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Long Forgotten Stories


aelaia

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I've recently returned to writing fanfiction after a rather long and eventful seven years of not writing much other than academic writing. Rereading my old works I've realised how much my writing, persona, ideas and attitude have changed over the years and like I'm sure we all do, cringe frequently at some of my old works. My problem is however, I absolutely love the main storylines behind them.

So here's my question, would you ever consider rewriting an entire piece of your old work?

I have one particular story in mind for myself that I absolutely loved writing, and rereading it I can't help but conjure up more ideas in my mind for things I could have done with it, events that could have happened, characters that could have met. The basic storyline and main characters both canon and original are close to my heart. Now that I've rediscovered these stories, I've decided I'm not ready to let them go, I want to revitalise them and give them new life. A lot has happened in seven years after all.

I just wanted to know if anyone's done it before? If there's any advice anyone can share.. or simply would just abandoning it all land writing something new be the way to go? All thoughts are greatly welcome!

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Yes, I would rewrite if I was in your shoes. I think some people on this site have done/ are doing that. I’m not sure if I’m recalling right... but I think @faeruhs is rewriting??? 

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I have totally done this and am doing this.  My story Not My Own is a rewrite of my forever old Never The Same  I expanded and re-did the first few chapters of the original story and added a chapter or two to pace things better.  I have now reached beyond the original tale.  I am also doing similar with Taste of Cherry .  The original Taste of Cherry was a 3 chapter short story, I am expanding it into a novel.

What I do/did is use the old as reference, if I think a line was particularly good from the old version I will keep it but I don't hold the old writing as a hard line.  If I'm directly re-writing the chapter I'll paste the old into a document and then start writing and overwriting from there.  

I know @Alexis Black has been working on what used to be an old story Child of the Hunt (M)

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Oh, now this is a topic near and dear to me. @scooterbug8515 is right, I'm in the middle of re-doing an old story of mine. It's the reason I even returned to fandom in the first place. The overall plotline I've kept the same, but I allowed myself room to explore - not only the main story but to look at the tales associated with it.

I suggest you write down the main points you absolutely love on one page and then list on another the new things that has your muse all excited. Then see where those new things fit in. (Maybe use flashcards instead so you can 'shuffle the deck'.) You might have to sacrifice things from the original, or change them to accommodate the new. Painful, yes, but totally worth it. Breathing new life into your story can be an amazing experience.

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Thank you so much! All of you!! ? You've inspired me to know by rewriting I'm doing the right thing and I'm honestly super super excited as to where I can go with these stories!! It's nice to know some fresh life can be given to something from seven years ago. Oh the potential! Thank you for being wonderful and inspirational.

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