Work on the draft or start from scratch?

Personally, I'd rework it because revising is a skill that will be forever useful, and also because I find the blank page terrifying.

However, only you really know which option is going to work best in this case.

I think revising is a useful skill. Learning to clean up what's there will only benefit you in the long run. Besides, if you start completely over, you throw out all the good stuff you put into the first draft. Maybe that's what you need to do, but maybe you just need to tear it apart and put it back together.

When I used to write fanfiction, I used to take some of them down and completely re-do them when I couldn't finish or continue them. It really does help. But I would stop, take some time from that writing, don't think about it. Then, come back and read it - you may find inspiration to continue with it, or you may get ideas for it, and if you don't, then I'd take it down and start it up with more planning and whatnot.

You might try the path of least work. If you can say to yourself with conficence that it will be easier to start from scratch, then do that. If you can tell yourself that al it needs are some major revisions, then try that.

Personally, I would revise first, because that might be easier. If that didn't work out, then I would restart or write a different story with some of the same elements.

gettingby said:

thanks, Lady Chipmunk. Isn't it still revising if I start with a blank page? It will still be the same story. I think I am kind of the opposite in that cleaning up what's already there scares me. I don't know. Revising is something I need to work on in general. I'm still trying to find the best way to do it. Any tips for getting the pacing and flow of a story to read better? How do you work on that without starting over?

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For me there is a difference between revising and rewriting. If you start from scratch, even with the same idea, it's still a new story. And that story is still going to need revision and polish later. However, your mileage may vary, as they say.

However, I think just because the idea of revising scares you, then you should do it in this case. No matter how great a writer you may be, people are going to want changes, be they agents or editors, so it's a skill you will have to develop eventually. Why not start now when the stakes are lower? After all, if you revise and it still doesn't work, you can always start from scratch at that point. You'll be out a little time, but it will be time spent learning, and so not at all wasted.

Whichever floats your boat. I have rewritten stories from scratch, but only when the original version has been rejected by every possible market I could find, and when I realized I could essentially make a new story out of it.

But this is incredibly rare. I doubt I've done this more than three times in thirty-five years.

It is whatever floats your boat. Do whichever you think will result in the best story.

I finally revised some copywriting on an editor's request for revisions this week. I have occasionally, when writing for a content site, done that on my own, as there had been no editing or selection of content initially, and, in re-reading my articles, I could find their faults when time had distanced them from my investment of effort.

It was a frightening prospect at first. The trouble was flat copy in 300 word texts that were meant to be persuasive. (I had been feeling ill when I wrote it the first time. I found it interesting to see that my body sensations interfered with my usual way of writing.) I had also been asked in the spec to write for search engine optimization which involved including a few key phrases within natural language for the work.

I did this, though, and while in the revision process, I did find need to re-write portions (paragraphs were replaced in spots,) but, as I went through the two short texts, I began to find it interesting, and, well, elating at the end.

I've had some short fiction returned after having subbed it, and, once my current bunch of characters have been told, and I get them to stop threatening me, I am looking forward to bettering some of the things I have that can go to repub markets, and other items that have just been returned.

I once wrote the same story three times. Like the OP, I don't really draft out my short stories, I have an idea, I gathered the facts, and then I write. This story, although I had a general premise, just wouldn't write itself the way I wanted. So, I had three vastly different versions. After playing around with all three, I decided which parts I liked the best AND opening a blank document, revised the three into one excellent story.

The moral of this story is: why not try both? Go ahead and open a blank document. Take the time to write a new version. Then, ignore both for a few days, come back re-read both and decide which one reads better, which parts work better, what you love and what you hate.


On a side note, I love this signature Aphrodite:

Some have called me an ellipsis abuser...

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I have done this a couple of times. One time, I completely rewrote a finished story. Another time, I was only part-way into the first draft. But in both cases, I switched the narration. In one story, I switched the entire story to the viewpoint of a new character who wasn't even in the original story. In another, I went from third-person to first-person. I knew something was off in both cases, and with the fixes in place, I sold both stories.

It seems like your gut is telling you to start over from scratch. I say go for it!