The viability of making changes to earlier material. · 1:21am Feb 22nd, 2014
Hello all.
This post isn’t just random rambling. There’s actually something I’d like your opinions on.
Do you think I should go back and improve the first few chapters of “Sunshine and Fire” a little?
It’s been a while since I started writing this story (insert awkward laugh here). It's been a good two and a half years, and obviously - hopefully - I’ve gotten somewhat better since then, even if not quite as much as I’d have liked. Lessons have been learned. Points have been made. Realizations have been had. I would say I was trying a little too hard at the beginning, but I’m not entirely sure what I was trying.
This story has gone on for over one hundred thousand words now, and has been published serially, so some degree of stylistic variation can’t be helped. But as others have pointed out to me and as I tend to think myself, the quality of the first few chapters is downright incongruous. This means that the work as a whole does not have the consistency it should, and new readers checking out the story might be put off when they don’t need to be. I could be losing potential fans over this, and that's just one worry. I've kept a file listing most of the stylistic and grammatical corrections and suggestions made to me by commentators and reviewers since the beginning, but I've never been sure if and when to apply them.
There are a couple of different aspects that influence my thinking on this matter:
Firstly, it runs a little contrary to my own preferences. I can say that some of my favorite fanfic experiences as a reader have been cases where I could follow along the improvement of the author and how (or if) they apply criticisms they receive. (This doesn’t just apply to fan fiction either, but other types of serially published works as well. Webcomics like Order of the Stick and Gunnerkrigg Court, for instance, are all the more impressive for how much they’ve evolved since their early days.) This is of course especially true when I see my own comments making a difference in their writing style.
I like seeing this sort of progression. However, I recognize that this is something of an eccentricity and a point of view probably not shared by most people.
Secondly and relatedly to the previous point, going back and correcting previous screw-ups and smoothing over past pretentions seems kind of dishonest to me. It’s not a very rational feeling, I admit, but part of me would prefer to retain my work as it is and has been, warts and all. Then again, this seems half-way vain to me as well. It’s as if I’m demanding attention for improving, when that’s not an achievement at all, but the least of what should be expected of someone who writes.
Thirdly, editing - an enormously important part of writing - is something I could use some practice with. I’ve tended to do it a lot more for my original writing than my fanfics and have gotten somewhat rusty at it. While I do a lot of rereading and double-checking as I am writing, I make the actual publication pretty much as soon as I have the last word in place, because it takes me a lot of time to get to that point and I don’t usually want to delay one moment further. The same was actually also true all the way back in 2011, when I was also eager to get the first chapter out the door as quickly as possible, though for a different reason. I wanted to be one of the first to do this kind of story - I know I wasn’t the first by any means - and because I felt my premise could easily become old hat. As a result, some of the stuff that I’ve let out into the wild is downright embarrassing, especially in those early chapters. I dare say I’ll never get the words ‘remedy’ and ‘malady’ mixed up ever again, not even subconsciously.
Next up and perhaps most crucial is the matter of timing. With how long my regular updates take, can I afford to go back to fine-tune earlier material? It’s very important to note that I’m not talking about complete rewrites, gods no, just relatively minor modifications, but I’d probably have to touch up a minimum of three chapters, and this is something that could well escalate further. I know that editing backwards is a cubbyhole some writers never get out of and I am dead-set against that happening to me, but the truth is that I couldn’t really say how long the minor modifications I speak of would take. Related to that, it feels to me like getting into this would implicitly prioritize hooking more new readers over providing new content to old readers, and that kind of leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Lastly, there is the issue of feedback. I’ve noted before that it’s been hard to get criticism with the story now over 100,000 words in length and ongoing for years, especially criticism relevant to me today. As someone pointed out to me, updating the first chapters a little would not only make the entire story more attractive to prospective readers, it would make sure that comments people make about the beginning are no longer completely out of time and irrelevant. Then again, I’m afraid that to get a completely accurate assessment of my present abilities, I’d probably need to make a more thorough rewrite, and that’s just not in the cards. It would make at least some difference though.
