Do you ever revise your stories based on feedback?

[CyranoJ]

I’m referring both to stories revised after publication and those revised beforehand (based on external feedback), but please answer about them separately.

Revising stories in process is routine, whether or not I have external feedback. Many, many stories never make it to the point of posting on account of this. There are times when I simply can't make the rhythm of things work to my satisfaction. It's substantially likelier for a story to be published when I have another editor, though, because then I'm not just banging around in my own brain and I have some kind of context for things.

The other side of that equation is that once a thing has been published, there's always a cohesive and intent creative vision behind it. I take note of feedback but no, I never edit stories because of it. I once considered generating an alternative vision of a story in response to feedback, but ultimately this requires ripping out substantial parts of a story to the point of just writing something entirely different, and I will normally decline to do that.

 

[Duleigh]

Revise a completed story? No
Revise a follow-up story? Still No
I'll correct an error, but my stories are my stories. I'll thank the reader for their input and press on with my original plan and quite often the feedback is positive.

 

[AndromedaDreamer]

Definitely for typos.

But also for other elements. For example, I wrote a story where the characters went by the initial of their first name. It had positive scores, but people did not like the naming thing, at all. So, I changed that and resubmitted the edited version (still waiting for it to go up).

As for story parts, probably not, especially if it means changing the whole story. In that case, I'd rather take it as a lesson learned and move onto something else. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't consider revising it in the future.

 

[jehoram]

I had to put in a revision when a reader caught an error caused by writing in haste. the story is:

https://www.literotica.com/s/nude-day-at-the-daredevils-club

And the story of the revision is in the comments.

 

[CornyHusband]

I’m referring both to stories revised after publication and those revised beforehand (based on external feedback), but please answer about them separately.

I’m guessing that revising stories based on feedback is pretty rare, considering that if a story that we already felt was ready to be seen by others falls short in some ways, that was most likely because we cared little about those aspects to begin with. So, feedback complaining about them is unlikely to convince us to change anything. I also suspect that we can generally anticipate the types of reactions a story will tend to receive. Personally, no one has noticeably reacted to any of my stories (via comments, messages, ratings, favorites, etc.) in a way that I hadn’t already anticipated that some people would.

I also suspect that many Literotica authors are unaware that they’re able to edit the stories they post here, because it’s not obvious how to do it. (For those of you who are wondering, they’d have to submit the edit as a new story while stating in the title or the note to admin that it’s an edit.)

Before submitting my stories here, I sought feedback by sending them to a trusted friend of mine. He gave his impressions, but nothing that he said was useful enough to lead me to edit anything in response (not even in my notes/warnings at the top).

I also decided against seeking feedback via Literotica’s volunteer editors program or the feedback forum, because I didn’t feel comfortable pushing my erotica onto strangers who wouldn’t have otherwise been motivated to read them. And even if I did seek their input, I guessed that it would have taken too long for them to get back to me. I also figured that I would get more relevant feedback from my target demographic (the people who choose to read my stories of their own accord).

I posted revisions of my first five stories several months after I first posted them, but to this day they have not been edited by anyone other than myself (though I tried to do a very thorough job). I did take feedback from a couple comments/messages into account, though I was already at least somewhat aware of those particular issues so there's a good chance I would have made the same changes regardless.

My ratings have stayed about the same since my revisions were all posted several months ago. The only clear impact I’ve noticed is that after shortening The Breeding Experiment enough to move it from the Novels/Novellas category to Sci-Fi/Fantasy, its daily views increased substantially.

I was writing a TRUE story, based on an opinion from my therapist. My assignment was to write it so I could analyze my thoughts and therefore seek closure. Since it was sexual in nature, I posted it here on Literotica. I received no negative comments about the writing itself. Most of it was just rude comments calling me names, etc. I still wrote it, but I cut the story off early and ended it here. As can be guessed, it was a writing for the Loving Wives section, which involved cheating. I was analyzing my attempt at trying to save the marriage, which ultimately failed anyway. So yes, I modified my plans and ended it early, due to comments. In the future, I will most likely leave the comments turned off.

 

[TadOverdon]

I don't revise after publishing.

I have made significant changes to work that I've posted for feedback here in this forum while writing. The AH gang is are a tremendous, creative resource and willing to be helpful, in at least one case to the extent of urging me to throw a whole ill-thought notion away. Which I (grudgingly and after some consideration) did.

