Reworking a story

[unilive]

hello, it's my first time posting on the board.

I have a question. Would you say it's worth it to try and rework a story that ended almost a year ago?

I started writing it on a whim when I didn't know much about editing and I rushed the beginning. I think the first chapters could be better and I did rework the first two chapters and edited them on the site but now, every time I sit down to try and rewrite the next chapters, I'm like, uh, what's the point, who's gonna read them anyway?
I won't repost the story, because people are gonna be like... , what? this story again? I'll only edit the chapters but I suppose nobody will know that the story has been edited.
I sometimes think it's too late and for readers, it's over and done but at the same time, I kinda want to do it, because I love my characters and I know I can make the story better and maybe more people would like it.

What are your thoughts on that?

btw, the story is called U-NI in gay male. https://www.literotica.com/s/u-n-i-ch-01

 

[SimonDoom]

This is a very personal, artistic decision, but if I were you I'd think hard before doing this, for a few reasons.

Your story is very long. It's 22 chapters and the chapter you cited was 3 Lit pages (I wasn't sure if you were going to revise just this chapter or the whole thing). Instead of editing this story you could be writing new stories.

Your story did very well. The chapters received high scores, all with red Hs, and favorable comments, from what I could see. If you edit and resubmit you'll be starting over. You'll lose those scores and those comments. It doesn't seem like there's a compelling need to revise it.

Keep in mind that if you edit and resubmit you're making work for the two people who run this site. From what I understand an edited story goes to the back of the line in terms of priority.

My suggestion: move on to new stories, but if you want to revise this story go ahead and then submit the new edited version at another site, and see how it does.

I look back at my older stories and constantly find things I'd like to change, but I don't do it. I leave them as a record of what I was writing at the time and I move on to new projects.

But as I said at the beginning, this is a very personal decision you have a right to make for yourself.

 

[NotWise]

I sometimes think it's too late and for readers, it's over and done but at the same time, I kinda want to do it, because I love my characters and I know I can make the story better and maybe more people would like it.

The common wisdom here is that editing old stories isn't worth it.

I'm where you are on two of my stories. I'd like them to be a little different, but the readers won't justify the effort. I haven't decided to do it yet. If I rewrite them it will be for my own satisfaction, or for publication of the stories in the future.

Maybe there are other rationale that would get you there.

 

[ElectricBlue]

There are so many people here who fret about their last story, and want to make it their perfect creation. But I reckon your best story is your next one, and the one after that will be even better. It's far better, I think, to have ten stories once, rather than one story, ten times.

Write your next story, not your last one.

 

[8letters]

This is a very personal, artistic decision, but if I were you I'd think hard before doing this, for a few reasons.

Your story is very long. It's 22 chapters and the chapter you cited was 3 Lit pages (I wasn't sure if you were going to revise just this chapter or the whole thing). Instead of editing this story you could be writing new stories.

Your story did very well. The chapters received high scores, all with red Hs, and favorable comments, from what I could see. If you edit and resubmit you'll be starting over. You'll lose those scores and those comments. It doesn't seem like there's a compelling need to revise it.

Keep in mind that if you edit and resubmit you're making work for the two people who run this site. From what I understand an edited story goes to the back of the line in terms of priority.

My suggestion: move on to new stories, but if you want to revise this story go ahead and then submit the new edited version at another site, and see how it does.

I look back at my older stories and constantly find things I'd like to change, but I don't do it. I leave them as a record of what I was writing at the time and I move on to new projects.

But as I said at the beginning, this is a very personal decision you have a right to make for yourself.

I agree with this. Unlike a lot of authors here, I do regularly submit edited versions of my stories. I typically do it about a week after the story has been published, and I do it to clean up the typos and grammar errors that readers find. My stories have a high readership, and I want my later readers to have the best possible experience when they read my story. And doing that seems to cut down on the "you used 'life' instead of 'live'" comments. But after a year, you're not going to have a lot of new readers, particularly as you haven't published any new stories.

