Rewriting a Story

[Superpride]

Hello, fellow writers!  I have a question I want to ask you all.  Have you ever rewritten an entire story?  Have you ever considered rewriting a story?  I'm asking this question because I'm in the process of rewriting a story I've published on this site called Charming.  The reason is I want to change the point of view from third-person to first-person, and I want to change several aspects of the story to clear up the plot holes and inconsistencies in the original.  I also came up with newer, better ideas I want to incorporate into the rewrite, and I feel like revising the original story won't be enough to fully do it justice.  I do plan on publishing the rewrite but only after I've rewritten and edited most of it if not all.  I want to do this before I write the next two stories that will be part of a trilogy.  What are your thoughts on rewriting stories?  I really want to know your thoughts on the subject.

[Myr]

Yes and yes.

I rewrote my Harry Potter and the Parliament of Dreams when I ran into a brick wall at chapter 24 or so.  I've been stuck on chapter 30 for years and I've done some clean up since.  I've figured out how to use magic to fix where I'm stuck... now it is just having the time to do it.

Writing yourself into a corner is a problem that writers have had for years when they write serially or episodically.  (See the history of Television shows).  Franchises in recent years have gotten reboots and everything else.  If you feel rewriting will make the better story, go ahead. 

I have resolved to post only completed works going forward to avoid this running into a brick wall thing. 

[Brayon]

I just finished up retconning My Son, of my Tampa Chronicles series. Due to an accident (read that as being a dumbass), I lost several files of my stories. I went through the other day, and Copy/Paste the stories I had lost into new word docs. Well, ProWritingAid started going nuts, with multiple errors in all seven chapters of My Son, and with the help of my editing team, we redid them. Most of the chapters had very minor changes, but then the last three had major content changes.

Like Myr, I fell prey to the Episodic posting style, and have since went to a "its not getting posted until I have at least 85% done."

[Timothy M.]

When I wanted to post my Cardmaker story on GA I rewrote the first six chapters and expanded them into twelve. I then kept writing, but have now hit a writer's block for various reasons. But I definitely think the rewrite improved the original story, and I'm glad @Kitt persuaded me to take up the task.

However, my main reason for commenting on this topic is that I have a 20+ chapter story which was originally written for a Danish porn story site. The main character is a gay French pro cyclist who I follow from age 17 to 37. I'd love to rewrite this for a wider audience and I've translated the first few chapters. However, not only translating (which is never as smooth as writing from scratch) but also expanding the story with more content, so the sex becomes less of a focus, is such a daunting challenge, I have shelved the project. Maybe I'll take it up when I retire.  

So my question here is: Should I wait until I have the time to rewrite the complete story, or will working on it on and off over a long period of time be useful? Perhaps just writing down ideas about how to flesh out the story ?

[Brayon]

4 hours ago, Timothy M. said:

So my question here is: Should I wait until I have the time to rewrite the complete story, or will working on it on and off over a long period of time be useful? Perhaps just writing down ideas about how to flesh out the story ?

In my humble opinion, if you wait to tackle it, you'll never get it done. There will always be an excuse not to do it. My advice would be to make time, 30 minutes to a hour a day, carved out just to work on it, and solely it. This can be translating, expansion, making notes and research, etc., but do something. If you need to take a break from that project for a few days, do a prompt or two, to keep the creative juices flowing.

With my home-life and class-load for College, even during the summer, this is what I've had to do with the final story of my Tampa Chronicles series. Is it taking longer than I wanted? Yes. But the readers who enjoy my story, will appreciate it more in the end.

Now I need to go get some coffee, and wake up. Good luck to you Mr. Timothy.

Also, a Danish Porn story site does sound interesting.

[Timothy M.]

32 minutes ago, BHopper2 said:

In my humble opinion, if you wait to tackle it, you'll never get it done.

Now I need to go get some coffee, and wake up. Good luck to you Mr. Timothy.

Also, a Danish Porn story site does sound interesting.

  for the advice, I have the feeling you're right. Once I get at least two of my Incomplete stories finished, I'll make a start.

