[Thuriniel]

I'm considering very seriously to do some rewrites in the first chapters of my fic ... I was wondering how many of you have done rewrites and what process have you followed.

Quite honestly, I don't know where to start or how much I should change. I plan for the plot to remain the same, but I want to do dialogue changes, fix some discrepancies, and change little details that would make the fic closer to canon (with the exception of promiscuous elves, of course !).

Basically my question is ... When does rewriting become too much of a task?

[Panneth]

You can always rephrase the question as when are you happy enough with a long, progressive fic to just leave it alone.

Didn't you do rewrites a bit last year?

[inglor]

Thu,
When is it too much?, when you dread doing all you need to.
I have to take the BEAST of my own a little bit at a time.
The only way I can keep from chucking it (b/c it is so badly written) is to not try tackling too much. It's huge and is still growing but when I'm stuck on another project, it's a good distraction.

When can I let it alone? good question....



Inglor

[Maram68]

Dear Maria,

I have rewritten the first chapters of Adversity (and they still need tweaking) but I don't think you should change the plot or sense of anything you have written.

If you want to change the wording, ok.

I know how it feels to read the first chaps you wrote so many lightyears and tons less experience ago ...



But, then, you know I love The Bond, but what matters to me is what makes you happy.

Abrazos, amiga!

Claudia

[Viv]

I think rewriting becomes too much of a task when you feel like shrugging and just putting the durn thing back up, as is. I'm in the middle of rewriting my massive smutty epic right now, and nothing is going the way it ought. I meant the tale to have subtle and intricate theme, but it turned out to really be all about a whiny princess and her sex life.

Rewriting is proving to me that I write whiny princesses' sex lives very well, but suck massively in the intricate-theme department. So am approaching that shrug-and-who-cares point.

[Thuriniel]

[Panneth]

[Thuriniel]

!

[GypsieRose]

I do a lot of tweaking and rewriting, myself. My feeling is that if I find re-reading the work painful and I know how to fix it, then it's worth the effort. Just my $.02!

--Rose

[NancyBrooke]

Slightly different question, same subject:

Just rec'd a review of my Mithril-nominated fic "Gaming" (made it to the semi's ) from a Mithril judge. S/he objected to some things that, with a little research into Elven/Rivendell culture, I could 'fix'.

But I'm not sure if I should. "Gaming" was, I believe, my first finished/posted fic and I kind of like that it reflects the naivete or shallow level of Tolkien-knowledge I had at the time (some might argue still do). Changes would, well, change that.

What do y'all think? Should I 'grow up' this fic? It's probably not a big deal and would be unnoticeable to new readers, but I kind of think the work should stand, imperfect as it was but true to who I was when I wrote it.

What do you think? Do you ever rewrite when you learn something more about ME? Am I just pissing sour grapes at an almost entirely negative review?

[Viv]

[NancyBrooke]

[Viv]

[Andreth]

I enjoyed the story, Nancy - partly for the fact that Boromir had sex in it, but mostly for the fact that it was well written and showed a lot of imagination on your part. Just my opinion, but I didn't see any glaring problems with the way you depicted the culture there. I admit a few of the males' names seemed a little awkward, but they were just fleeting references and not central to the story. As for LACE, I won't comment on that in too much detail because it always annoys me to hear 'your story violates LACE and therefore isn't canon'. LACE is in HoMe, not part of the works Tolkien himself published, so it's not what people define as 'canon. In my opinion that's something that is up to each writer as to how they want to incorporate it into their story. You listed your deviations from the books in your notes, so people reading your story are already aware that it's a little AU in places.

If *you* feel the story should be changed, then you should change it. If you're happy with it as it is, then you should leave it. Don't change your story based solely on someone else's opinion, because you're the one who ultimately should be happy with it. The fact that the story made it to the semi-finals should show you that the story has merit as is. You do what you think is right for the story, because even though this person was acting as a judge in a contest, it's still just a personal opinion.

Anna

[Andreth]