Rewriting Story and Posting Strategies

[StrappingMan]

Hello all. As an Author here I am looking for a bit of advice about rewriting extremely long stories and then republishing them. For just over two years I have been slowly working on a sprawling story called A Student's Lesson based on a work from long ago. As a new writer I have been learning slowly and taking critical advice to improve my writing style. In the process I am now very unhappy with most of the story, especially the first seven chapters (out of 18 published). With my re-write I am looking to shorten the first sixteen chapters into seven and make it a novella. The seventeenth will be a standalone story to be read first or in chronological order. Then the story continues as a second novella. The final work will have a third and forth part as separate books. Let me give you a snippet of how much the story will be changed.

Original:

Then in September of her senior year something completely unacceptable finally happened. Collin had arrived home early from work one weekday. It came as quite a surprise as he entered the kitchen that he found Sally outside at the pool during school hours. On top of that she was accompanied by what appeared to be her red headed friend and two boys as well! Collin was so shocked that he failed to intervene when one of the boys snatched Sally's friends bikini top from her while she lay sunbathing. Oh it was awful! The boy swinging the prized trophy above his head. The girl jumping up and giving chase trying unsuccessfully to cover herself along the way. Now the other boy made a grab for Sally's top; which immediately caused Collin to spring into action. Slamming the door open all four froze looking at him, the young boy's hand buried quite far into Sally's cleavage.

New:

Pulling into the driveway I already start thinking about that first beer. Maybe a swim to stretch out my knotted back? It's early September and still warm enough. Tossing my keys on the counter I start for the fridge. That's when I see them through the bay window.

Four teenagers. All in swimsuits. Two of them are boys. Whatdafuck!

I check my clock. Two-thirty. School isn't out for another hour. My eyes quickly locate Sally who's laying on her stomach tanning in a stringy two-piece affair. Laying next to her is her friend Susan Stuart. The young redhead's pale skin is practically glowing in the bright sun. Well, at least in comparison to my step-daughter who is obviously trying to shrink her tan lines to the bare minimum. What's that young man doing? He's sneaking up on them! An instant later the rangy young man snags Susan's untied top and pulls it away. I stand there transfixed as she hops up seemingly unashamed of her very perky B cups. They barely bounce as she chases the offending boy around the pool waving his prize.

Now the other boy is making his move. Sally sees him coming and just smirks. As he reaches down the solidly built girl grabs his shorts. An impromptu tug of war starts in which Sally begins to get the upper hand. The sight of the young man's pale cheeks appearing finally spurs me into action.

Should I just delete the original story and post the rewritten one with a different title? This is also being moved from Non-con to Mind Control. Remember I'm dropping the number of chapters down to about seven and just editing them will have votes and comments that are not at all about that particular one. Any advice?

 

[Winter_Fare]

It's happened to a couple of series I was invested in as a reader, but I've not done it myself. The decision is obviously yours, but personally I'd bundle the whole lot into one long story and publish it without deleting the original.

(I'm still bitter about my favourite non con bathtub tentacle sex scene disappearing forever tho, so hey ho )

 

[KeithD]

I'd just not mess around with past stories and concentrate on writing new ones.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I've done that a few times, but never with an entire series. I give it a new title, and either publish it on another site or sometimes on here. There was one case where the new version morphed into a series, and I deleted two older stories because they had become obsolete. When I keep the old ones, no one noticed the overlap with the newer ones. I think I'm done with that kind of thing, however.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Every time this question comes up (which it does, a lot) my suggestion is, forget it. It is what it is. You'll learn more as a writer if you write a new story, applying the lessons from the old one, rather than rehash the old one. Move on.

 

[SimonDoom]

How about if, rather than deleting the old story or rewriting the old story, you simply use the concepts and some of the plot of the old story, change the characters and setting, and write a new story as a standalone story or in a few big chapters? It seems like a shame to me to delete and old story. It probably has fans and comments and you'll be deleting all of them. You'll delete the record of your past writing.

 

[RejectReality]

Unless I'm half asleep and reading the OP wrong, this is cleaning up Book 1 because Book 2 is in progress. When there's a sequel in the mix, it's a slightly different animal. People are going to go back and look at the first part, and if it's in rough shape, they may never make it to the new stuff. There's more of a reason to put in the time to sand off the rough spots.

As to how to go about it... Obviously, cutting down the number of chapters means straight editing is out of the question. As you said, the comments on the chapters won't match the content. So your options are delete and repost, or rename and repost.

Are you happy with the current title? That's the big question there. If you think the title is the one that suits the story, then delete and repost is the way you're going to have to go. Delete them all at once, then start reposting with chapter 1. I would suggest making a note about it in your biography on the story side some time in advance of proceeding. Anyone who follows you will get a notification about that edit to the bio, and have at least an opportunity to find out what's going to happen. I would suggest an opening author's note on chapter 1 of the new version mentioning that it is a retooling of your original story, because otherwise you may get people reporting you for plagiarizing your own story ( they remember the story, but not who wrote it ) or complaining that you're posting something old as new because either the changes aren't in the first chapter, or they didn't read far enough to discover them.

