What's your view on rewriting a story's earlier chapters?

[ConTroll]

Hello folks,

Being a novice author, I often wonder how much a rewrite of my initial chapters would benefit my story.

At first, I thought it would be a great idea; having my current writing style be reflected across my work would definitely help with style continuity.

However, as months passed and I gained more experience as a writer, I realized that if I rewrote those earlier chapters now, then I would have to rewrite them again later, when I had improved even more as an author. And so-on.

Now, my current stance is to just move forward with my story. As my writing evolves and I settle into my own style, changes in my skills will be reflected in the more recent chapters...

What are your thoughts?

I've also considered a rewrite to garner more views, and honestly, I do think it would help with reader retention. So, a rewrite, maybe even a large edit, might be necessary later down the road.

Then again, if people aren't interested in the story, they just won't read it.

 

[Riese]

That’s also my problem on my novel. But for me i decided to keep on writing it until i finish its volume 1 for my plan. Then after finishing volume 1 i plan to release volume 2 and create a new rewritten version of volume 1.

 

[Assurbanipal_II]

Just do it. Rewrite is good. You gain more experience than you think.

 

[Sushirollw]

Ummm well, you aren't alone... I feel the same thing as you.
I also feel like my writing style is getting different(in a good way, hopefully).
But, I just let it be, and let the reader notice my improvement. Some of my readers said so, and it feels nice when someone notice if you get improved. So I chose not to rewrite the previous shity chapters of mine

 

[Shiver]

I just finished my rewrites.
I had 140k words into Shift and then noticed I'd created a huge problem for my MC's future development.
My chapter length varied from 2.2k to 5k+ wordcount making the reading less smooth.
I'd also improved a lot if I do say so myself.

I sketched out my issues, then the solution, and went through all my chapters fixing and rewriting a lot.
I combined and broke up a few to make sure every chapter's ending was logical and felt right.
Took me almost a month of my usual writing time, but what I got out of it is a vast improvement to what it was.

Just make sure to warn your readers and inform them of the changes you're going to make and why.

 

[NotaNuffian]

... I have posted anything so I cannot say much. To me, just punch through the adversity and never look back? Cuz it might be a pain that you ended up spoil some new readers or even cause continuity error?

 

[ConTroll]

That’s also my problem on my novel. But for me i decided to keep on writing it until i finish its volume 1 for my plan. Then after finishing volume 1 i plan to release volume 2 and create a new rewritten version of volume 1.

I fear that once I start rewriting, it will never end and the actual story will stagnate. A few edits here and there are okay, but an overhaul on prose would be too much.

 

[ConTroll]

I just finished my rewrites.
I had 140k words into Shift and then noticed I'd created a huge problem for my MC's future development.
My chapter length varied from 2.2k to 5k+ wordcount making the reading less smooth.
I'd also improved a lot if I do say so myself.

I sketched out my issues, then the solution, and went through all my chapters fixing and rewriting a lot.
I combined and broke up a few to make sure every chapter's ending was logical and felt right.
Took me almost a month of my usual writing time, but what I got out of it is a vast improvement to what it was.

Just make sure to warn your readers and inform them of the changes you're going to make and why.

That's dedication, but it seems it was worth it.

 

[Suzumiya]

Do it!

I've rewritten this same book so many times that I've lost count.

It's gotten better every time!

 

[Shiver]

That's dedication, but it seems it was worth it.

To be fair, I'd already planned on doing my rewrites after my first 200k words or so, I just bumped it up because I'd made a huge mistake.
I'll probably take another look when I'm another 200k words further in.
But yea, I love my story, and want to get it as perfect as I can.

 

[placeintime]

I know that feeling too, When I went back to reread my earlier chapters, there were a lot of errors that I made. I think as long as you rewrite your chapters with the same general idea that's occurring in that chapter, then I think it's fine to rewrite it.

 

[Deleted member 29316]

Honestly, this is also my struggle whenever I receive bad ratings and reviews. Personally, I don't find anything bad with what I've written, for I did a lot of consulting and rewrites in my work before actually releasing it. It's what the others think of my work that affects me greatly...and the urge to redo is great.

I don't know. Maybe a couple more of bad comments and ratings, and I'd take down my work for good. LoL

 

[ArcadiaBlade]

Me rewriting is scary. Once i start to rewrite and made improvements, i start to think myself that i can do the rewriting better which i would continue to rewrite over and over until it would drove me to insanity as i know i can still improve and do even better than what i did.

There was a time were i wanted to rewrite my first novel since it has too many plotholes and wanted to make it more sense and logical. Got into the rewriting which i sense i can do even better which i did it again, over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over.

And no, i am not even kidding as this was what i actually did in the past before i stopped and it took me a month to realize that i was doing this for a long time and it was only one chapter. I was so focus on fixing the plotholes that i made more, fixed it even more, made it worse and repeat the same thing over and over again.

TL;DR I basically worked on a single chapter, rewriting it for the past month and never want to rewrite it again.

 

[ConTroll]

Honestly, this is also my struggle whenever I receive bad ratings and reviews. Personally, I don't find anything bad with what I've written, for I did a lot of consulting and rewrites in my work before actually releasing it. It's what the others think of my work that affects me greatly...and the urge to redo is great.

I don't know. Maybe a couple more of bad comments and ratings, and I'd take down my work for good. LoL

Don't take it down. 'You can't please everyone" -- at least that's what I tell myself when I focus on what I can do better for my story.

There is a reason why so many creative people say: "Fuck the haters."

 

[Stratothrax]

Rewriting the first few chapters can cause an issue where it actually noticeable for a new reader, the quality starts out great where you rewrote, then swan dives off a cliff once it get backs to your original writing. It can be a little jarring as a reader.

 

[K5Rakitan]

It's important to get feedback before rewriting, and people on this site aren't very good at giving feedback. I got most of my feedback from writing.com, where they have a gift point system you can use to request reviews from people.

I rewrote my first chapter because readers were interpreting some things differently from what I intended. They thought that Joan's boyfriend Marc was controlling, but I wanted to show him as supportive. He knows her very well and understands her dreams and fears.

 

[YuriDoggo]

I'd end the original somehow (either finish it or drop it) before I rewrite.

 

[AliceShiki]

Mmmmmmm, I feel like rewriting is something that should done only if you have a stronger reason than simply "I want to improve the quality."

For example, if you felt like you really needed to work better on the relationship of 2 characters for a later development, yet those characters weren't close enough by the time you reach said chapter, you might consider rewriting some old stuff to get them to be closer to one another.

Or I dunno, you're writing an isekai story, but halfway through you realize you'd rather have your character have been born in your fantasy setting from the getgo, I feel it makes sense to rewrite at that point too.

Basically, I feel like rewrites should only be done if you have a thing(s) that you actively want to change in your story. If all you want is to improve the quality, I'd say you should keep going all the way until the end, and then rewrite the entire story and sell it as an e-book with the new improved quality.

 

[YuriDoggo]

Or I dunno, you're writing an isekai story, but halfway through you realize you'd rather have your character have been born in your fantasy setting from the getgo, I feel it makes sense to rewrite at that point too.

For most stories you can just remove the first few chapters

 

[Kaguro]

Not worth doing unless you are selling the book on amazon or something.

I almost never edit chapters that are already done unless someone points out some egregious story flaw.