Rewrites

[Seanathon]

Just curious if any authors here have ever elected to rewrite one of their stories after it has already been posted on Literotica for some time. I don't mean a simple edit, I mean a complete rewrite - cutting characters, changing plots, using a different viewpoint, etc.

And if you have (or have even considered it), would you resubmit the new version as an edited version - replacing the existing story but keeping votes, comments, etc - or would you submit it as a new story with a brief note at the top so readers aren't left thinking, "I know I've read a story just like this somewhere before..."

Finally, for those that have, what was the response (if any) from your readers?

 

[8letters]

Just curious if any authors here have ever elected to rewrite one of their stories after it has already been posted on Literotica for some time. I don't mean a simple edit, I mean a complete rewrite - cutting characters, changing plots, using a different viewpoint, etc.

And if you have (or have even considered it), would you resubmit the new version as an edited version - replacing the existing story but keeping votes, comments, etc - or would you submit it as a new story with a brief note at the top so readers aren't left thinking, "I know I've read a story just like this somewhere before..."

Finally, for those that have, what was the response (if any) from your readers?

I asked something like this earlier and everyone who replied said that once a story is posted, it's done forever.

FWIW, I'm doing a major rewrite of my very first story. I have the first draft done. I'm going to publish it when I finish its sequel.

 

[ChloeTzang]

I asked something like this earlier and everyone who replied said that once a story is posted, it's done forever.

FWIW, I'm doing a major rewrite of my very first story. I have the first draft done. I'm going to publish it when I finish its sequel.

I'm rewriting two of mine but to self publish. Wont post the updated versions on lit tho.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

I do it all the time.

Raymond Chandler did the same lotsa times.

 

[oggbashan]

I should rewrite several of my posted stories particularly Hen Party and Stag Party.

But:

1. I'm not the same writer I was fifteen+ years ago.
2. I have too many new stories to write and too little time.
3. I have unfinished stories - see other thread - to complete.
4. I prefer to leave them as they were then. They're a reminder of how much I have changed since 2002.

 

[sr71plt]

What you describe would just be a new story for me. I do come at something in an old story (the premise or characters) with a new story from time to time.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I actually did. The original is still here at Lit. The rewrite is now on Smashwords. Title is different. The plot is almost the same. Some of the characters are the same and there are new ones I added. But I have only rewritten the one.

 

[sr71plt]

I do rewrite gay stories into straight stories and vice versa.

 

[Hypoxia]

Rewrites, not really -- except one story that was removed and then reinstated after I'd posted an amended version, and two others specifically written as gender- or relationship-flipped versions. Major corrections, yes, but very very few.

 

[OmnislashXX]

Sometimes, I don't like how things sound so I re-edit it.

 

[Voboy]

Meh.

That sort of thing has left a bad taste in my mouth ever since George Lucas destroyed Star Wars in the late 90s. There needs to be a point at which a story is DONE, for better or for worse.

Publication seems like a good place to draw that line. Write and submit a new one.

 

[TamLin01]

Once or twice, usually only to excise elements that in hindsight were in really, really bad taste.

 

[StrangeTamer]

Yes, I rewrote my first story and changed a lot of it. I felt it was more than just an edit. So when I submitted it I left a note in the notes field explaining that I would like the original to remain posted as it's the first thing I ever written. I did change the title to Rebirth with no chapter designation and I put an author's note at the beginning of the story saying it is a rewrite of Rebirth Ch.01 and Laurel added (Reworked) to the title as well.

 

[TxRad]

I have one story that I fleshed out a bunch. Added new characters and a whole other layer to what was there. It is now a mainstream novel. The original is still here on Lit. It was more an outline than anything.

I have another the same way but I'm still working on enlarging it by a bunch. It will end up being a minimum of two novels by the time it is done.

Otherwise, what is here is here. I do edits when I publish them for sale but that's about it. You get what you pay for.

 

[_Lynn_]

Nope, I don't do rewrites. When I finish a story, it's done. Then I move on to the next one. I do have a character from a posted story that I used in a new piece but it's in a folder waiting for me to decide what to do with it.

 

[SamScribble]

Some time ago, I took down a story that was struggling. Six weeks in, it was barely chinning the 4.00 bar. I tweaked it – rather than rewrote it – and, rather than re-posting it, I entered it into a short story contest. It didn’t win the contest. But, out of (I think) about 600 entries, it did come second. I’m not sure what that says about Lit readers.

 

[oggbashan]

The only rewrites I do are of stories that are not yet posted.

My first erotic story, written on a PC running CP/M, was about 20,000 words and bad. It was so bad that I rewrote it completely and deleted the original version. I still have the rewrite now on its 14th revision post rewrite but it will never be posted here.

Why not?

Non-consensual sexual activity takes place well before the hero's 18th birthday and some of it is repeated abuse of him. That abuse is a significant part of the plot and provides motivation for his later actions.

The other reason it won't be posted on Literotica is that even after the rewrite it is still a bad story. I have lifted incidents from it for other stories so it wasn't wholly wasted.

In one of the missing chapter stories I am working to complete I had to go back a few thousand words to change a couple of events. I don't like doing that, even in an incomplete story, because when I am writing I usually have the plot already fixed in my mind. Changing the outline and the already written part is a wrench. I have to adjust the whole story to do that.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

I'm reading a book of Raymond Chandler novellas. What I've read ended up in his novels. Chandler made novels of novella clusters. If you pay attention you can see where the novellas fasten together. Chandler had a gift for the work. Some critics complain Chandlers plots are too complex but don't see the necklace of novellas, each independent but kin to the gestalt.

Chandler didn't always get it right with the re-write. TRY THE GIRL is much superior to FAREWELL MY LOVELY. Novella and novel are almost twins but end different. Its the tale of a talented singer who starts her career at a black saloon and becomes a national sensation. In both books a record executive discovers her past and blackmails her for sex. The singer kills the exec in the novella, and dies in the novel. I prefer the novella.

 

[TxRad]

And what does that have to do with rewriting your own stories, JB?

We all know you want to be Raymond Chandler but... do try to keep up with the topic at hand.