tesseracta
Full Member
5th Dimensional Spaz
Posts: 122
|
Post by tesseracta on Jun 8, 2010 20:05:41 GMT -5
Hi!
There are many incredibly polished stories posted on these boards.
I was wondering, do you ever rewrite/revise/edit/polish etc. your Sim story once you have posted publicly to your blog?
Do you ever write multiple drafts before posting? If so, how many. I'm just curious.
Thanks in advance!
|
|
|
Post by thelunarfox on Jun 8, 2010 20:48:45 GMT -5
Hello! I officially write a piece twice-- usually once in my notebook and then I type it up. Once it's typed though, I end up fiddling with it until it's ready for posting. And when the day of posting comes up, I end up editing even more once the pictures are integrated.
So maybe, officially, it's three times, but there's a lot of polishing.
And once it's published, I don't even look back at it unless I need to remember a detail of some sort.
|
|
|
Post by Stacy on Jun 8, 2010 21:01:37 GMT -5
I've edited some of Valley since posting it. Need to edit it some more - the first few chapters make me cringe with shame sometimes.
I do edit some right after publishing - when I know people are looking at it suddenly errors stand out a lot more.
Most of the editing goes on before publishing, though. I've done things like taking seven to eight hours to get a paragraph right - the bathroom scene in 10.01. And then in Dark - my beta reader and I spent hours searching for "emptiness", lol.
Hmm - I don't really do drafts. I edit as I go. The list under Revisions on WordPress can get really really long.
|
|
|
Post by mdpthatsme on Jun 10, 2010 15:10:40 GMT -5
Hmmm...I...well...depends, really it does. It depends on what I'm wanting. If I want to take pictures now then I'll match them to the storyline later or write the storyline now and match the pictures to it later. Usually it ends up being the first choice. I type things on Word, copy and paste to Wordpress...usually read over it once or twice or maybe five times then publish, go to the page reread a few times and I usually have to edit misspellings, grammar, noun/verb agreement, and find wherever else my dislexia has taken over my writing. After that little session I do not touch the page, unless I have to reply to a comment from a reader. I do go back and reread some of my work and find mistakes that I missed, but I leave them be...they'll make me laugh after all.
|
|
|
Post by lhasa on Jun 11, 2010 8:03:02 GMT -5
Oh, you have no idea how much I rewrite and polish. I will edit a chapter a trillion times before I actually post it.
To give a more realistic number, I do proofread a chapter around...20 times before having the courage to post. It's a bad habit. I rewrite parts a lot, but I usually don't rewrite entire chapters. I'm doing it right now for a chapter, though.
|
|
|
Post by raquelaroden on Jun 15, 2010 6:01:55 GMT -5
For my main story I write it in MS Word, adding and editing the pictures as I go. After that, I copy it and paste it into the blog editor, and I preview it to look for errors or repetition I didn't intend to have, etc.. I usually change a sentence or word or two during that process. After that, I publish it.
For my challenge blog, I write it in the blog editor and add pics I've already edited, then I preview it. Once I've fixed any mistakes or changed around a few words, I publish it.
I don't really do drafts beyond that--and I don't go back and change anything unless a reader points out a mistake or I notice one when I'm looking at it because I need to remind myself of something for a present chapter. I wince when I look at my earlier chapters, but it's out there and if I spent too much time looking back at it and feeling bad about it, I wouldn't have time to go forward with my current stuff (which I think is better). For me, it's not about being perfect--it's about getting better and enjoying the writing.
|
|
|
Post by laura on Jun 17, 2010 7:21:22 GMT -5
Like Stacy, I also edit right after publishing, lol! In fact, it's probably wise to wait an hour or so before you read any LH entry that's just been published After that first hour or few hours though (for LH stories anyway) they don't get edited any more. They are what they are. And if I do feel compelled to edit something long after the fact, it will be for grammar or syntax, but not for content. Before publication though, I don't really do solid drafts, like first draft, second draft, third draft (in either my LH stories or any other stories). Like in my novel, for example, I'm calling it a second-ish draft, because I don't really write them from beginning to end in one consecutive sweep. It's more like I'll write this one piece, then another piece, and another, fit them together, take out pieces that don't fit, fill in the blanks, polish, polish, polish, polish some more. Let it bake. Read it through, cut the crap, add another surprise piece that popped into my head and made it all make sense. Polish it again. Let it bake a little more. Read it, polish it, and then done. Then fix my typos I missed, lol! So that's just one really long and involved draft maybe, with lots of steps. Which is also why I usually write well ahead of where I'm currently posting in the story, because they need all this time to bake and polish.
|
|
moondaisy
Full Member
locked in a moonbeam
Posts: 254
|
Post by moondaisy on Jun 18, 2010 15:58:08 GMT -5
I write the drafts for my stories in a Microsoft OneNoteBook, because it allows for easy picture manipulation and it looks a lot like a blog. I do a spelling check there because that saves time. When I'm sure about the pictures and more or less happy with the text I simply copy everything into a new post draft with Wordpress. All I have to do then is upload the pictures, the text is there in one swoop fell. I will edit the Wordpress draft by checking "preview post" frequently. This is my way of seeing it through the eyes of a reader. Sometimes I change a lot, other times that's not necessary, but I always change something and often it's an important change; something I overlooked when writing the inital draft in the first place more often than not... Then I publish. By this time the post will look quite differently from the original draft in my OneNoteBook. So, I will then paste from the post in Wordpress back into my OneNotebook... sometimes I discover more mistakes that way and I'll go back to the post to correct them. I always keep a copy of all my "final" posts in OneNoteBooks and save on an external memory so I'll always have my stories and the pictures - just in case Wordpress vanishes one day - lol. A draft may change dramatically over the course of writing it, but I never have more than one. And once a post is "final" I won't revisit it. Too busy writing new ones...
|
|
|
Post by meowzbark on Jun 19, 2010 17:19:27 GMT -5
I write an outline. Take the pictures. Write the story around the pictures. Then edit - take more pictures as needed.
After I publish, I check for errors in spelling and grammar. I never seem to catch them all pre-submitting it.
|
|
tesseracta
Full Member
5th Dimensional Spaz
Posts: 122
|
Post by tesseracta on Jun 20, 2010 14:53:21 GMT -5
Thanks for the replies. I can't seem to stop messing around with them once I've posted. I always find an abused comma, or a grammar error, or a long paragraph or whatever. So far, I've been approaching it sort of like Meowzbark and Laura. I do have a master outline for all the chapters. Then for each chapter I have a list of in-game goals to do. Then I play, taking pictures, and notes, and several saves. Then I re-read it several times, making about a jillion edits, going back and taking more pictures if I think it would make it less boring. It takes forever to do, then when I post, I'm still never satisified with it. : P I just want to write something simple and solid, not win a pullitzer prize. Here I am complaining, when doing this has been so much fun, and totally worth it. Thanks for sharing your processes, it is really interesting to see different peoples' approaches.
|
|