Oh Crap, total Rewrite?

[TheeGoatPig]

I'm considering rewriting parts 2 and 3 of my incest story Over The Sink. Anyone else ever have to rewrite multiple parts of a story series to make an upcoming part of the story work better? Or maybe I should just force myself to go on with the setup I have already given it?

Then again, a lot of my writers block with this series has felt like some of the poor decisions I made in the earlier works are what are causing the block now.

Make any sense?

Any suggestions?

 

[Darkniciad]

I made a really bad decision at the end of one chapter of Blackhawk Hall, which went totally out of character for the heroine. No clue what I was thinking.

Before I posted the next chapter, I went in and edited that final scene. I noted the change in the modified chapter, and in an Author's note at the top of the following chapter.

The readers took it in stride, and agreed with my changes completely.

If you want to continue and the existing work paints you into a corner, edit!

 

[Carnevil9]

Have a character wake up at the beginning of the new chapter, and suddenly realize that Parts 2 and 3 were all a dream! Then you have a blank slate all over again.....Carney (who's seen it done on prime time)

 

[TheeGoatPig]

Have a character wake up at the beginning of the new chapter, and suddenly realize that Parts 2 and 3 were all a dream! Then you have a blank slate all over again.....Carney (who's seen it done on prime time)

that was a rewrite that I already made. What lead up to the dream doesn't fit either though. I'm not happy with it. Not at all. Sally needs to be rewritten, and I'm not going to enjoy it unless I can get it to work. She needs to be more shy, and less sexually active. Meh. I think I do need to rewrite it to be happy.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Take it all down, rewrite it, and repost it under a revised title? Something that indicates that it's a newish take on the old story?

It's the great threat of the serially published story - you're committing to the first chapters before you're entirely sure where the last ones are going. Sometimes it doesn't end up where you'd planned. I haven't had the courage to do it with any story that I didn't know was fluff from the start.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

Take it all down, rewrite it, and repost it under a revised title? Something that indicates that it's a newish take on the old story?

It's the great threat of the serially published story - you're committing to the first chapters before you're entirely sure where the last ones are going. Sometimes it doesn't end up where you'd planned. I haven't had the courage to do it with any story that I didn't know was fluff from the start.

I knew where it was going. I just screwed up the development of one of the central characters in part 2, and it makes things move along faster than I wanted them to. I need to slow her seductions down.

 

[flavortang]

Gawd, re-writes are the bane of my existence. They make me want to beat the shit out of my story for being so high-maintenance.

 

[elsol]

Yes, I've rewritten pretty much ever long story.

It's a pain in the ass but one of the best things you can do to improve your writing.

You learn a lot.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Yes, I've rewritten pretty much ever long story.

It's a pain in the ass but one of the best things you can do to improve your writing.

You learn a lot.

Amen to that.

 

[Carnevil9]

It might be easier just to let the series die a natural death, and start a fresh new one. Using all the new lessons that you have learned.

 

[Weird Harold]

Anyone else ever have to rewrite multiple parts of a story series to make an upcoming part of the story work better? Or maybe I should just force myself to go on with the setup I have already given it?

My very first attempt at writing turned into a novel length disaster, in part because I had to keep going back and rewriting some of the earliest scenes to make later scenes workable.

I promised myself when I finally gave up on that story that A) I would never post any part of a partially finished story and b) that my first attempt at writing would never see the light of day.

I don't do sequels and often go to extremes to make them unlikely, and I do NOT post anything that isn't completely written and edited. The problem you're encountering is the prime reason for those choices.

 

[galaxygoddess]

If I had a dollar for everytime I rewrote the whole damn thing on various stories, I wouldn't need a job. My reasons vary from me not liking how it was writen, to where I was going with the plot.


It's just a thing. Sometimes we think we had an absolute stroke of pure genius, type ourselves into a blind frenzy and hit post and think "there! I rock!" and then a week later we re-read it and go "was I stoned when I wrote that? that's so stupid, ew. Time for a rewrite."

You can either go back and change that section, start the story all over from scratch, or write it in. I for one tend to scrap the whole blooming thing, even getting rid of the parts I liked just so I don't have to match up the continuity.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

I knew I was making some of these mistakes at the time too (some of them, not one of the important mistakes though).

 

[BlackShanglan]

It's just a thing. Sometimes we think we had an absolute stroke of pure genius, type ourselves into a blind frenzy and hit post and think "there! I rock!" and then a week later we re-read it and go "was I stoned when I wrote that? that's so stupid, ew. Time for a rewrite."

Indeed. I try never to post anything that I haven't had the time to let sit and then be returned to with a fresh mind for the "big edit." I usually need to leave it at least a couple of weeks. And oddly, the first big edit seems to have a mathematical consistency. My last three drafts each lost 15% of their length in the first major post-draft edit. I sprawl terribly when drafting.

 

[EveAnna]

With my two stories, I wrote the first not intending to do a second part but after it was posted I wanted to carry it on. I found that I just couldn't get back into the feel of my characters but eventually after writing different versions of the second part I did eventually post something that felt OK.

I did learn a very important lesson though, if I intend to keep a story going then at least have a decent story line to follow, my stories had a lot of potential but I just couldn't get the plot down on paper. I still don't think I could write a full series.

I'd love to have the abilities of some of the amazing writers on here.