Wait to start reposting until all of the new versions are ready to go. That way, you can post on a ( semi, Lit queue hiccups aside ) regular basis until Book 1 concludes. That could very well pick up new readers. Say how many chapters are in book 1, and the frequency you plan to post ( weekly, twice weekly, or whatever ) so they know what they're getting into. I'm assuming that there is a genuine conclusion to Book 1 here. That will also give existing followers of the story some time to come to grips with things, and perhaps finish what's already there if they so choose.

If you happen to have come up with a snazzier title for the series that you're more fond of, then posting it as a new and improved version with the new title is probably the better option. Once again, I would suggest an opening note on chapter 1 of the new version, explaining that it's a retool. Not a bad idea to post a note in your bio as well, to give a heads-up to anyone following the original version of the story. Then just proceed with new chapters. I would suggest an edit to Ch. 01 of the old version saying that while you're leaving the original up, the current version of the story is the new official version, and future updates will only happen to the new version. The old version is only remaining up for archival purposes.

 

[StrappingMan]

Every time this question comes up (which it does, a lot) my suggestion is, forget it. It is what it is. You'll learn more as a writer if you write a new story, applying the lessons from the old one, rather than rehash the old one. Move on.

Unless I'm half asleep and reading the OP wrong, this is cleaning up Book 1 because Book 2 is in progress. When there's a sequel in the mix, it's a slightly different animal. People are going to go back and look at the first part, and if it's in rough shape, they may never make it to the new stuff. There's more of a reason to put in the time to sand off the rough spots.

As to how to go about it... Obviously, cutting down the number of chapters means straight editing is out of the question. As you said, the comments on the chapters won't match the content. So your options are delete and repost, or rename and repost.

Are you happy with the current title? That's the big question there. If you think the title is the one that suits the story, then delete and repost is the way you're going to have to go. Delete them all at once, then start reposting with chapter 1. I would suggest making a note about it in your biography on the story side some time in advance of proceeding. Anyone who follows you will get a notification about that edit to the bio, and have at least an opportunity to find out what's going to happen. I would suggest an opening author's note on chapter 1 of the new version mentioning that it is a retooling of your original story, because otherwise you may get people reporting you for plagiarizing your own story ( they remember the story, but not who wrote it ) or complaining that you're posting something old as new because either the changes aren't in the first chapter, or they didn't read far enough to discover them.

Wait to start reposting until all of the new versions are ready to go. That way, you can post on a ( semi, Lit queue hiccups aside ) regular basis until Book 1 concludes. That could very well pick up new readers. Say how many chapters are in book 1, and the frequency you plan to post ( weekly, twice weekly, or whatever ) so they know what they're getting into. I'm assuming that there is a genuine conclusion to Book 1 here. That will also give existing followers of the story some time to come to grips with things, and perhaps finish what's already there if they so choose.

If you happen to have come up with a snazzier title for the series that you're more fond of, then posting it as a new and improved version with the new title is probably the better option. Once again, I would suggest an opening note on chapter 1 of the new version, explaining that it's a retool. Not a bad idea to post a note in your bio as well, to give a heads-up to anyone following the original version of the story. Then just proceed with new chapters. I would suggest an edit to Ch. 01 of the old version saying that while you're leaving the original up, the current version of the story is the new official version, and future updates will only happen to the new version. The old version is only remaining up for archival purposes.

Thank you, Reject Reality. That is my primary worry about the follow up series. No one will read the first part as I pick up new viewers and then give up on the overall story. It's also too long and will be quite different from the style of the new writings. I'm designing them so each series can be read on their own, in chronological order or in the order of posting. When everything is complete there will be four books.

Weirdly enough book 3 is complete and is waiting while I rewrite book 1. Book 2 is 70% done.

The title I'm really thinking about. I like it a lot but it might not exactly fit when I'm done. Thank you for some great ideas.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

It's happened to a couple of series I was invested in as a reader, but I've not done it myself. The decision is obviously yours, but personally I'd bundle the whole lot into one long story and publish it without deleting the original.

(I'm still bitter about my favourite non con bathtub tentacle sex scene disappearing forever tho, so hey ho )

Yeah, Laurel won't allow that. I tried it and had to have her delete the old multi-part story first, then she posted the novel length one for me.

 

[SimonDoom]

Yeah, Laurel won't allow that. I tried it and had to have her delete the old multi-part story first, then she posted the novel length one for me.

If the new story changes some plot points, has a different title, and different character names, how's she going to know? I don't think she would reject it if it's a different story that's based on similar concepts. I don't see that as any more repetitious than someone who redoes the mom-son thing over and over (like me).

