What is a rewrite of a story for YOU?

Hello YWS!

I did a question like this last month that asked what the writers on YWS prefer, planning or pantsing? It’s totally cool if you’d like to still post your opinions on said topic.

This time, I have returned for a monthly(?) question about writing!

Have you ever had to do a rewrite of a story? Be it a revision or a whole ground-up rewrite?

I was talking to my partner a little while back about how I was thinking about rewriting a story. When I explained much of the details would deviate from the original story. She asked “is that even a rewrite, then?”

I would actually consider my current story that I’ve been posting to be a rewrite of an older (and shorter) story. The skeleton of the story stays more or less the same (same characters, same world) but I changed many things to the point where they would probably be too different to consider them a rewrite of another.

So what’s a rewrite to you? Is it still a rewrite if the story has the same premise, different outcome, or must a rewrite stay close to the original premise? Of course, no right or wrong answers, I’d just like to hear some thoughts!

Omg I am in this same situation. I have an old story that has a genuinely good concept but I wrote it when I was younger so it is cursed with poor planning and middle school edginess. And I even had a dream right after I finished the last chapter about how to make it better, which inspired me to start a re-write.

At first I told myself I was just gonna re-write the series with minimal changes, but now that I'm actually looking at it I realize I just put a lot of elements into it that didn't really need to be there? Like I said I wrote this in middle school/goin on high school so I just added whatever I felt like adding.

I don't want to remove all of these wacky things, of course; I want to try to find a way to make them actually work. For example, one of the main characters was originally just a joke character. He's put under this curse that makes him go crazy and he insists that his name is Asthma Man, and he also gives the other characters crazy nicknames and refuses to call them by their actual names. Now that's absolutely absurd but I'm actually keeping it in the re-write. However, I'm going to expand on it by making the "silly little guy" character into a tragic one (in the new version, the curse will essentially make him schizophrenic; he's kinda already schizophrenic in the original but in the re-write i wanna make it less of a funny thing and more of a serious angsty thing)
There's a lot of things that were briefly touched on or not mentioned in the story that I want to expand on. This is not technically changing the story, in my opinion; it's just showing a new side to the characters and the world that wasn't in the original version.

At the same time, there's some fundamental parts of the story that I'm going to change, but these are relatively few things and in my vision they will change the story for the better.

All in all, I'm pretty much writing the same story--it has the same setting, same characters, etc.--but just with a few tweaks and I'm expanding on it more.

OOO that’s awesome! Funny you mention you are in the same situation. I see how your story is plagued by the middle school edginess. “Asthma Man” is totally something I could’ve seen my old friends come up with when I was in school, lol. Funnily enough, these stories hold a special place in our hearts, do they not? My current WiP is basically a half new story that takes place years later, while there are flashback scenes that are essentially rewrites of old stories I wrote when I was in middle/high school as well.

No hate towards my old stories (they are what got me here, after all) but even the plot details and “events” feel like they drag on when I am rewriting them. My new stories feel much more full of life now that I’ve gotten a better handle on pacing. I think the way you go about rewrites is pretty similar to mine, though. It’s totally okay to throw out old ideas for the new ones!

ooo this is interesting. (I only read the first post, so sorry if I repeat anything that Gengar said).

I, too, have experienced the same thing. I don't consider it to be a re-write. I consider it a spin-off of the old story. I tend to do this with a lot of stories. I write the story or the first chapter of a novel that I will never ever continue, and then I look at it and go "but I could do this instead." And then I re-write the entire thing with new ideas.

I think it could be considered a re-write since you're using a lot of the same aspects of it. And, really, that's what a re-write is, right? Enhancing or changing what was already there.

But really, does it matter what you call it?

Interesting! TFR is technically a rewrite of itself. Within a rewrite. Within a rewrite, within a rewrite, within a rewrite...

I've been working on that book for a very long time XD And by "rewrite" I mean not just a description or grammar touchup, but restructuring plot points to make more sense, adding chapters to fill empty space, condensing ones that run on too long, cutting some content and injecting new scenes, and so much more...

Until I took on [REDACTED], I was even thinking about rewriting my first attempt at a psych-horror novel, which I tried around 2019 while I was on another platform. I had a plot in place, but writing-wise, it was my attempt at the "pantsing" it method so I could have more consistent content.....

It didn't end well and now I cringe whenever I see its folder in my Drive XD

I see I see… @Avian really seems to hit the idea what I think is a rewrite on the head. “Enhancing/changing what was already there”. Even if they are two different outcomes. I think it is always important to do what feels “right” even if it deviates from your original vision. It keeps us happy as writers, lol.

And @RavenAkuma it’s crazy that TFR had so many rewrites! It’s awesome you put so much work into it and I definitely feel like it’s paid off from the couple of peeks I’ve taken at it. I’ve had times when it comes to adding scenes or restructuring plot points in my current story. I wanted to get to an important plot beat, but I felt like there had to be something “in between” to make the story flow better.

And I can’t wait to see what [REDACTED] is all about!