O how many!

[hmmnmm]

So I caught the edit/revise/rewrite fever a few weeks ago, and after at least three submitted revisions (with another round yet pending), I saw yet more flubs and problems and hitches and inconsistencies. Which means, the pending edits will be yet replaced practically as soon as they appear.

out of curiosity I tried a search to learn the average number of rewrites or if a particular work held a record for rewrites. The number 12 seemed to come up a few times. I think there was a fifty somewhere too, though the info didn't say who or what rewrote or was rewritten fifty times before it was considered a finished work.

So this thing I've been working on is up to about the fifth revision. Five more? Ten more?

I'm curious how many times anybody here's rewritten their works before they finally said, "It is finished."

 

[sr71plt]

So I caught the edit/revise/rewrite fever a few weeks ago, and after at least three submitted revisions (with another round yet pending), I saw yet more flubs and problems and hitches and inconsistencies. Which means, the pending edits will be yet replaced practically as soon as they appear.

out of curiosity I tried a search to learn the average number of rewrites or if a particular work held a record for rewrites. The number 12 seemed to come up a few times. I think there was a fifty somewhere too, though the info didn't say who or what rewrote or was rewritten fifty times before it was considered a finished work.

So this thing I've been working on is up to about the fifth revision. Five more? Ten more?

I'm curious how many times anybody here's rewritten their works before they finally said, "It is finished."

Usually once. If it was commissioned for pay, usually twice, with some time between reviews.

 

[Anna_Malia75]

So I caught the edit/revise/rewrite fever a few weeks ago, and after at least three submitted revisions (with another round yet pending), I saw yet more flubs and problems and hitches and inconsistencies. Which means, the pending edits will be yet replaced practically as soon as they appear.

out of curiosity I tried a search to learn the average number of rewrites or if a particular work held a record for rewrites. The number 12 seemed to come up a few times. I think there was a fifty somewhere too, though the info didn't say who or what rewrote or was rewritten fifty times before it was considered a finished work.

So this thing I've been working on is up to about the fifth revision. Five more? Ten more?

I'm curious how many times anybody here's rewritten their works before they finally said, "It is finished."

Rewrite my work? You're a funny guy. Next thing you'll be wanting me to have someone edit it! Life is short. Post first. Rewrite later.

 

[starrkers]

Rewrite my work? You're a funny guy. Next thing you'll be wanting me to have someone edit it! Life is short. Post first. Rewrite later.

What she said.

Although I tend to edit on the fly. If a story's not working, I let it sit for a few days then go back to it. I usually end up deleting bits and adding other bits. But once the last full point is written, I read it once, correct any errors I see and then submit it.

 

[hmmnmm]

Rewrite my work? You're a funny guy. Next thing you'll be wanting me to have someone edit it! Life is short. Post first. Rewrite later.

Well, sometimes a sentence or a phrase doesn't quite jive but the reason isn't obvious, at first, maybe not for a long time. Then one day the answer appears. After the fifth posting/edit/rewrite/revision.

the joys and perils of posting and premature posting, exposed, bared, unashamed. Then embarrassed.

Nuts.

 

[slyc_willie]

Well, sometimes a sentence or a phrase doesn't quite jive but the reason isn't obvious, at first, maybe not for a long time. Then one day the answer appears. After the fifth posting/edit/rewrite/revision.

the joys and perils of posting and premature posting, exposed, bared, unashamed. Then embarrassed.

Nuts.

I have a few stories I've considered rewriting. But, to be honest, the ones I've submitted prematurely (in my thinking) have been some of my best-received.

Kind'a makes me wonder if I second-guess myself too much.

 

[sweetness6280]

Most comp theorists would say that writing is a neverending process, because there is always something you can find that you could or would change.

I cannot really equate it to creative writing, because I am just beginning to rediscover that side of myself, but I know that I can always find something to revise/edit in my academic writing.