 

[KeithD]

The shelf life of a work is about two weeks. It once was much longer for erotica and works on the Internet, but there's a glut in those markets now that is settling them back to where most of the reads on a work are going to be in the initial few weeks. If you rework something on Literotica and put it in as an edit--especially a year later--you're going to have very few readers, as they won't know there is a redo. Your best bet if it's really bugging you that you could produce a better version, would be to delete the existing one and submit the new version as that--a new version. To stave off complaints of "Why do I have to read this again?" you could put a note up front on it that its a rewrite.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I've considered reworking a couple of old stories and posting them on other sites. They're both less than three LIT pages and they've been around for a number of months - in one case over a year.

I'm also curious to see how a different audience reacts to them.

 

[SimonDoom]

I agree with this. Unlike a lot of authors here, I do regularly submit edited versions of my stories. I typically do it about a week after the story has been published, and I do it to clean up the typos and grammar errors that readers find. My stories have a high readership, and I want my later readers to have the best possible experience when they read my story. And doing that seems to cut down on the "you used 'life' instead of 'live'" comments. But after a year, you're not going to have a lot of new readers, particularly as you haven't published any new stories.

When you resubmit an edited version, and the edited version is published, do you retain the views, votes, comments, and scores from the previous story, or does it start over?

 

[MetaBob]

When you resubmit an edited version, and the edited version is published, do you retain the views, votes, comments, and scores from the previous story, or does it start over?

The previous associated data gets preserved, if the process works as designed. I've used it here for a particularly egregious typo in a chapter summary, which I like to think was caused by some autocorrect function somewhere rather than originating between the chair and keyboard. Another time, when I cleaned up some very minor stuff while asking that the chapter be re-categorized more appropriately once I better understood how the site worked, nothing was done -- that request was simply discarded.

I keep a local master copy of all my edits. Once the work is published beyond the couple websites I've used to date (including this one), those will make it into the final published version.

 

[8letters]

When you resubmit an edited version, and the edited version is published, do you retain the views, votes, comments, and scores from the previous story, or does it start over?

In my experience, everything is retained when I submit an edited version. It's kind of hard to tell when the edited version is published.

 

[GroverLang]

Your best bet if it's really bugging you that you could produce a better version, would be to delete the existing one and submit the new version as that--a new version.

Excellent advice. I’ve had a short story deleted because I want to include it in a much longer story. I may use the original title, a variation of it, or a completely new title. I’m not sure which at the moment. But if it’s just minor changes because of sections annoying you then just leave it as it is.

 

[GroverLang]

Another time, when I cleaned up some very minor stuff while asking that the chapter be re-categorized more appropriately once I better understood how the site worked, nothing was done -- that request was simply discarded.

I assume when you say the request was ignored you mean the typo’s were corrected but the category wasn’t changed? I can understand it if your request was no longer on the first page.

As soon as I spotted Laurel had changed the category of one of my stories I sent in an edit with a note explaining why it should be in the category I selected. She promptly put it on the first page of the category I’d selected as a new story. So nothing was lost and I was happy.

 

[MetaBob]

I assume when you say the request was ignored you mean the typo’s were corrected but the category wasn’t changed?

I'm not completely certain but after review I suspect the other changes were made after all. I just compared my master copy with the chapter published here and found only one extra word here. The revision date on my master copy is April 19th, which was about the time I sent the edit request. I remember my requested changes amounting to removing extraneous words and commas. I don't generally have typos in my work (mye speling r gud yo), and don't recall finding any then.

I included a note with my edit request explaining that my primary purpose in requesting the change was to change the chapter's category from "Mind Control" to "Erotic Couplings," which was much more appropriate for that chapter. I assumed because that wasn't done that such requests were not generally accommodated. Perhaps I learned the wrong thing and need to follow up.

By the way, the designated process for editing a previously published story here is described in the site FAQ, though experience suggests longer turnaround times than the advertised 48 hours.

 

[KeithD]

I seriously doubt that Laurel does any editing whatsoever of a submission or the edit of a submission.

 

[MetaBob]

I seriously doubt that Laurel does any editing whatsoever of a submission or the edit of a submission.

Same here.

 

[GroverLang]

the designated process for editing a previously published story...though experience suggests longer turnaround times than the advertised 48 hours.

You’re quite right about the experience of edits. In the time I’ve been writing I’ve never heard anyone suggest less than a week for edits.

