Question on Etiquette

Fighterman481

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Jun 29, 2019
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So, I have a story I've been writing as a sort of hobby over the past year or so in bits and pieces. I've recently thought it might be nice to post it to a site such as this, but I've hit a bit of a snag.

I've got a frustrating writing style in which I find it hard to think of the next scene before I finish the current one, even if I'm struck with a sort of writer's block. Any time I try to think of what happens past the scene, my mind just zeroes back in on what I'm currently writing. This has, in my opinion, lead to a directionless story as I had no clue what I wanted to have the ending actually be. Recently I had a bit of an epiphany, and found a direction I wanted to take the story, but that's caused its own issue.
Basically, I realized that I want to do a rewrite of most of what's happened, to trim the fat and generally make the story more consistent, not only in plot but in terms of PoV and other similar things, polishing the story so the quality is more consistent.

Unfortunately, the story is roughly 70k words at the time of this post, meaning there's a lot to go through, and to make matters worse, I'm suffering from a case of uncertainty that I think partially stems from my writing style. As I wrote all the scenes sequentially, and each scene shaped what the next one was going to be, in my mind all of them seem "necessary" to the plot, even though intellectually I know there's got to be quite a few that just...aren't. So, I was wondering if it would be considered acceptable to post what I currently have to this site to see what people like and what they don't, and use that to help overhaul the "intro" 70k I have right now. I would, of course, have a foreword of sorts letting people know that much of the "intro" is subject to change and that there's no pressure to give any feedback, I just wanted to make sure I wouldn't be committing a major faux pas by doing something like this.
Thanks in advance for your replies!
 

Phantomheart

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Story overhauls happen all the time! Especially if you are an improv writer, who writes scenes whenever they feel inspired and post before the story is actually finished. It happens to me all the time, and I just revise it and go. It's your story dude, so just do whatever you want :)
 

Sabruness

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Story overhauls happen all the time! Especially if you are an improv writer, who writes scenes whenever they feel inspired and post before the story is actually finished. It happens to me all the time, and I just revise it and go. It's your story dude, so just do whatever you want :)
I'm especially prone to it as well. I'll second the advice from Phantom: just do whatever you feel is right.

Perhaps post the original here for people to read if they want and then re-write as you go. Maybe some feedback will help you re-organize things a bit easier.
 

Lurking

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Just make sure you don't delete the 70k.

If you want to trim the fat, it would be cool if you had an entire husk you can reference back whenever you change something.

Also, I feel like maybe you will end with 2 different stories so post them both and it will be alternate story path?
 

Ninetailed_Furball

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Apr 12, 2019
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I like what Lurking said about this.

Rewriting is fine, and it's done a bunch here. Some have even rewritten large sections of their story (at the time at least) to fix things up. Editing, merging, and even deleting chapters.

That said, if you plan on such a big overhaul, I do like the idea of putting the overhauled version as a new series. It'll allow you to separate the fixed and unfixed versions. You'll get to keep your comments, and it's much less confusing on top of that.

Just make a short author's comment on the chapter when you release the new version with a link to it, and add a link to your description, and those who are interested will flock over to check out the revised one.
 

Wintertime

King of Nothing
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Three criterion to think about when rewriting a story, or in general to avoid these things from happening in the future.

1. Plan out at least a skeleton of a Story Arc. List key plot points that should be introduced in the beginning, and key plot points that can be foreshadowed in the future for the Arc. List main and side characters, and create a mini-arc for potential development for each.

2. Get rid of any unneeded fluff. Ask yourself, "What do I want my character to be doing, and does everything I write help or aid in that development?" No filler, just get to the important stuff. Sometimes I like to make my story incredibly fast-paced, and then fill in the gaps when I think of something interesting. It's better to be working from the base and adding more, than writing a bunch of dialogue just to cut it out later on. Make sure to ask yourself if you're introducing too many plot points at the same time, or too many characters.

3. Shit happens, a lot of writers overhaul a lot of stories all the time. Just experiment, have feedback. Try something new, get a story advisor. Whether that's your friend or your own family. Get people that are interested, get their thoughts. Plus, it gives you the experience to write a better novel in the future!

It's also your novel, do whatever you want man.
 
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