Writing Post

[shapinglight]

I'm still finding the idea of talking about my own fics slightly uncomfortable, because it feels like I'm claiming they have some sort of merit (this is why I never do any of those memes, where you invite people to ask you questions about your work), but here goes.



I've been putting more of my fics on AO3. Still getting a fair number of hits, though not much in the way of comments or kudos (but then they're not new works, most people will have read them before, besides I have no idea how common receiving either is on the site). I've now got to the stage where I've put up most of my most recent stories, except the very long ones that need to be divided into chapters, and am beginning to contemplate putting up older works.

So, anyway, this story, Brief Encounter, is up next. However, though I was very pleased with it at the time I wrote it, it now reads to me like a decent story trapped inside a lot of unnecessary waffle (so much so, that I don't want anyone to read it and was very reluctant to link to it, but it seems silly not to when I'm asking for opinions), so I think I'm going to edit it quite considerably.

Then again, that seems a bit like cheating.

Then again, again, there is all that waffle. It needs to go. Also, I think I need to make it clearer why Darla decides she wants to have sex with Spike, because at the moment it just reads to me that she does it because people just do have sex in fanfics.

What do you all think? Should I let the story stand, or should I make it as good as I think it can be now I know better? I should just say, that if I decide it's cheating to edit, I shan't put the story on AO3 at all, because I don't think it's good enough.

Opinions gratefully received. Also, Brief Encounter isn't the only story like this. There are several.

Comments

[shapinglight]

You have limited time for writing. Would you rather spend that on re-writing an old work or on writing something new? Now it is perfectly possible that you would find editing the old story relaxing and easier than new writing, in which case by all means go for it.

Well, since I seem to be blocked again, it's a way to make myself feel a bit creative in the meantime.

I re-read the story before making this post and I think most of the flaws will be relatively easy to fix. Mostly, they consist of some tidying up and removal of short paragraphs of unnecessary waffle, as I said. The main problem is the sex part, but really, if I can't see a very simple way to improve that I'll leave it as it is.

Also, this isn't something I'll be doing for all my old stories, because I don't plan to post most of them on Ao3. It's just a select few that I think are worth revising to bring them up to scratch. Brief Encounter is one. Vampire Winter and Family Reunion are others. But I don't intend to make major changes in any of them.

[ex_peasant441]

Sounds like you very much want to do this then!

Do save the old version first though, so you can check back when you are in the throws of revision and have a baseline in case you start to lose the freshness.

[shapinglight]

I'll definitely do that. I'll make a copy of it and work on that and leave the original well alone.