Hey all,
I haven't posted a serious, personal blog in awhile for pouring all my energy into working on Becoming Robin
Spoiler warning: If you haven't read chapter 13 yet I'm going to be touching on plot elements ahead. Feel free to skip to "[The Main Point]" section if you just want the point of my posting this minus spoilers :-D
I've been thinking pretty much all evening about the last posting. Yor quite astutely vocalized what I had been thinking about Chapter 13. Overall I love the effect it has on Robin and Allison, echoing outward and ultimately affecting a big event in her life coming up, but the part about who was home at the house they ran to.
Orignally the character of Randall was supposed to be an off-duty cop, but that felt entirely too cliche. I changed his character to what it is currently, but it still feels wrong.
It feels like my mind veered off into a tangent somewhere in reaction to the amount of estrogen in the first twelve chapters, and I think I went entirely too far the wrong way in trying to balance things, rather than letting Robin and Allison try and get out of the situation themselves.
I'm kicking around a couple of interesting plot twists I could go back and rewrite to make the scene feel more solid and believable.
[The Main Point]
Ultimately, my goal with Robin is to tell a compelling, enjoyable story from start to finish, and while I feel I've accomplished that for the most part, this one scene feels like it just doesn't do the rest of the story justice. So my question is, what do you all think about an author going back and rewriting a scene after it's been posted?
My original reasoning for not wanting to rewrite following posting was that it felt like a bit of an injustice to force readers to have to glean changes to a post-published piece, but the more I think about it, the more it feels like an injustice to leave something that I don't feel is up to the standard of the rest of the story.
I want to clarify absolutely that the reason I'm posting this instead of just leaving it alone is because I genuinely want to grow as a writer. I love critical comments as much as I love when people tell me they enjoy what I've written so far because they do help me grow as a writer.
Super-duper Abridged version: Thoughts on re-writing parts of a post-published chapter? :-D
Thanks everyone. I'm really glad I started writing again. Becoming Robin has been an absolute joy to finally put to words.
Comments
Rewriting Robin
~~~Norville Barnes, The Hudsucker Proxy
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I skipped over the story details in your blog, i'm really falling behind on your wonderful series as I find myself able to write finally, but I think the way that you edit & polish stories REALLY pays off and makes them even better. Some authors might wreck their stuff with revisions, but more improve them doing this. The Kerouacian ideal of the first draft being unsullied gold direct from the unconscious, and any revision a sapping of its vitality SOUNDS good, but I haven't found this true in practice. Every time I reread one of my stories I find some way to make it flow smoother and edit on site here, until I have to copy the version on BC to replace the old inferior draft on my wordbox. And if you're changing story details, go with what THE STORY NEEDS rather than some obligation to those who have alreatdy read it. I don't think most here will cop a resentment over you trying to make your work better.
~~~hugs, Laika
What borders on pure insanity?
Canada and Mexico.
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Guilty! ;-)
I do the exact same thing when I'm posting. I'll spend upwards of an hour or two on final edits and revisions before I hit 'Submit' (including copying the BC version back to my original draft file :-D), so I guess I shouldn't feel too surprised at myself that I'd want to go back after the fact. :-D
If I do end up rewriting the scene, it'll probably be awhile yet. Even now I'm constantly going back and changing things in unpublished chapters (I think chapter 16 is up to revision 12 or so alone).
If nothing else, it's given me pause for thought to *greatly* enhance the section coming up soon that I was so worried about not being accepted before.
I've managed to phrase it in a way that sounds entirely believable to me given the circumstances, so I'm actually really happy with how it turned out now :-D
Serial stories should always be revised...
Unless you're the sort of genius who plots out sequential chess positions twenty moves in advance, it's impossible to tell a sequential story without finding previous chapters at least somewhat cumbersome. In the real world, most authors write between three times and ten times as many words as wind up published, and at least one round trip (hopefully more) will be made from author to editor and back again.
I highly recommend The Artful Edit: On the Practice of Editing Yourself by Susan Bell, which uses real examples of the sorts of conversations which take place between authors and editors, and supplements these with ideas and exercises which show how an author can short-circuit some of that conversation on their own, or with a writing partner, because it's difficult to find real editors these days, as most publishers won't pay for them.
Writing is a public performance, just like a concert or play in a theatre, except the action all takes place inside another human being's head. You need to practice before any performance, and a gifted editor serves the functions of both audience and critic. By editing, I don't mean proofreading, or even copyediting, but an ongoing interaction between equals who share a common understanding of what the author wants to achieve, and can co-operate to accomplish that goal.