So yeah, those are my main considerations regarding this matter. Perhaps you can think of some others. At any rate, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
I'd say that basic grammar and spelling fixes can only make the story better. Any thing beyond that such as style and tone, is a more difficult subject. It's probably something that you can only answer for yourselfe, but for what ever it's wort I think I might have preferred the earlier chapters to the more recent ones. The story has grown in scope and scale, which isn't a bad thing, but I think there is a distinctive charm to the more simplistic narrative of the early chapters. I think it maybe makes the fic more approachable and easier to pick up for a new reader.
I actually find that whenever an author goes back to improve earlier chapters before they are done writing the whole story it does not end well. I think the author gets so sick of writing the older material and it takes so long that often they end up losing the story all together. It is hard to motivate yourself to rewrite something, it is far easier to motivate yourself to continue forward.
Now if you finish a story then it is fine to go back.
The big exception is if you need to change something because you did not think a plot point through enough and realize you are writing yourself into a corner or something similar. Necessary rewrites are a good idea if you need it to continue the story.
My experience is that writers that rewrite earlier chapters before they finish a story tend to take a very long time and often don't finish at all (the rewrites and even worse the story may never finish). In addition you can lose a number of people due to the additional wait time you are putting on them.
If you have a good fan base for a story already and they are liking your story they obviously did not need a rewrite to like it so who are doing this for? While it always sounds good to perfect your story is it really that bad and will you ever feel like it is good enough? Rewrites are a big deal I think you should only do it at this point if they are so bad it is actively hurting a story, needed for the plot, or if you have somebody else do it (aka an editor).
Its been awhile sense I read your first chapter but I do remember something bad happen to Brainy Bright when he awoke in another dimension and that totally surprise me. Up to that point I'll remember not really enjoying the fic until that scene. So little rewrite on the first chapter may not be a bad idea.
I think your first chapters were quite fine. If you want to rewrite them, I'd suggest you finish the fanfic first.
I say leave it as is and continue with the story. If you want to practice editing then there are many people who need editors.
Anybody looking at the release dates would know to leave their feedback for the latest chapters and will see you improve overtime allowing a more accurate assessment of your writing. Also, any new readers willing to ignore the like to dislike ratio or minor hiccups in early chapters are unwise.
Just my opinion.
As a reader, I agree with 1861025 for the most part. Putting projects on hiatus in order to redo earlier parts has a long history of killing them, and it's a phenomenon that exists not just in writing fiction, but also coding and what have you.
As a writer of another long-running story, though, I very much understand the desire to go back and fix things—and actually, if you do it right, I think it can help you get new chapters out faster.
Writing isn't about how fast you can type. If that were the case, I could kick out three 10k word chapters in an eight hour day. NaNoWriMo would be over in a weekend with enough time left over to sleep in on Sunday. No, writing is first and foremost about having words to write.
It can be hard. I've gone six to eight months between updates a couple of times, and you can't go that long without updates unless there are days when you just sit there and don't have any words to write. If that's the case... then open up an earlier chapter instead and get editing.
Editing is simpler than writing. It's almost deterministic. There's a grammar mistake? Fix it. Does this paragraph feel off? Rephrase it. Is this scene transition jarring? Write something to bridge the gap. At the very least, you'll be getting something done, and you never know... it might actually get you in the mood to go back to writing.
It's a common belief that writing and editing should be done separately. The purpose of the belief is to keep you from getting tangled up in editing when you're on a roll with writing. The actual writing is always the most important part, and the best thing you can do for an incomplete story is always going to be to write more of it. If you're sitting there staring at a blank page, though... you're not writing, and there might be a more productive way to use your time.
As for the rest; I don't see that progression of story quality is a thing you should be intentionally maintaining, nor is it dishonest to go back and fix things. The only things you should really be concerned with are the quality of your story and the patience of your readers. If you can do rewrites in a timely manner without delaying new content too much, then do them—but make sure that you do them exactly once. Even the most loyal reader can be put off by repeated changes.