 

[Blind_Justice]

Unless someone spots a horrible error, I leave my stories alone after publishing. I'd love to integrate feedback, but apart from readers asking for more, I have only a few nuggets to go on. I'll happily oblige when readers want to see more of particular characters (as seen with Nezha in "The Faceless Executioner", the reader who wanted to see more of her got their wish granted in "Nikym's Predicament") but that's all I've been asked to do. Well, aside from the occasional complaint about content, structure or my own supposed orientation. Fuck the haters. Read something else if you want your straight alpha male fantasies fulfilled.

 

[Ezrollin]

Revise no, but edit yes. I submitted the unedited version by mistake, corrected it and have it up for re-publishing.

 

[Duleigh]

Earlier I said no, but recently I received feedback that intrigued me and animated several plot bunnies that I thought were dead. My muse whispered in my ear so I followed the advice from that feedback and headed off into a whole new direction with a series of stories and I'm VERY happy I did!

 

[burgwad]

I let feedback guide future writing. But I'm still new enough at this that I am open to guidance, especially if I see something as a nutritious challenge.

A couple readers didn't like all the drug use in my early stories? Obviously it doesn't bother me, but okay, let me write one totally devoid of drug use to prove I can.
One reader called me out for my female characters lacking interiority/humanity? Damn, but okay. Went to the library. Studied up. Came back a better feminist.
Twice now I've been implored to get an editor to help trim the fat from my stories? ... Fine. Next time.

By the way, I'm currently in the market for an editor. Anyone know a good one who doesn't mind helping with longer pieces?

 

[JadeSteed]

I’m referring both to stories revised after publication and those revised beforehand (based on external feedback), but please answer about them separately.

I’m guessing that revising stories based on feedback is pretty rare, considering that if a story that we already felt was ready to be seen by others falls short in some ways, that was most likely because we cared little about those aspects to begin with. So, feedback complaining about them is unlikely to convince us to change anything. I also suspect that we can generally anticipate the types of reactions a story will tend to receive. Personally, no one has noticeably reacted to any of my stories (via comments, messages, ratings, favorites, etc.) in a way that I hadn’t already anticipated that some people would.

I also suspect that many Literotica authors are unaware that they’re able to edit the stories they post here, because it’s not obvious how to do it. (For those of you who are wondering, they’d have to submit the edit as a new story while stating in the title or the note to admin that it’s an edit.)

Before submitting my stories here, I sought feedback by sending them to a trusted friend of mine. He gave his impressions, but nothing that he said was useful enough to lead me to edit anything in response (not even in my notes/warnings at the top).

I also decided against seeking feedback via Literotica’s volunteer editors program or the feedback forum, because I didn’t feel comfortable pushing my erotica onto strangers who wouldn’t have otherwise been motivated to read them. And even if I did seek their input, I guessed that it would have taken too long for them to get back to me. I also figured that I would get more relevant feedback from my target demographic (the people who choose to read my stories of their own accord).

I posted revisions of my first five stories several months after I first posted them, but to this day they have not been edited by anyone other than myself (though I tried to do a very thorough job). I did take feedback from a couple comments/messages into account, though I was already at least somewhat aware of those particular issues so there's a good chance I would have made the same changes regardless.

My ratings have stayed about the same since my revisions were all posted several months ago. The only clear impact I’ve noticed is that after shortening The Breeding Experiment enough to move it from the Novels/Novellas category to Sci-Fi/Fantasy, its daily views increased substantially.

Now that I know how to revise a story, I'll be doing some rewrites! There are more typos than I can handle. Now I really want to know, how do I remove a story forever?

 

[MillieDynamite]

I revise stories for continuity mistakes, spelling errors, misused words, and unclear sentences. But never because a reader didn't like something in the story. They are my stories, and they either like them the way I write them or dislike them. I won't change things to make a tale more palatable for an individual or a group of individuals. If I yielded to every thing people wanted to complain about, the story would quickly not be mine.

 

[KeithD]

I rarely revise upon feedback and I only revise while reviewing to publish in another venue.

 

[8letters]

I’m referring both to stories revised after publication and those revised beforehand (based on external feedback), but please answer about them separately.

Do I revise stories before publication based on feedback? Yes. I want my story to be the very best it can be before I publish it. Fresh sets of eyes catch mistakes I didn't catch (and I make a lot of mistakes) and point out weaknesses in the story. I learn a lot from such feedback. The story I'm currently working on, I sent it out to 17 beta-readers and have gotten feedback from 8.