If it becomes a major re-write, I'd republish the entire story from the beginning, identifying it as a major revision, because the serial nature of the site makes post-facto revisions difficult to keep track of unless one has had the wit to comment on every story one wishes to follow, in which case one can track revisions through one's own account. As we see, most people don't do that.
Cheers,
Puddin'
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Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
Personally I had no problems with the scene
Also since the character was a recently returned home Soldier it made it nicer for me. Soldiers don't always get the proper amount of gratitude for the service they do for the country (whichever country one happens to live in). So I'd leave it as a bit of a salute to the men in the field.
Great story regardless :)
{{Hugs}}
Three cheers for insomnia :-D
Liteally couldn't sleep for unrelated reasons (Largely the lack of an air conditioner and better than 75% humidity. Going to rectify the air conditioner issue later today), I've had a lot of time to sit and think about all this, and taking your and Janice's comments into consideration especially, I've come up with a compromise I'm rather happy with, which will be appearing in the next update. :-D
I had already planned for part of the scene I have in mind to take place, but Robin really needs to thank her heroes too ;-)
Happy to help in whatever way just ask :)
Glad to know if I was able to help some...can't need much fixing as it is pretty good now. Also considering the guy broke in to the man's house would be plenty of rope to hang him with :)
{hugs}
Sounded good to me originally
I know it is the trend to depict all gunowners as wild-eyed fanatics, but there are a lot of us who keep a handgun in the house for possible self-defense use. (I do, but I'm an ex-cop) Cops, ex-cops, ex-military are just some of many who tend to keep a firearm available, and know how to use it. As was pointed out already, it is nice to see a positive depiction of a vet and a gun owner. Many states have some version of the "Make My Day" law, which say that a person's home is their castle, and they have a right to defend it. The perv (excuse me, actor) certainly displayed enough violent intentions by kicking down the door to justify the homeowner's actions. Had the actor continued to attempt violent action the homeowner would have been justified in shooting him.
As for the incident in question, both girls will be traumatized by it, possibly for a long time to come. Allison would benefit from professional counseling such as Robin is going to get. Honestly I was surprised that either girl could happily enter into the next day's activities.
Keep up the good work, Zoe!
Karen J.
"Being a girl is wonderful and to torture someone into that would be like the exact opposite of what it's like. I don’t know how anyone could act that way." College Girl - poetheather
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
Their happiness
Their happiness is actually an extreme case of denial, which will start to show strongly in chapter 15 in Robin, and in chapter 21 for Allison (whom, I completely agree, is going to need serious counseling. It's something Robin REALLY needs to bring up with her, if Kelly or her parents don't do so first), ultimately leading to the closest thing the girls have ever had to an argument. :-D
Even then, it'll take her some time to come to grips with the fact that she needs help dealing with her feelings and needs to stop running from her feelings and pretending everything's okay, but by then she'll have another adult in her life to make her realize that.
Zoe
I have posted a revision of Kelly's Jurney, so revising is OK.
May Your Light Forever Shine
May Your Light Forever Shine
Well that answers that
I mean if you did it then it is OK. So is it OK for me to fart in the bathtub and bite the bubbles?
So are you saying
If you hadn't revised your own work it wouldn't be okay for her to revise hers? It almost looks as if you're giving her permission, but I could be wrong.
Zoe Taylor
One of the basic problems in writing a serial is the regret you experience when you want to go back and change something in a story.
Personally -- I wouldn't go back and make wholesale changes in the story. By doing that you've virtually destroying the readers ability to suspend their disbelief while reading future installments.
Further -- in writing this as a serial you're robbing yourself of theopportunity to set the material aside for several weeks before giving it a final edit. Those weeks will give you a new perpsective; you will read what you've written much more like a reader might digest it.
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
That's the rub
That's the rub with all this, I think, right there. It started as a novel, but it's turned into a full-blown serial.
I already have the skeleton of the story in place, but it's a LOT more of a gamble to write it like this than if I'd taken more time to distance myself.
I'm already kicking around ideas for the next project, but I'm going to put a lot more thought and time into it because the protagonist is going to be an adult, and the circumstances far more ... "unusual". :-D (Either sci-fi or magical in background. I might look into writing in-universe. Definitely won't be 'real world'-like)
On the other hand...
... the Sherlock Holmes stories were all published as serials, but were revised prior to collection in books. His Last Bow, in particular, was heavily rewritten to incorporate wartime propaganda, but the revisions were eliminated in the book.
And then, of course, the fact that Holmes died in The Final Problem but was magically resurrected so Doyle could continue the stories would have to be viewed as a major revision.
Cheers,
Puddin'
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Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style