Secret Life of Rarity book · 2:03am May 3rd, 2021
I just released a print version of A Shadow Hangs Overhead, but I really want to make print copies of Secret/Public/Blossom, but they're all just... so bad. People have been begging me for print copies for the better part of a decade (has it been that long?) but on top of some dumb scenes (the Diamond Dog scene, but I know exactly how I'd fix that) the prose and mechanics are absolute garbage. It's obvious that it's the third thing I ever wrote on this site. Looking at it versus Shadow, you can see how much I improved. I have no idea how to fix the silly opening, and that's what's stopping me every time I try to go back to fix the original story.
I dunno. I really want to fix it.
In terms of the Diamond Dog scene, if I made the fix chapter that I want to (which closes so many plot holes and makes things go much more smoothly between that chapter and future ones) would you want me to just publish it as a new chapter and put the original on a Gdoc, or put the updated chapter on a Gdoc?
I really, really want to get a print copy of the Killer Rarity trilogy for you guys, as there's a ton of potential there for an amazing trilogy. Dunno. What do you guys think?
Whenever I've considered updating Dysphoria, I always thought of doing it offsite, leaving the original untouched and having everything new being on the Gdocs. So I guess that would be my vote?
I really like the idea of artifacts, products of their time, being allowed to exist in their original state. Leaving the fic as is on here would let new readers come across it and find a fic with a publish date from 2012 and peek into a different time both into your skill as a writer but also into what things were like in the fandom. Putting the fixed version on here and keeping the original on Gdoc takes away from that. Sure it exists still but most people wouldn't click on that, eliminating some of that discovery.
That's just my take though. Whichever way you go with it, it's not something that people should really give you gripe over.
I personally love the trilogy how it is BUT untimely it is your work and it's up to you what you chose to do with it. You could always leave the originals up and upload new updated versions alongside? That way you can write and update it how you prefer and we can see the improvements alongside the brilliant originals.
Man, it has been years since I read that trilogy... Now you've gone and gotten me all nostalgic!
That being said, I do think it'd be really cool to have them as a physical book, even the spinoff! Having physical copies is just nice, y'know?
I know that you have it in you to fix it. You're a damn good writer. Whilst I'm of the opinion that fixed/updated versions of ancient fics like this ought to be appended to (or be completely separate from) the original, in the end it's up to you.
Good luck!
I would publish (well, in print) nothing that wasn't the best I thought I could make it at the time, so yeah, I'd definitely fix it first. Regarding the notorious chapter in question, I'd remove it from the "updated" version of the story. While I question the need to keep it in any form, if I felt obligated to do so for, say, the older fans, I'd keep it as a GDoc attached in the Author's Notes at the appropriate point as a link. There's zero reason to ruin the polish of whatever you do to 'fix' the story by keeping the turd dangling at the end.
But that's just my opinion. Do what you will!