If you want to visit the Danish site, send me a PM and I'll give you the link. You'll probably be disappointed, though, because it's a quite primitive site, since it's run by one guy in his spare time. (Oh, and everything is in Danish.)

https://satwcomic.com/porn-for-everybody  

Edited April 18, 2019 by Timothy M.
Danish warning just to be sure + SATW comic

[Ethan]

I've only ever posted one story on this site, and it was a rewrite of one I'd posted somewhere else a few years prior. I took large chunks out that I thought were unneccessary, or redundant, added parts in for clarity. Fixed a bunch of spelling and grammar errors that drove me nuts when I saw the original! But my motivation was because I wasn't fully satisfied with the original, and I thought I could make it better. The original I wrote over a 6 year period, posting slowly along the way. I never made an outline, I just wrote what came to mind. And that, naturally, led me to write myself in a corner many times. This time I was able to map it all out, and make things flow better. I did want to rewrite one character, but I couldn't because doing so would have meant the entire story would need major structural changes. 

If you do decide to rewrite, I would suggest doing it all before posting. I did all of the changes before. But then once I put the first two chapters up, I don't know why, I decided to basically rewrite my entire rewrite -- and made major changes. I wouldn't recommend doing that! 

[Mikiesboy]

No and no... i'd never rewrite... but that's me.  For me, if i didn't like it, it would never have been posted at all.

[keyisfake]

My story on the site had two rewrites before I started up loading one reason being the first draft had no cell phones, they weren't a thing yet. 

And to answer you next question I would write it out whole and not take breaks or I'll loss interest. But that's just me

[Talo Segura]

There are some interesting points in these comments on rewriting a story. One aspect, which is a little to one side, is not to post before the story is complete, because you might write yourself into a corner. I don't agree, not that you might not get to a place where you can't think how to resolve the story, but that isn't a reason not to write serialised chapters, it's a challenge. Rather like writing prompts, they're very easy to think up, incredibly difficult to write for. If you get stuck in a story, find a way out, you can always ask for suggestions.

As to rewriting a story, I've looked at it, but if it's to remove graphic sex scenes, I doubt it would work. I think you need to decide up front if your story is PG13, ADULT, or somewhere in the middle. Rewriting a story because you think you can do a better job second time around? Well, you'd need an awful lot of enthusiasm not to get bored. There is an alternative, let someone else rewrite it, and publish it as either a joint effort or by X after the original story by Y. I've not seen that type of collaboration, I've wanted to do it, but couldn't get the original author's permission. Understandable.

 

[Carlos Hazday]

@Talo Segura

I disagree with almost everything you have to say.

I've seen authors rewrite a story, usually one not edited to begin with, and produce a much better tale. A very popular story on the internet, Love on the Rocks, was edited/rewritten mostly to reduce sexual scenes. The end result was better than the original.

Just because you post on a serial basis does not mean you can't do it after you're done writing. Once again, waiting until the end allows you to make corrections and improve the story before it goes live. I have one coming out in a couple of months that's entirely written and edited. Yes, it requires discipline not to start posting right away, but any author worth anything will tell you the longer they work on a story the better it is. Yes, they may reach a point of diminishing returns, but that's where beta readers and editors can really help.

Some of my early work is cringe-worthy and at one point I thought I needed to go back and fix them. One of the authors on site once said something about the older stuff providing a good contrast to see how much we've improved. For the most part, I tend to agree with them. My crappy stuff will remain crappy. One of the worst is a shifter story, but instead of reworking it, I decided to write new stories revisiting their origins and early adventures. Once those are done, I can always return to the present time with new installments.

 

[W_L]

12 hours ago, Talo Segura said:

 

As to rewriting a story, I've looked at it, but if it's to remove graphic sex scenes, I doubt it would work. I think you need to decide up front if your story is PG13, ADULT, or somewhere in the middle. Rewriting a story because you think you can do a better job second time around? Well, you'd need an awful lot of enthusiasm not to get bored. There is an alternative, let someone else rewrite it, and publish it as either a joint effort or by X after the original story by Y. I've not seen that type of collaboration, I've wanted to do it, but couldn't get the original author's permission. Understandable.

@Talo Segura To be honest, on your point about collaboration, we do collaborate on GA. Like Nick Brady's Love is Blind, several of us collaborated with him to give ideas on how to write a story about a blind college age guy falling for another sighted college age guy.  I'm partially blind and I do read Braille as well, so I am familiar with the real life experience. I offer ideas and anecdotes for his story, but I don't feel like I deserve co-author credit, because what I provide is merely plot points, not a story. Experience is interesting, but you need original vision to link various experiences together to make it a story. The title of Beta Reader or Editor is what we call our collaborations on GA, when you are in need of ideas that is where your support team helps you brainstorm. Joint authorship is very difficult to do, it's hard to get a bunch of divergent writers to come together into a single story, my early collaboration with a group of writers before GA had taught me that lesson pretty well. It took well over 3 months to do 1 chapter.

