. Determination · 2:59am Sep 8th, 2018
What is best:
Finish something, even if I must slice and cut things to make it work properly, and see it done, for good or bad?
Fix something, even at the cost of large swaths of story lost, and progress setback by some ways?
I'm going to leave this here. If you're curious, I'm thinking about The Hag, the Heroes, and a few Other Things, and Once More, With Feeling. Both of which I feel caught on.
The first, my last few chapters are simply... not fully satisfactory, and I can, in some part, see my way to something far more satisfying. A whole new remake of the final chapters, back to about Undying loyalty end, or possibly even earlier.
The other... I've dug myself a pit, and only now look about to notice I can't go anywhere because I've made it so darn mixed up. Nowhere to go that would not injure something somewhere unless I slice a healthy portion off. Likely all the way back to chapter 14 to be specific.
What I hope, is that those who see this may tell me their particular preference, and hopefully their rational for said preference. If not, I'm going to make my own decision. I'm already half in with all the rest of the stories. I'm leaning toward heavy editing, but I'm not yet certain. I feel I owe something to the readers, and I'd rather not rip things apart as they are invested in things. Not if I can help it anyway.
So, if you see this, and think one way or the other, please do tell me. Your words will be listened to and possibly replied to. If it helps, think of this as your inclusion in the creative process (or rather the creative decision, but still).
Amaranthine Thought, thinking always.
Post thought. Anyone else seeing phantom comments (says there are some, but there are none of them) on Sands of Time, or is it just me?
I think it all depends on motivation, inspiration, and whether or not you feel confident in your decision. As someone who's done both of these things, I can honestly say that scrapping an idea and starting from scratch, while frustrating at first, can feel a lot better in the long run than stumbling your way through the plot to keep it going when you feel there's nothing left to.
For me at least, it isn't all that hard to find a work around as I'm used to just writing my ideas out as they come to me, but that doesn't mean it's always easy either. Honestly, if you really feel that lost, I would recommend backtracking to a certain point and reworking the story from there, even if it's a jarring change. In my experience it's worked out better in the end more often than not, and it can give you a surprising boost in motivation as well.
As far as the readers go... well... there might be some that aren't going to like it if you decide to change the story at this point, but there's also going to be some who'll understand (like me. Like I said, I've been there). In the end, you just have to take the negative reactions with the positive ones if you want to make drastic changes. If you don't mind my two cents on the matter, I think having been away from some of your stories for so long might work in your favor in this case, as many people may have either forgotten enough or lost enough interest in the development that a drastic change wouldn't be as jarring.
I'm not saying I'm one of those, but as long as the base plot of the story is there, I'm fine with whatever you decide to do, but that's just me and these are just my suggestions. Take them with a grain of salt if you want.
From the reader's point of view, re-reading changed story might badly mess up perception of it. When you reading the story, you building world in you imagination. If you forced to rebuild it, you will find problems as fathom feelings, delusions and perplexity. Besides, it rather annoying to wait.
On the other side, author, who don't like his book will have no motivation. It may take even more time.
But I still vote for going forward.