DISCUSSION: Is it weird to go back and update/change chapters?

[jasonwolf]

So my stories have... obnoxiously long development times. Anyone who's even glanced at my stuff will notice how many times I've posted a strangely similar medieval pokemon story, and if you're REALLY old you might know that Decolonized was actually started about a decade ago as an idea for a roleplay. Thanks to finding a writing group and a much more solid story for Decolonized I've actually been able to pump out a good chunk of chapters (and I promise there are more WIP), but I've also been trying to go back and fix some flaws. I used to be very against the idea because once its out there it's out there. Now errors sure everyone probably agrees those should go, but I'm talking plot and details and so on. There are some changes in my story that I considered errors while others were flavor choices that I decided later.

I'm just kind of curious about the public opinion here. We have an edit button, but do people really use it? Am I weird for going back so much? Am I a jerk for "making" people reread old chapters to figure out what's changed?

 

[Rockium]

In my opinion, I don’t think so. I sometimes go ahead and edit one chapter of The Ties That Bind just because something doesn’t sound right/I wanted to add some stuff.

 

[AceTrainer14]

Most people here make changes to their stories. Sometimes it is simply aesthetic changes, other people I know have changed huge parts of their stories in the editing process. There is nothing wrong with it, but it can be tricky to change a lot and expect readers to go back and read it all. It is best to include some sort of note around what has changed in a spoiler tag before the chapter so people know what has happened, or bring it up somewhere so they have the option. It would be rough on the reader if you updated the chapters without warning and then got annoyed if they didn't go back and read what had changed.

 

[jasonwolf]

It is best to include some sort of note around what has changed in a spoiler tag before the chapter so people know what has happened, or bring it up somewhere so they have the option.

Oooooo I never thought of that, but I like that idea.

 

[lucarioknight56]

I used to think that was odd--until I realized I made some serious blunders in my writing and should've revised them. I just got finished with a massive revision for Unequivocant, so much that I suggested readers to go through and read it again to see it. Of course, I don't expect everyone to do that, hence why I usually put the changes in a spoiler. This one was really large, though, and considering it had been a couple months since I last updated the thread, I just went through and deleted my previous update notes and made a large one at the front.

So if you want to edit, make sure you keep those notes organized, as it can get hard to keep track of the 'when' side of things.

 

[Ereshkigal]

I did such of a large change to the first chapter of my story that it went from "editing for clarity" to "rewriting the entire chapter." The prologue and second chapter got the same fate, and the third chapter is entirely different.

 

[Drakon]

I think it's fine to a certain extent but if you're making extremely drastic changes that will have cascading effects (changing characterization, events and the like), it would be better to start from scratch by making a new story as a reboot of the old one. That way your old readers won't be left wondering what's going on.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Revision of old chapters is practically compulsory for any writer who wants to create a finished story of a high quality. The issue is with fanfiction as a publishing medium: we post chapters periodically, almost more like episodic TV shows than novels, and we get feedback as we go, in-situ, rather than preparing a finished product and dumping it in the laps of our audience in one go. Therefore the choice to revise 'published' work is a little different. And it's a personal chocie. I' perfectly comfortable with it, some people think it's unfair to the readers. But it's certainly not unusual or uncommon, or a bad thing in objective terms.

 

[namohysip]

Tl;dr It's good to edit, especially if it doesn't affect current readers while enhancing the experience for new readers, but be careful that you don't irritate people who have followed your story to its most recent chapter.

Full version:

Oh boy, now this is something I have a lot of experience with, and something that I've gotten feedback from on both sides of the spectrum. Some people have the philosophy that once something is down and out, that's it--it is what it is, and you shouldn't go back and change it. This rings particularly true for "architect"-type writers, who plan down to slightly meticulous detail what they intend to write, or what they want to get going. This goes double for folks who have large backlogs, generally only publishing things that are a month or longer behind their source material.

I've had some others tell me that when an author goes back to change something in the story, they get annoyed, because it means they have to go back and revise their knowledge of the story accordingly.

I'm actually a bit surprised at how open most people are about going back to edit their work here. In other communities, it's looked down on as clumsy or revisionist. But I'm of the opinion that going back to fix mistakes in some way--touching up language, and so on--is just fine. I think what's more concerning is going back to change the outcome of an event, especially if it's not the end of a story. As mentioned above, sweeping, cascading effects that would require changing entire future chapters that have also already been published may not be worth it. Better macro-planning could have helped to prevent that in the first place, so starting off from scratch if you feel the story as-it-is is unsalvageable may be the way to go. I've thankfully not had that problem.

This is my rule of thumb for going back to edit: If it makes a large, cascading change to the story, you probably shouldn't do it, and instead find a way to work with what you have in the current part that you're writing to nudge it in that direction, if it can be done organically. Alternatively, if the change is inconsequential to the current part of the story--or, if it's consequential, it's not in such a way that a current reader wouldn't understand what's going on--go for it!

People who are reading my work right now may be interested to know that everything having to do with Deca used to not be there. He was introduced much later in the story, but I decided to add foreshadowing-like scenes--and an entire Special Episode--dedicated to him and his presence for the purposes of narrative. I also had fewer scenes between Zena and Owen. Both of these things matter little for current readers, who already know what happens with those characters, but for readers who are behind (which is technically all forum readers until the chapters here catch up to what's on FFN and AO3) they're seeing what I feel is a better and smoother experience.