Rewriting past chapters because of the subject matter.
- Thread starter Zekar
- Start date
It's not a bad idea at all IMO. People change, and you can look back at something you wrote and say "huh, today I'd prefer this or that" and there's nothing wrong with it. It's your story.
I have not done that, but I did gently re-write a few of the first chapters I ever wrote a year later, simply because they were very very rough. If you ever doubt you're growing as a writer, go back and read something you did a couple of years ago and have your eyes bleed at the sloppiness and lack of craft.
Oh, in one story I wrote ages ago someone in the comments mentioned I had written one tertiary character with a bit of ethnic stereotyping, and when I re-read it I... had to kind of agree? I left it as is though, except for a comment saying I hadn't realized but accepted the criticism.
I have not done that, but I did gently re-write a few of the first chapters I ever wrote a year later, simply because they were very very rough. If you ever doubt you're growing as a writer, go back and read something you did a couple of years ago and have your eyes bleed at the sloppiness and lack of craft.
Oh, in one story I wrote ages ago someone in the comments mentioned I had written one tertiary character with a bit of ethnic stereotyping, and when I re-read it I... had to kind of agree? I left it as is though, except for a comment saying I hadn't realized but accepted the criticism.
insertnamehere
Really Really Experienced
I've never rewritten subject matter, exactly; I think chapters are defined by what they're about, so if I were to regret a chapter's primary focus then I would likely just delete it (provided doing so would be structurally feasible).
In stories that heavily depend on plot and a tight, accurate chain of cause and effect, I have 'retconned' tiny details in early chapters that the average reader would never pick up on but would slightly contradict an important fact in a later chapter. The actual impact of doing so is very small (or so I hope), only noticeable if someone were to collect every detail in every throwaway comment and casual description in the hundred-and-something-thousand-word story to check for such errors. I would never make a significant change for the sake of continuity because I know there are at least a few readers keeping up with every instalment, and if it's information they might have retained then they'll be confused.
In stories that are more focused on branching, particularly Game Mode stories, then I don't see any problem with cleaning up prose that doesn't contribute to the reader's impressions of the characters, plot or world. Even then, I have twice made significant changes to a part of such a story when I found it highly doubtful that anyone would be reading new content without also reading my those changes (once when the story was very short and untouched for nearly a year - although someone did notice and mention it - and another when the changes still didn't actually matter later on, just for the succeeding few chapters).
In stories that heavily depend on plot and a tight, accurate chain of cause and effect, I have 'retconned' tiny details in early chapters that the average reader would never pick up on but would slightly contradict an important fact in a later chapter. The actual impact of doing so is very small (or so I hope), only noticeable if someone were to collect every detail in every throwaway comment and casual description in the hundred-and-something-thousand-word story to check for such errors. I would never make a significant change for the sake of continuity because I know there are at least a few readers keeping up with every instalment, and if it's information they might have retained then they'll be confused.
In stories that are more focused on branching, particularly Game Mode stories, then I don't see any problem with cleaning up prose that doesn't contribute to the reader's impressions of the characters, plot or world. Even then, I have twice made significant changes to a part of such a story when I found it highly doubtful that anyone would be reading new content without also reading my those changes (once when the story was very short and untouched for nearly a year - although someone did notice and mention it - and another when the changes still didn't actually matter later on, just for the succeeding few chapters).
SeriousBrainDamage
Really Really Experienced
That's really nice of you, for your readers that is, I would never go thorough the hassle.
I'm really trying to enter a state of mind where the stuff I write is just "fire and forget". To often I have looped back into correcting and fixing and adjusting old stuff. It's an endless work because you are ever-changing and so you will be always tempted to change what you wrote in the past to better reflect who you are now.
Also the more since it's Chyoa, you could always write an alternate chapter and leave the old one to rot.
That said, if you came to the conclusion that subject matter was somehow controversial or reflected ideas(talking about serious stuff...) that you have reconsidered, I can understand the desire to make that something not relatable to you anymore.
I probably would never do it, if even one fan would ever be disappointed about losing the way a chapter was originally written, I would feel bad. If it's very minor changes (sentence restructuring, grammar fixes, etc), then yeah, whatever. I just don't want a reader to come back, perhaps looking for a specific passage that really got them off and not finding it, learning that it has been lost.
Now that I think about it though, I wrote a chapter about a real person just a few months before they were diagnosed with breast cancer and I felt a little bad about that.
Now that I think about it though, I wrote a chapter about a real person just a few months before they were diagnosed with breast cancer and I felt a little bad about that.
H
haileytraynor
Guest
I started writing stories when I was 8 years old. I started writing fanfiction when I was 12. I started writing adult content was I was 16/17. Needless to say a lot of my past writing is absolutely terrible. When that is the case, I do sometimes rewrite things. I think it’s fine to look back at a work and not be proud of it and then fix it. It can be refreshing. My advice: always hold onto the original. You might not think it’s great, but you’ll appreciate it later when you’re looking for a new idea and see the old antique in your folders and then refurbish it again.
It’s also actually not bad to keep a lousy work on display because it shows people where you started and where you’ve hopefully improved with your writing in your newer works.
It’s like asking if a YouTuber would go back and change their past videos if they could. Most probably would, but they would lose the history and nostalgia that it comes with and that just might not be worth it.