 

[Talo Segura]

12 hours ago, Carlos Hazday said:

I've seen authors rewrite a story, usually one not edited to begin with, and produce a much better tale.

That could be an exception, you do say afterwards you left the crappy earlier stuff behind, but revisited the theme with new stories, which I can understand, new inspiration and more experience. The one BIG point we have to disagree on, is the need to complete a story, have it read and edited, before publishing it serialised.

Sure, that's great if you can do it, if you have a circle of friends to read and edit and later to comment, but that is a position you build over time. How many years before you got there? I think new authors don't need to be told to complete and edit before publishing, but rather give it a try and see how it goes, and yes, aim to complete the book, but you might discourage a lot of newbies if they all need the semi-professional approach you highlight.

I don't want to contradict what you are saying, because you have much more experience than me. But I came here because I could publish what I'd written, was writing, it had been rejected everywhere else. It was the few comments, handful of followers, I got here, that allowed me to find an editor and write a short book. I'll publish that (completed and edited book soon). My point is, the first story I'm still writing, serialised and incomplete, not edited, not beta read, and maybe it's crap, but without it I wouldn't have got into writing online.

 

[Carlos Hazday]

@Talo Segura

I came to GA having never written anything. I lurked for a while, participated in the forums, and networked. I wrote a few prompt responses and anthology entries but it took over a year before I posted my first novel. Began doing so before it was entirely edited but it was already written. In the last five years, I've never missed a weekly posting and that kept readers who liked my writing happy.

If someone has prior experience as a writer, my approach may not be best for them but for a newby, starting slow and patience are essential. You have no idea how many people I've seen join and begin posting right away; the majority fall by the wayside when their work isn't immediately embraced. I try to sample new authors and now and then find gems, but I also dismiss most stories. I won't even look at a story if there are typos in the description. I figure a person who doesn't care enough to clean a paragraph will probably write crap. The same when there are long periods between installments. So, even if I like something, I tend to pull back and resume reading once the story's complete or the author indicates it's entirely written.

Some very well written tales are not half as popular as weaker ones, there's no magic wand to wave. But if readers trust you, they'll return. That, I believe, is what has given me a modicum of success. The ability to easily post on GA brings many people to the site and keeps some of us here, but just because you post it doesn't mean it'll be read. Lay the groundwork, write the best you can, and ask for help.

[S.L. Lewis]

I've scrapped ideas or rewritten them all together. I actually have a couple of stories that I have posted here that I'm fully rewriting. Crimson Shadows is being rewritten into 2 stories while I'm going with a different tone for A Butterfly's Dream and the Butterfly World in general. 

A Butterfly's Dream was actually my first attempt at an original novel (having written exclusively fanfiction at that point, and bad fanfiction at that). It had been buzzing around my head and it taught me so much about my writing style and how to weave a story together. It's good but I can't continue it as is. 

Thus why I'm scrapping it and starting over from the start with all of the knowledge that I've gained over the years. Sometimes rewriting a story from the start when we've learned new things help the story be better. And we can see where we've improved. 

For the Butterfly World and the Shades of Red World, I kind of need to rewrite the stories. There was so many details that I figured out after I got past a certain point that need to be fixed, clarified, or changed that just a simple revision won't cut it. But that's fine. It means that it's an old plot being given new life. And I'm going to share those (hopefully) better stories with all.  

[GabrielCaldwell]

By the time I post/publish a story, I've usually rewritten it so many times I wouldn't have the interest or enthusiasm to go back and rewrite it. But then I'm a somewhat haphazard writer. I usually have a vague outline, then I fill in bits, move things around, rewrite parts, until it's mostly a coherent and complete story. Then I start reviewing it, which usually involves rereading and rewriting a lot of it.

One story I remember I kept switching between first and third person in the first draft (unintentionally.) I had about six chapters done and parts of it were written one way and other parts the other. It was exhausting going back and fixing it!

I have entertained the idea of writing the same story from the point of view of another character, but it's really only been an idea, and I haven't actually started writing anything. I think because I think I'll get bored with it.