by adding stuff to the beginning and/or the end.

That's what I consider a rewrite, when I want to rewrite something an expansion is key along with any mass changes.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

That's what I consider a rewrite, when I want to rewrite something an expansion is key along with any mass changes.

But I didn't change the core part of what was written in the first place. I added, expanded to what was there. I "rewrote" nothing.

 

[loquere]

But I didn't change the core part of what was written in the first place. I added, expanded to what was there. I "rewrote" nothing.

Okay so I'll classify them separately.

-Rewrite
-Expand

One of the stories I'll rewrite is the only story I have in the loving wife's category. It's my only 3.0 story. I'll rewrite it and remove it from that category. However I will also expand on it once I've rewritten it.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Okay so I'll classify them separately.

-Rewrite
-Expand

One of the stories I'll rewrite is the only story I have in the loving wife's category. It's my only 3.0 story. I'll rewrite it and remove it from that category. However I will also expand on it once I've rewritten it.

There you go. You expected more than a 3 in LW? Back when I left the voting on, several of my LW stories did make it above the 4.0 level after a time. Most were 4.0 and under. It was the comments that really liked. Most hoping I died of AIDS. It seemed they thought they were true stories. That's what made me laugh a lot. But their rants grew tiresome, so I turn off comments and voting on LW stories.

 

[DwellerDark]

I seem to mostly get criticism on my endings, that I don't wrap up the story in a satisfying way. So I would probably rethink a few of those, though I don't know if I would actually change them. I would definitely polish some things up in each of my stories if I were ever to publish them, but for now I just let them be and move on to the next.

 

[sr71plt]

What were the typical things you went back to edit?

I can't remember any Lit. story that I went back to edit.

I expanded the ending, adding a twist, to my current Lit. story, which has been placed on Lit. before going to a marketplace anthology, but I did that before I posted it to Lit., and if I'd decided to add another twist to the ending after posting it to Lit., I would not have bothered to change the Lit. ending. I would have just changed it in the version going to the marketplace.

 

[loquere]

There you go. You expected more than a 3 in LW? Back when I left the voting on, several of my LW stories did make it above the 4.0 level after a time. Most were 4.0 and under. It was the comments that really liked. Most hoping I died of AIDS. It seemed they thought they were true stories. That's what made me laugh a lot. But their rants grew tiresome, so I turn off comments and voting on LW stories.

LW is rough! After that one posting in LW, I had to turn off all my feedback for every story.
All my stories on the 4.5 border started to bleed significantly, pushing them below the (H) mark. Never have I ever received so much feedback for a story.

 

[loquere]

I seem to mostly get criticism on my endings, that I don't wrap up the story in a satisfying way. So I would probably rethink a few of those, though I don't know if I would actually change them. I would definitely polish some things up in each of my stories if I were ever to publish them, but for now I just let them be and move on to the next.

I am awful at conclusions as well.



In most cases it's just the typical me being unaware of the natural place fore a conclusion.

In one case I let some personal stuff bleed into the story.

 

[oggbashan]

I've edited for errors, usually typos and changing characters' names unintentionally. But they are generally minor, no more than 1% of the text at greatest.

My incomplete stories sometimes get rewritten several times before they are posted, or shoved back in the 'sort it out later' heap. That is why some appear with copyright dates that are years before the posted date.

Once I have posted a story on Literotica I prefer to leave it substantially unaltered except for the minor edits necessary for small corrections. I can move on once I have posted a story.

Some of my stories were originally written more than 15 years ago. I'm not the same person nor the same writer as I was then. If I started a rewrite of an old story I would either have to think back to what I was then, or recast it as I would write it now. Both tasks are harder than starting a new story.

I can and do sometimes write sequels to old stories but matching the style is a problem unless I already have a started draft that needs completing.

In Literature some authors are never satisfied with their published work and want either to withdraw it and start again, or issue a second. third, or fourth revised edition of the same story. Some die without having finished revising their story to be the perfect version.

That's the problem. You may think you have the perfect story in your head but translating it to text never matches your original intention. At some point you have to say 'That's good enough' and stick to that decision.

 

[sr71plt]

I might add that I think that compulsive fiddling with minor issues in using the Lit. editing process is pulling at Laurel's time with the submissions file and with other authors trying to get their stories posted. I think it's a bit selfish. It's not their fault you didn't do a good job the first time. And I've left some obvious errors in my work that were pointed out to me on this basis--I don't want to inconvenience others because I didn't get it right to begin with. It rarely negatively impacts on the story anyway. There's no such thing as perfect copy. And this isn't the New Yorker.