Do I clean up typos and errors after a story is published? Sometimes, if I get sent enough errors. Why not make the experience of reading my stories the very best it can be for readers who have recently found me?

Have I ever done a major revision to a story long after it was published? Yes, twice. Both times were great successes. "My European Summer Vacation" won second place in the 2016 Summer Lovin' contest, but many commenters wanted the story to be longer, for the MMC to introduce the FMC to his family. I did that and restored a scene that I had cut out during editing the original version. The revised version has been in the I/T Hall of Fame most of the time since it was published. "A Week At The Lake With My Sister" was a five-chapter series that had for me low ratings for the first three and the last chapter, and an awful rating for the fourth chapter. The fourth and fifth chapter were constantly getting negative comments. I rewrote the fourth and fifth chapter, creating basically an alternate timeline when one decision was different but the story had the same ending, deleted the first three chapters, and published the revised story as a 17-page stand-alone. It has a 4.80 rating and lots of very complimentary comments.

It's in my queue to take down a story I published this February. I was originally going to have the story end on a mff threesome, couldn't make the mff threesome work, so I cut out everything after the MMC and the MFC have sex for the first time. From the comments, the earlier ending has not been a success. Now, I've thought of how to write the mff threesome so it'll work.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Now that I know how to revise a story, I'll be doing some rewrites! There are more typos than I can handle. Now I really want to know, how do I remove a story forever?

Same process as for an EDIT, but suffix the submission with DELETE. Repeat the request in the Editor's Note. It will be purged completely from the Lit database, unrecoverable. Takes about a fortnight.

 

[JadeSteed]

Same process as for an EDIT, but suffix the submission with DELETE. Repeat the request in the Editor's Note. It will be purged completely from the Lit database, unrecoverable. Takes about a fortnight.

You know you're in a writers' forum when someone uses "fortnight" and you file the general information away for use, but it takes a second before you realize it's not a word most people write or speak, unless they're talking about video games.

 

[ElectricBlue]

You know you're in a writers' forum when someone uses "fortnight" and you file the general information away for use, but it takes a second before you realize it's not a word most people write or speak, unless they're talking about video games.

You're obviously not in Oz. Fortnight is quite common here, possibly because salary tends to be paid fortnightly. I have no idea what the video games connection is, though, not being a gamer.

 

[Rustyoznail]

Fortnight is when my pay comes in. Fortnite is an online shooter with anime style characters.

As for the topic, what little info I get I consider for future works. I've never done a resubmission.

 

[MrPixel]

I don't revise/edit after something goes up. I have requested two submissions be removed after rejection that I was not going to "fix" because in both cases the suggested fix ruined the whole point of the story.

There is apparently an anonymous grammar cop who has twice taken me to task on my earliest writings for mixing tense. I'm much more careful about that now anyway, but the latest complaint (past month) was something uploaded over a year earlier. Ain't worth my time/effort to mess with it.

 

[MillieDynamite]

My mum uses fortnight all the time. It's fourteen days, for those that don't have English or Aussie connections.

 

[MayorReynolds]

Nope. After I post the story, it's a done deal. The mistakes are immortalized. Whatever negative feedback I get, I take it into consideration so I can make the next story better.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

You know you're in a writers' forum when someone uses "fortnight" and you file the general information away for use, but it takes a second before you realize it's not a word most people write or speak, unless they're talking about video games.

You know you're on an international forum when someone talks about 'most people' not using a common English word, when they mean 'most Americans'.

Brits, Irish, Indians, Australians, Hong Kongers, Nigerians, Jamaicans etc use fortnight frequently.

'Sennight', on the other hand, they'd have a point.

 

[Limnophile]

I have reposted several stories because of mistakes readers pointed out, but never because of personal preferences. If I put a comma in the wrong place or mixed up 'eminent' and 'imminent' I don't mind fixing it. On the other hand, I won't change the way characters look or act to suit somebody's fetish. I might think the latest Mission Impossible movie would be much better with lesbian vampires, but I seriously doubt they will redo it if I ask.

 

[PastMaster]

I have gone back and corrected errors based on feedback. but the core story no. I did, however write a sequel to one of my stories, purely because of the feedback, and inspired from an idea given to me there.

 

[bestkeptsecret678]

Only once in my short experience here. I felt compelled to correct an embarassing mathematical error, but used the opportunity to put the story in the proper category as well.