 

[Lifestyle66]

Hello all. As an Author here I am looking for a bit of advice about rewriting extremely long stories and then republishing them. For just over two years I have been slowly working on a sprawling story called A Student's Lesson based on a work from long ago. As a new writer I have been learning slowly and taking critical advice to improve my writing style. In the process I am now very unhappy with most of the story, especially the first seven chapters (out of 18 published). With my re-write I am looking to shorten the first sixteen chapters into seven and make it a novella. The seventeenth will be a standalone story to be read first or in chronological order. Then the story continues as a second novella. The final work will have a third and forth part as separate books. Let me give you a snippet of how much the story will be changed.

...

Should I just delete the original story and post the rewritten one with a different title? This is also being moved from Non-con to Mind Control. Remember I'm dropping the number of chapters down to about seven and just editing them will have votes and comments that are not at all about that particular one. Any advice?

You're hearing from other authors who recommend NOT doing the rewrite and focus on writing new stories.

I did exactly what you are asking to do. My first stories as a new amateur writer began last year in Feb with a total of six stories because I thought I had a good story to tell in chapters. Seeing little interest from readers, I contacted two editors and explored here for ideas on how to write better, and get ideas of how to attract more readers.

After months of that, I decided to restart and rewrite my original "Getting Started..." swinger series, with the "Lifestyle: ..." series. You can include in the Admin Note when posting that this story replaces another one, and you want the other one deleted. Once it's reviewed, you will see on one day your old story disappear, and the next day the new story is published to the public.

There are two reasons to do this: First, it's a learning experience for us new authors, to see if we can do better with the same idea. And second: some of us have a longer story we want to write, and are disappointed with that beginning, so by restarting, we can get a better feel for the whole work.

Some of us are not here just write write and throw out whatever comes to mind on a daily basis. Some of us have a longer and larger idea, and not being experienced writers take longer to put it all together piece by piece.

 

[Djmac1031]

I've been considering rewriting my three part series Caring For Carrie, cleaning up some rookie grammar errors etc. and republishing it as one complete tale.

From comments I'm reading here though, would that mean the original three chapters MUST get deleted?

I'd hate for that to happen, they all have very respectable ratings and comments.

Also; is it just considered bad etiquette to republish?

I mean let's face it, we all want a bigger audience right? And republishing a popular series as one complete story would reach readers that missed it the first time or never finished it because I published it in three parts.

But I don't want to come off like an attention whore either, trying to cash in on new readers by recycling an old story.

 

[KeithD]

I've been considering rewriting my three part series Caring For Carrie, cleaning up some rookie grammar errors etc. and republishing it as one complete tale.

From comments I'm reading here though, would that mean the original three chapters MUST get deleted?

I'd hate for that to happen, they all have very respectable ratings and comments.

Also; is it just considered bad etiquette to republish?

I mean let's face it, we all want a bigger audience right? And republishing a popular series as one complete story would reach readers that missed it the first time or never finished it because I published it in three parts.

But I don't want to come off like an attention whore either, trying to cash in on new readers by recycling an old story.

The policy is that it wouldn't be published if Laurel caught that it was a closely related rewrite.

I don't think there's an etiquette consensus on republishing a rewrite at Literotica--it's certainly fine to publish it elsewhere. There might be some readers--regular readers of yours--grumbling that they are investing reading time in essentially the same story again.

I'd probably package it up, rewrite it (my reviews usually result in a slight recasting anyway) and publish it elsewhere--maybe to the marketplace. I would consider in having already spit its wad here.

 

[Djmac1031]

I'd probably package it up, rewrite it (my reviews usually result in a slight recasting anyway) and publish it elsewhere--maybe to the marketplace. I would consider in having already spit its wad here.

Thanks. I wouldn't really know where else to publish it, but you're probably right that I should just leave it as is here.

I could always edit and resubmit the chapters to clean up those mistakes if I really wanted to I guess.

 

[Euphony]

I've been considering rewriting my three part series Caring For Carrie, cleaning up some rookie grammar errors etc. and republishing it as one complete tale.

From comments I'm reading here though, would that mean the original three chapters MUST get deleted?

I'd hate for that to happen, they all have very respectable ratings and comments.

Also; is it just considered bad etiquette to republish?

I mean let's face it, we all want a bigger audience right? And republishing a popular series as one complete story would reach readers that missed it the first time or never finished it because I published it in three parts.

But I don't want to come off like an attention whore either, trying to cash in on new readers by recycling an old story.

It's the internet. Somebody somewhere will (loudly) have a problem with whatever you do.

If it enriches you to work through early mistakes, do it.
If it's because of a fear you can't find more inspiration, don't (net negative)

There are few authors here completely disinterested in stats but it's a goal worth working towards.

The flip side of the lost numbers coin is, does the work as is risk turning otherwise continuing readership off enough to bail?

Easy to drive yourself mad with questions and what ifs so best/easier to follow your internal compass.