What if you lost your story?

[maggot420]

Let's say you lost the story that you were working on. It was almost finished and now it's all gone.
Do you try to re-write from memory what you had or do you start from scratch and maybe even take a new direction?

 

[Dar~]

I would cry. thats why my current obssession has itself backed up three times. I Would probably call the story lost unless I ahd the whole outline written somewhere. I am not so hot at recreating art.

 

[Guest]

I would cry. thats why my current obssession has itself backed up three times. I Would probably call the story lost unless I ahd the whole outline written somewhere. I am not so hot at recreating art.

I have a story I'm about to submit that I wrote years ago and misplaced.

I sat down and in an hour, rewrote it keeping all the elements I loved originally. But wouldn't you know it, the character went a new direction and found some personal growth.

I'd say try and rewrite, but let your thoughts roam. If it is painful, let it go for now, and let it run around your conscious and subcious for a while--years in my case.

 

[Erotic-Kiss]

Let's say you lost the story that you were working on. It was almost finished and now it's all gone.
Do you try to re-write from memory what you had or do you start from scratch and maybe even take a new direction?

Awwwwwwwwww Mags. Did you lose your story? I'm so sorry. How frustrating!

Write it again. It should flow easily for you. All that work...

 

[maggot420]

i lost what was going to be the 3rd part to a story.
so i can't really abandon it (i'm already in enough trouble for taking so long to continue it anyway) and while its definately painful losing all that work, i think i have to get back to it very soon.

 

[maggot420]

Awwwwwwwwww Mags. Did you lose your story? I'm so sorry. How frustrating!

Write it again. It should flow easily for you. All that work...

thanks EK

 

[Erotic-Kiss]

thanks EK

You're most welcome. Let us know when it's finished, or you get it back.

 

[Liar]

Let's say you lost the story that you were working on. It was almost finished and now it's all gone.
Do you try to re-write from memory what you had or do you start from scratch and maybe even take a new direction?

I can get synopsis to a handful of pretty good plots down in a day. 97,4% of the work on a story for me is not making it up. It's typing it down, and trying hard not to lose interrest while doing so. So a lost file would mean I'd toss it and start on another one.

Anybody want a character set and a plot to wrap some narration and dialouge around? Gimmie a call.

 

[SeaCat]

I would most likely start over. I could recreate the idea of the story and how I wanted it to go but I don't think I would ever be able to get the same series of events going. Little things in the story would end up changing which of course would change the feel of the story.

Cat

BTW This has happened to me before.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

I don't think I could do it. I think i would cry a few days and then forge tit, maybe using elements in future stories.

 

[maggot420]

I don't think I could do it. I think i would cry a few days and then forge tit, maybe using elements in future stories.

i cant forget it...its part 3.

i wouldnt have expected you to give up on it. you seem to have a tenacious and passionate nature. i dont think i believe you

 

[mack_the_knife]

Losing most of a manuscript that was going well would so stink on ice. It's not happened to me, so far (knocks on wood). I suppose, if given no choice (like a multi-part) I would do my level best to recreate it.

Note, she did not say forget it, she said "forge tit" which is an altogether different thing. "Forging tit" is an ancient form of making it up and redoing it from mammary.

 

[scheherazade_79]

Personally I'd start again and try and remember as much as I could. If it veered off in a different direction from the original, then so be it. It's happened to me before, and while I've felt like crying at the time, the end product has turned out better than the original. Good luck!

 

[English Lady]

this happens to me occassionally, but i've never lost a whole story, just bulks of it.Notably, I once "lost" around 2/3rds of a story i'd written when my husband reformatted and didn't save it for me! I was livid as it was a story written for someones birthday. I re-wrote it, I had too. I tend to find if i end up doing any re-writing it comes out better anyway!

 

[TxRad]

I started a sequel to my book and had nearly three quarters of it finished. The computer was stolen... I had backups of all my other work but that story had never been off the computer and i just hadn't taken the time to back it up....

I've tried three times to rewrite the story but none of them have the feel of the first and I've not finished any of them... I probably never will

I had the orginal book planned as a triology so unless someone ever decides to publish me, it'll stay a single for now....

Damn, it was a better story than the first book.....

 

[elsol]

I give it a few days... RANT! RAVE!

Then I rewrite the whole thing without paying attention to the fact that I lost it... most of the time it comes out better because it's the only time I have 'thorough' outline.

Sincerely,
ElSol

 

[mack_the_knife]

I give it a few days... RANT! RAVE!

Then I rewrite the whole thing without paying attention to the fact that I lost it... most of the time it comes out better because it's the only time I have 'thorough' outline.

Sincerely,
ElSol

I like that, consider the lost one a rough draft...sweet.

 

[Penelope Street]

I'm sorry to hear of your misfortune.

What if you lost your story?

I did lose one of my stories back in the spring. Yeah, I cried. After I pulled myself halfway together, I searched and found an incomplete version. While I was happy to have found a portion, I was still disgusted.

Next morning, I decided if the story was worth writing the first time, it was still worth writing, so I started over and re-created the missing portion while it was still fresh in my mind. I suspect if I lost the entire story, I would have written it all over again in the same fashion.

Take Care,
Penny

 

[Guest]

I lost six stories that I had started.... six that I don't remember what pieces of which ones were which.. . I sat there and cried like a baby... and couldn't explain to anyone what was wrong with me... how do you explain to family that knows nothing well gee I lost all of my erotica writing....

Worse... I lost the first two chapters of my novel

 

[Aurora Black]

Let's say you lost the story that you were working on. It was almost finished and now it's all gone.
Do you try to re-write from memory what you had or do you start from scratch and maybe even take a new direction?

I'd jump off a bridge. Seriously, I don't know what I'd do. Now that this situation has happened to Lizzy, I'm thinking of taking extra measures to make sure that it doesn't happen to me.

 

[maggot420]

I am really sorry Lizzy...I feel your pain.

Rora, I think you should definately back up everything you have just in case.

Someone once told me that data doesn't exist unless it exists in 2 places.

 

[Guest]

I am really sorry Lizzy...I feel your pain.

Rora, I think you should definately back up everything you have just in case.

Someone once told me that data doesn't exist unless it exists in 2 places.

New pc has a DVD/CD reader AND burner for both...
I will NOT lose my writing again

 

[Aurora Black]

I need a new PC.

 

[HappyLlama]

Does no-one back-up?
I keep all mine on disc and hard drive, just in case.

 

[oggbashan]

I don't lose stories.

(Shut up that person who suggested it would be better if I did)

I keep copies on the hard drives of different computers in separate buildings and copies on floppies.

I have files of printouts of completed stories.

I have copies of my stories in my Yahoo Briefcase.

If it is a posted story, I could always steal it back from the sites that stole it from Lit.

BUT, if I lost a story in progress I'd rewrite it from memory AND rewrite it from the beginning. I'd then edit both to produce the story I might have written, after edit, in the first place.

Og