There comes a time, however, when you need to put it to bed, so to speak. Its like kneading bread dough. It has to be well done, but overwork it, and the bread is tough.

 

[sr71plt]

I have a few stories I've considered rewriting. But, to be honest, the ones I've submitted prematurely (in my thinking) have been some of my best-received.

Kind'a makes me wonder if I second-guess myself too much.

I've found that the greater the number of times you squeeze a story, the more likely you are squeezing the life out of it.

 

[slyc_willie]

I've found that the greater the number of times you squeeze a story, the more likely you are squeezing the life out of it.

Exactly. I may not be too happy with some word choices or phrases, and going back to some of my earlier work, I realize I fell into a lot of erotic fiction 'traps.' But I like to think of those older stories as the first foray, and it shows, while my more recent works are less porn and more story.

or so I hope.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Do you mean submitting an edited version of something you have written or editing a story. For myself, I am constantly editing. Sometimes I sit down at a work in progress and start by editing what is there already. Sometimes I start writing, stop myself and ask if I have already said that, and go back to check. If I have, I might change the first time, or I might pass up the second time.

In other words, rewriting is an ongoing thing. I spend more time editinghan I do writing, and I don't usually even bother with characterization or plot, and hardly at all with dialogue.

 

[slyc_willie]

Do you mean submitting an edited version of something you have written or editing a story. For myself, I am constantly editing. Sometimes I sit down at a work in progress and start by editing what is there already. Sometimes I start writing, stop myself and ask if I have already said that, and go back to check. If I have, I might change the first time, or I might pass up the second time.

In other words, rewriting is an ongoing thing. I spend more time editinghan I do writing, and I don't usually even bother with characterization or plot, and hardly at all with dialogue.

I can't do a story without dialogue, or even minimal dialogue. I've always been told that's one of my strongest suits, so I use a lot of it. Description is necessary, of course, but I can push a story along much better with dialogue than anything else.

But I also find that I do more editing on what my characters say than on what I describe.

 

[Weird Harold]

So I caught the edit/revise/rewrite fever a few weeks ago, and after at least three submitted revisions (with another round yet pending), I saw yet more flubs and problems and hitches and inconsistencies. Which means, the pending edits will be yet replaced practically as soon as they appear.

I don't submit revisions or edits to posted stories unless the story is corrupted when it first posts. I do a C&P from the posted version into a new Word file and run a file comparison with the file I submitted from. If they match, I do NOT submit edits or revisions unless a serious flaw is pointed out while it is still on the NEW Stories list.

I go through your fixes and revisions crisis before I submit anything, so that once I do break the "just one more edit" cycle, I cast the story upon the 'net and let it fly free, warts and all. I expend my creative and perfectionist energies on a new story and let the posted stories thrive or fail on the merits of what I originally posted -- as soon as I'm convinced the posting and submission match.

 

[hmmnmm]

Do you mean submitting an edited version of something you have written or editing a story. For myself, I am constantly editing. Sometimes I sit down at a work in progress and start by editing what is there already. Sometimes I start writing, stop myself and ask if I have already said that, and go back to check. If I have, I might change the first time, or I might pass up the second time.

In other words, rewriting is an ongoing thing. I spend more time editinghan I do writing, and I don't usually even bother with characterization or plot, and hardly at all with dialogue.

Both. Many deletions that I meant to redo but still haven't. Would've been better to just submit edits.
Also, before submitting. The thing's pasted there, looking over it in Preview, catch a couple typos, go to fix those, then find other stuff.

Or, Suzie So and So says to Max such and such, then she does this and Max replies blah blah blah. It looks ok, but something just ain't right. Forget about it and submit it. Or submit it and it nags. Then, during a re-read, it comes. You know what Suzie should've said or she should've said it somewhere else, or maybe she didn't need to say anything. Or she talked too much.

That kind of stuff.

Not the end of the world, just madness inducing.