 

[_Lynn_]

I've rewritten stories in the past, due to:


-Small plot flaw corrections
-My bad editing


However now I'd like to transform a few stories for bad conclusions, and others for an entire plot change requiring a complete rewrite.


What are some of the thing you may want to change in your stories, explain?

Once I finish a story and post it here, I'm done. I don't rewrite or expand them, either. Changing anything within a story happens while I'm writing them. I sometimes use a reader but I don't have an editor. So any mistakes are all mine.

 

[lovecraft68]

LW is rough! After that one posting in LW, I had to turn off all my feedback for every story.
All my stories on the 4.5 border started to bleed significantly, pushing them below the (H) mark. Never have I ever received so much feedback for a story.

Can you imagine if Laurel extended her new "no personal attacks" rule to include LW comments?

Some of those losers might have a damn coronary if they found out they couldn't post "cunt/faggot/nigger" in every comment.

 

[loquere]

Can you imagine if Laurel extended her new "no personal attacks" rule to include LW comments?

Some of those losers might have a damn coronary if they found out they couldn't post "cunt/faggot/nigger" in every comment.

Yes, they're over the top in a religiously obsessive way. I'm not familiar with the new rules, where might I find them? Stricter rules would be necessary to limit the liability of Literotica, in a case of forum user suicide, due Harassment.

 

[loquere]

Once I finish a story and post it here, I'm done. I don't rewrite or expand them, either. Changing anything within a story happens while I'm writing them. I sometimes use a reader but I don't have an editor. So any mistakes are all mine.

I'm thinking of saying fuck it and not using an editor, but I'm real bad at editing. It would get rough, but I have comments turned off, so I wouldn't here the backlash.

 

[loquere]

I might add that I think that compulsive fiddling with minor issues in using the Lit. editing process is pulling at Laurel's time with the submissions file and with other authors trying to get their stories posted. I think it's a bit selfish. It's not their fault you didn't do a good job the first time. And I've left some obvious errors in my work that were pointed out to me on this basis--I don't want to inconvenience others because I didn't get it right to begin with. It rarely negatively impacts on the story anyway. There's no such thing as perfect copy. And this isn't the New Yorker.

For an already posted story there should be an immediate edit option. Especially for someone with more than ten stories posted.

 

[loquere]

I've edited for errors, usually typos and changing characters' names unintentionally. But they are generally minor, no more than 1% of the text at greatest.

My incomplete stories sometimes get rewritten several times before they are posted, or shoved back in the 'sort it out later' heap. That is why some appear with copyright dates that are years before the posted date.

Once I have posted a story on Literotica I prefer to leave it substantially unaltered except for the minor edits necessary for small corrections. I can move on once I have posted a story.

Some of my stories were originally written more than 15 years ago. I'm not the same person nor the same writer as I was then. If I started a rewrite of an old story I would either have to think back to what I was then, or recast it as I would write it now. Both tasks are harder than starting a new story.

I can and do sometimes write sequels to old stories but matching the style is a problem unless I already have a started draft that needs completing.

In Literature some authors are never satisfied with their published work and want either to withdraw it and start again, or issue a second. third, or fourth revised edition of the same story. Some die without having finished revising their story to be the perfect version.

That's the problem. You may think you have the perfect story in your head but translating it to text never matches your original intention. At some point you have to say 'That's good enough' and stick to that decision.

Ideas sometimes change after there published, and your like ahh that could be so much better only if.
However you all are right, i'm living in the past with these minuscule obsessions. It's holding back progress.

 

[_Lynn_]

I'm thinking of saying fuck it and not using an editor, but I'm real bad at editing. It would get rough, but I have comments turned off, so I wouldn't here the backlash.

I tried using an editor.

 

[sr71plt]

Yes, they're over the top in a religiously obsessive way. I'm not familiar with the new rules, where might I find them? Stricter rules would be necessary to limit the liability of Literotica, in a case of forum user suicide, due Harassment.

It appears the interventions are coming before changes are being made to the forum rules.

 

[sr71plt]

For an already posted story there should be an immediate edit option. Especially for someone with more than ten stories posted.

"Should be" at Literotica comes with an open-ended implementation date, so it sort of becomes an empty aspect of the discussion.

 

[loquere]

It appears the interventions are coming before changes are being made to the forum rules.

In what way, are hateful users being banished?

 

[sr71plt]

Ideas sometimes change after there published, and your like ahh that could be so much better only if.
However you all are right, i'm living in the past with these minuscule obsessions. It's holding back progress.

Which I take as the author's "should of" problem not everyone else's that sticks with the author and as a lesson on thinking sharper during the writing process next time--or just doing it in some other story. Again, this is a free-read, not a critique, site or the New Yorker.