I'm with Emeral on this one. SPaG fixes really can't go wrong, but if you're doing more than that, you should be careful not to knock over the tone of that section. I'd also add that, if you go down that path, it's probably worth publishing a blog covering all the changes once you're done, so we're not confused if they get referenced down the line.
The best way to rewrite is once you've written the entire first draft. That way, you can fix what needs to be fixed without damaging the storyline. Otherwise, like a lot of people said, it kills the project. That was the advice one of my friends got while he wrote from a professional.
Do it how you want, but I do know too many stories that stall out due to edits/rewrites in teh middle and never start up again.
Most of your fans became fans when reading those first few chapters.
I would suggest completing the story foist so that when you do polish it up, you will do it at a consistent level for the entire story. Because it's not like you ever really stop improving.
If it's really bugging you, best do it now and get it done. Like others have said, though, I'm worried about you getting caught up looking back, and losing all momentum going forward.
I agree with Mr. V111.
Let me put it this way... I love your story. I enjoyed reading an update after FAR too long. If the older portions of your story weren't good enough for us, would we be sung HUGE fans of this story?
I say move forward. Progress toward new chapters! If you finish, and you still feel that way, then go back and revise things. Long run stories like this will INEVITABLY result in some skills development as you learn what works and what doesn't. There is enough time between chapters as it is. Revising older work tends to benefit the author, where as not everyone is going to go back and review those changes.
I guess that's my opinion. Move forward, and don't let the past get in the way of that progress!
Yes, if you feel the story can benefit from it, then do a revision. If you want to keep the original version intact as well, upload that one to google docs, and link to it in either the story-description, an author's note or a blog-post.
2.5 years and exactly one story published? Now why does that seem familar... Oh yes, because I'm in the same boat as you!
I've been working for 23 months on the same story, and I've got less than 30k words to show for it.
Yeah, I'm a terrible slow-poke.
Then again, I'm writing a meta-mystery novel where subtlety is key, and editing can sometimes require to let a chapter sit for a few days before returning with fresh eyes.
And yes, there was a chapter that took four rewrites from scratch, a fifth rewrite of the ending, two test-readers, and six months to complete - and it was absolutely worth it.
Naturally, looking back at the earlier chapters I see plenty of things that could be improved, and I'm already working on doing a revision.
(Though in my case that has the added reason that I'd also like to take a shot at EQD, and being perfectionist myself - as are they - I feel that my chances are drastically increased with such revisions. Especially since I've seen some very promising or outright brilliant works rejected for the same miniscule reasons that I expect are in place to deter inferior works of novice writers.)
I'd like to put in a vote for getting the first draft done before going back to do any editing...
I think a re-wright of the beginning, or at least a touch-up, would be a worthwhile effort. I won't go on at length about why, as there are so many comments already doing so with grate adroitness.
Most of the reasons to do so, or not to are already stated in your blog, all you're really looking for is what readers feel. And I feel that fixing up the beginning can only be a good thing. Doing so will give long time readers a reason to start from the beginning again, and new ones a chance to see that you're an author worth reading.
Like many others, I fully support edits to fix spelling, grammar, and punctuation. When a fic has gotten this long, with this many followers, it's probably not your storyline, characterization, or description that are lacking. But I'm in favor of every SPaG mistake* being fixed the moment it's pointed out, just because it makes your text flow better for the people reading it.
*: Especially all the ones I called out when I was reviewing this on fanfic.net
1861025
I can absolutely agree with this. And there's even an excellent example for this: CRISIS: Equestria.
They started about a year ago to rewrite the older chapters and I'm still waiting for them to continue.
As for your story: You took nearly 2 1/2 for 133k words / 16 chapters. Gosh, you are one of the slowest authors I know, but I like your story and the whole concept of it, even if I can only remember half of it, because the last chapter I can remember is from two years ago and I paused reading after that until you finally put a complete tag under this story.
Ask yourself if you can do these rewrites within a decent amount of time or if it's better to finish the story first and polish it afterwards. Either way, I will still wait patiently for this story to continue.
1893245
Coincidence that was the exact story I was thinking about when I made that comment. Fortunately they just recently said that the next chapter is being edited. It has been over a year I think though so I can't wait.