 

[slyc_willie]

Both. Many deletions that I meant to redo but still haven't. Would've been better to just submit edits.
Also, before submitting. The thing's pasted there, looking over it in Preview, catch a couple typos, go to fix those, then find other stuff.

Or, Suzie So and So says to Max such and such, then she does this and Max replies blah blah blah. It looks ok, but something just ain't right. Forget about it and submit it. Or submit it and it nags. Then, during a re-read, it comes. You know what Suzie should've said or she should've said it somewhere else, or maybe she didn't need to say anything. Or she talked too much.

That kind of stuff.

Not the end of the world, just madness inducing.

Methinks you doth think too much.

No matter what you write, how you write it, once it is 'out there,' you will think of a better way to have said what you said. But how do you know it really is the better way? If readers respond favorably, isn't it enough?

When obsession intrudes upon writing, the writing suffers.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I can go either way. Minimally, I do 3-4 edits/read-throughs while I'm working on it and then sit on it overnight and guve it one final read-through/revision and will then submit. I edit as I write.

Typically, I can't stand reading something once I've written it though, and I quickly hit the point of diminishing returns in editing where I find myself changing things back to the way I orginally had them. I know then that it's time to quit.

If I had the discipline, the thing to do would be to age the piece for 3 weeks and then come back to it with fresh eyes, but I rarely do. The slickest thing I ever wrote I worked on once a month for almost a year.

 

[neonlyte]

I tend toward premature ejaculation, on Lit. I've several stories here written and posted in a day.

I'm working on a non-Lit story started in 2003

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

No matter what you do or how well a story is edited, there will be typos, some phrase that doesn't work or some poor word choice.

Personally, I'm much too interested in making the jokes work, timing between the joke lines and setting up for the next joke to worry about the small shit. That's for secretaries and the anal retentive.

 

[Jeanx2storm]

Both. Many deletions that I meant to redo but still haven't. Would've been better to just submit edits.
Also, before submitting. The thing's pasted there, looking over it in Preview, catch a couple typos, go to fix those, then find other stuff.

Or, Suzie So and So says to Max such and such, then she does this and Max replies blah blah blah. It looks ok, but something just ain't right. Forget about it and submit it. Or submit it and it nags. Then, during a re-read, it comes. You know what Suzie should've said or she should've said it somewhere else, or maybe she didn't need to say anything. Or she talked too much.

That kind of stuff.

Not the end of the world, just madness inducing.

I think that's a sign of a creative mind- always able to see another twist or discovering something new about a character or setting. Just make yourself a limit of rewrites that you're 'ok' with and stick to it.

 

[hmmnmm]

Well yeah, i've sat down and knocked out a short piece or two in one short sitting, threw it out there, and of those, some 'lasted' and some didn't.

But sometimes you come across something that began as one simple creature and while you're off doing other stuff, that simple creature morphed into something else. You then see that if you spent a little quality time with that creature - nurture but not smother - it could really become something. Maybe it's showing potential to go in a comedic direction or a dark direction, or a mix. Maybe what began as a simple succession of sex scenes now has other elements growing around that are as or more interesting than the sex scenes, to the point that the sex scenes seem out of place. Or it would work better to scatter the sex scenes - or even to cut way back on the explicitness. Which is probably the time to back off and write a poem. Or something else.

 

[Liar]

I'm curious how many times anybody here's rewritten their works before they finally said, "It is finished."

Zero.

I check once for bad spelling, bad grammar and comprehensiveness, and fix that.

If that story feels like it need rewriting, the idea behind it can't have been good. Then I scrap it and write something else.

 

[hmmnmm]

Now, with a poem I'm kinda casual and I really get into the little world that a poem can be, but I don't worry too much if it's crappy or if not too many people get it. It's more of a joy. Still there's effort, but not the agony, the mental pain, the harikari impulse that a prose story invites. Yet, if you take a story of approximate novella size and say it's around a thousand paragraphs, and you equate each paragraph to a poem or a prose poem, then you'd be looking at a few years work, and probably several rewrites/edits.