I’ve just looked at your stories and noted you have four in the 4.50 plus area but none of them have been designated with a red H? I couldn’t figure out why? Just a glitch? It would be good to see 7 instead of 3 reds. I hope it gets sorted out for you.

Never having read any of your stories I don’t know whether you wanted to change typo’s, punctuation, spelling etc. It was a generalisation and I apologise if you took it as otherwise.

 

[MetaBob]

I’ve just looked at your stories and noted you have four in the 4.50 plus area but none of them have been designated with a red H? I couldn’t figure out why? Just a glitch?

To be eligible for a red H, a story must have at least 10 reviews, and many of mine do not. Of the ones that do, most had a red H at one time but got knocked down to just under 4.50.

The chapters that seem most susceptible are those that feature strong women, which all of mine contain to a lesser or greater degree. Some here don't seem to like that. One of the few comments my stories have received even stated that dislike, stemming from politics, explicitly, even while praising my writing. I don't let it bother me. I'm not writing for people who don't enjoy the company of strong, capable women anyway.

 

[Bramblethorn]

When you resubmit an edited version, and the edited version is published, do you retain the views, votes, comments, and scores from the previous story, or does it start over?

Yep, everything stays.

 

[MetaBob]

Never having read any of your stories I don’t know whether you wanted to change typo’s, punctuation, spelling etc. It was a generalisation and I apologise if you took it as otherwise.

I've actually gone back and made edits to most of my chapters published here, including one since I linked it here earlier today, but most are minor and not worth bothering the site to revise. They'll fall out somewhere else later.

And don't worry, I didn't take anything you've written as negative ... my mention that my stories don't generally contain typos was just a reassurance that reading them wouldn't require *that* sort of filter, though it might require others.

 

[ChloeTzang]

I say screw it, once it’s written and posted, that’s it. I’m onto the next story or the next chapter. Perfection is for perfectionists, and I’d rather have fun with the next story than cross t’s and dot i’s and tweak sentences. I do that when I’m editing and withe help, I’m getting better at that. Rewrites? No way, Jose.

And now, gotta get back to “Illegal Alien.”

 

[GroverLang]

To be eligible for a red H, a story must have at least 10 reviews, and many of mine do not. Of the ones that do, most had a red H at one time but got knocked down to just under 4.50.

The chapters that seem most susceptible are those that feature strong women, which all of mine contain to a lesser or greater degree. Some here don't seem to like that. One of the few comments my stories have received even stated that dislike, stemming from politics, explicitly. I don't let it bother me. I'm not writing for people who don't enjoy the company of strong, capable women anyway.

It never entered my head any of your stories would not get at least ten votes. I, and many others, write stories about strong women but in bdsm not in the same categories as yourself. Perhaps there’s nothing wrong with your writing it’s just readers in your categories don’t like strong women? I know other writers, not just me, write for themselves and hope readers will enjoy their work as much as they do. As an amateur, writing for me is the most important part of being a writer.

 

[MetaBob]

It never entered my head any of your stories would not get at least ten votes.

Thank you, GroverLang, that's very kind of you to say, especially in a public forum like this one.

Perhaps there’s nothing wrong with your writing it’s just readers in your categories don’t like strong women?

Eh, various people find different ways to dislike any creator's work, a few quite vocal and persistent, some for narrowly defined reasons. It's kinda the nature of the beast. It probably doesn't help that I take their thoughts with a grain of salt before implementing the sort of changes they might prefer.

For me, I figure no one will write the stories I most want to read, the way I want them told, if I don't do it myself. So I do. And then on to the next. I've been quite happy with the result so far, and most, though certainly not all, seem to agree.

 

[ElectricBlue]

In my experience, everything is retained when I submit an edited version. It's kind of hard to tell when the edited version is published.

Yes, an edited story keeps all comments, ratings, faves etc.

With the new Control Panel, when you submit an edited story, it shows up on your Activity Flow as a submitted story, just like any other. Then, when the edit goes live, you'll get a notification "Submitted Story removed" - something like that - unlike a new story, where you get notified "Your story xxxxx has been published." So if you only have one edit at a time, you'll know when it goes live.

As an aside, I had an edit (to fix an html glitch) go through in two days, a couple of weeks ago. That was quick.