Fixing Old Mistakes
By the time you publish your book, short story, poem, blog, or whatever else you've written, you should have already done everything possible to ensure the content was clean and ready. But what about later on? Should you ever go back to finished works, and re-tweak them?
George Lucas has been famously derided for his extensive changes to the original Star Wars franchise, and we shouldn't be surprised that he did. After all, he was the guy who decided Obi Wan should tell Luke that Darth Vader killed his father. And why? Because he hadn't decided how the other movies should be told yet! Would he have had Leia and Luke lock lips if he had? Well, let's hope not.
Unfortunately, it was too late to change the original film's storytelling, so Obi Wan's alternative fact stayed in. Instead, George Lucas improvised, and he did so while making it seem like he'd planned it that way all along.
Which brings us to your story.
My guess is, a movie hasn't been made of any of your books or short stories yet. You've probably hoped one would, and hey, maybe one day it will, but for now, you still have a chance to fix the writing ghosts of your past.
While self-published authors can do this quite a bit easier than those who publish through a traditional publishing company, you can still go back and fix that broken bit of your story once and for all.
You won't live forever, but your story, in whatever shape it's in right now, will.
I've self-published five books so far, but my first one, unsurprisingly, suffers the most from my inexperience at the time. The story is solid, fun, and engaging, but the formatting? Well, to be frank, it's total crap! It needed a lot of work and re-editing, and it's been patiently waiting for me to fix it for years now. And though this means pausing from my writing work, and basically hitting the brakes on my publishing in general, I knew it had to be done as soon as possible. I'm working on it now, and I'm already ecstatic with the results.
When you're dead, your stories, poems, books, blogs, wills, hate mail, and anything else you've ever written will exist in their final-draft version forever. Until then, you can and should tweak them when necessary to help them be their best.
No, not all of your writing needs this--I hope!--but if you've got a writing albatross around your neck as I have, then stopping the presses to fix it is what you've got to do right away.
Until Ron Howard finally calls you up to pitch the movie version of your story, you still have time. Don't think twice about it. Go back and fix your old mistakes now. Your story will thank you, and you'll sleep much better knowing it's done.
George Lucas has been famously derided for his extensive changes to the original Star Wars franchise, and we shouldn't be surprised that he did. After all, he was the guy who decided Obi Wan should tell Luke that Darth Vader killed his father. And why? Because he hadn't decided how the other movies should be told yet! Would he have had Leia and Luke lock lips if he had? Well, let's hope not.
Unfortunately, it was too late to change the original film's storytelling, so Obi Wan's alternative fact stayed in. Instead, George Lucas improvised, and he did so while making it seem like he'd planned it that way all along.
Which brings us to your story.
My guess is, a movie hasn't been made of any of your books or short stories yet. You've probably hoped one would, and hey, maybe one day it will, but for now, you still have a chance to fix the writing ghosts of your past.
While self-published authors can do this quite a bit easier than those who publish through a traditional publishing company, you can still go back and fix that broken bit of your story once and for all.
You won't live forever, but your story, in whatever shape it's in right now, will.
I've self-published five books so far, but my first one, unsurprisingly, suffers the most from my inexperience at the time. The story is solid, fun, and engaging, but the formatting? Well, to be frank, it's total crap! It needed a lot of work and re-editing, and it's been patiently waiting for me to fix it for years now. And though this means pausing from my writing work, and basically hitting the brakes on my publishing in general, I knew it had to be done as soon as possible. I'm working on it now, and I'm already ecstatic with the results.
When you're dead, your stories, poems, books, blogs, wills, hate mail, and anything else you've ever written will exist in their final-draft version forever. Until then, you can and should tweak them when necessary to help them be their best.
No, not all of your writing needs this--I hope!--but if you've got a writing albatross around your neck as I have, then stopping the presses to fix it is what you've got to do right away.
Until Ron Howard finally calls you up to pitch the movie version of your story, you still have time. Don't think twice about it. Go back and fix your old mistakes now. Your story will thank you, and you'll sleep much better knowing it's done.
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