How much Rewriting?

[Whanmore]

I am re-reading a chapter before I publish and of course find my self making changes here and there. I'm had it "finished" for a few days and while waiting on feedback I am adding and changing things here and there. My question for you seasoned Literotica writers is how often/ much do you re write on average before publishing. How long does your story typically sit in the "draft" section before you decide to publish?

 

[Mastered_again]

My approach may be different in that I don't use drafts. I write in Word and submit stories in that format. That said, rewriting and editing is still a laborious process.

Nothing empirical to cite, but my approach is to set the story aside multiple times to let my brain clear and revisit it later, repeating the process until I've checked the boxes for plot, that the progression is sensible (as far as it goes, this is primarily a fantasy work of fiction after all) and that the characters remain true to themselves.

In addition, I still run periodic checks in Word's spell/grammar check. I don't always take its suggestions, especially on sentence fragments, but it does find some errors.

But as to how long or how many times a story should be edited is a personal decision. If you believe it's ready, post it.

As a point of reference, my latest series was over a year in creation, (off and on, not continuous) but that was for 9 parts and something like 80,000 words.

Just my method, not saying it would work for anyone else.

 

[TheRedChamber]

[For reference, I think this topic would be better posted in Author's Hangout and would likely get more replies there]

It varies considerably depending on the story and how happy I am with it. I think there is a distinction to be made between proof-reading (which as well as correcting typos might also involve slightly changing a clunky phrase here or there) and rewriting (which I would tend to think of as involving much more substantial changes at a paragraph level at least).

Proof-reading I try to do at least three full run throughs before publishing, but am still terrible at catching mistakes. I also tend to reread what I've written before starting to write the next section and will do some cleaning-up then.

Rewriting is a constant processes both during the writing of the story and possibly after it has finished. If I know a change is required, I tend to do it before continuing with the next section. I also tend to review each section of the story after writing to make sure I'm happy with it and any rewriting tends to take place then. So typically, once a story is finished, I don' t tend to make any big changes.

 

[Whanmore]

Thanks guys Im considering taking my three stories down and doing a republsih. That was helpful

 

[WhiteTailDarkTip]

I am re-reading a chapter before I publish and of course find my self making changes here and there. I'm had it "finished" for a few days and while waiting on feedback I am adding and changing things here and there. My question for you seasoned Literotica writers is how often/ much do you re write on average before publishing. How long does your story typically sit in the "draft" section before you decide to publish?

Like other respondents on this thread I write in Word and then transfer the finished work to the website.
My process is that I see something or a scene comes into my head and I jot it down. Sometimes this is the seed for a story and sometimes it’s just a scene. If it’s the latter it becomes a stub which sit as a set of loosely organised paragraphs (and longer) in a separate document.
The next exercise is to write a timeline and start fitting the relevant stubs into it. This is crucial for me as it starts to make certain things possible and, almost more importantly, some things impossible. I then need to start filling gaps, or explaining them. That can be quite a lot of fun in itself!
The trouble with this method is that it’s evolutionary so it has a bad tendency to ramble. My first two stories took about a year to write. Originally they were one story but at 100k+ words it was just too unwieldy so I split it, firstly into three and then, after a fairly vicious editing process, back down to two. Some sub-plots were discarded entirely and some, that I couldn't bear to lose, became a third story (we're talking about 50k words each here) and the deficiencies with that third story have become more and more apparent as time has gone on.
Longer stories need more effort to keep them in line so I reread and rewrite constantly.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I hardly ever rewrite. 98% of my raw draft gets through. I have a rolling edit process where I run through the previous chunk before I write the next chunk, which means, when I get to the end, my edit is done. I'll read it through once or twice, and submit.

I'll change words, occasionally phrases, sometimes sentences, rarely paragraphs. My writing is virtually stream of consciousness, and what you read is pretty much the only draft, straight onto the page. I don't plot, plan or outline, except in my head, but even then, only very rough thoughts.

This ability to "write raw" is unusual, I think, but it works for me. My subconscious must be busy, because my conscious mind is not - my writing comes easily, and usually, I'm trying to keep up.