Retcon vs Bad Story

[ReaderAt2046]

 

So I find myself in need of advice on how to recover from a major writing mistake, and this seemed like a good place to ask for it.

I am in the process of writing a fanfic on another site, and have been posting the chapters as I finish them. Unfortunately, I now realize that I have made a major structural error in the fic. Roughly put, I skipped ahead to the beginning of the major plot too quickly, both in and out of universe, instead of spending a few chapters and a couple of weeks setting the stage with world-building and character development and letting the characters get to know each other. Now, I know pretty much exactly what I need to add and change to fix this. The problem is that, as already mentioned, I've been posting the chapters as I finished them, and I didn't realize the mistake until a couple of chapters after I'd made it. So in order to fix the mistake, I will need to make major retcons to the story, retcons that would be blatantly obvious to anyone who read the story before the changes.

Basically, the question is: Do I bite the bullet and rewrite what I've already posted, or do I go forward with a story that I know is flawed?

Thoughts? Considerations?

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles]

Well….I think it comes down to personal choice, on a lot of levels. Do you want to plunge ahead with the story and just get it done, or do you want to tell it in a way you've since realized is better? 

Crass as it sounds, I'd also ask how many chapters you've written so far. Fanfic is an unusual beast, since the serialized format doesn't really allow for much editing after the fact; and readers can get invested in a story that might wind up changing later on down the line when the writer discovers a new direction. That doesn't mean the writer can't go ahead and pursue the new angle; it just means that if they'd thought the story would go in a darker direction before and now it's leaning more toward the sunny side of things, the writer's going to have more work to do to make the beginning lead more naturally toward the ending. (I've seen it happen before—a writer once ended their fic with a note saying they regretted a certain chapter, because the story after wound up being a lot less dark than they'd thought it would be; and that particular chapter was so dark that they felt the story would've been better off without it.) If you're closer to the beginning than to the middle or end, starting over would probably be a more viable option. If you're approaching the climax, then it would probably be more practical to just keep on going. 

If you do decide to rewrite the story, I'd leave as many notifications for your readers as possible. Put a note in your profile. Add an author's note. If site rules allow, you might even consider just publishing an author's note explaining what you're going to do in lieu of your next chapter. Quite a few fanfic readers are also fanfic writers, so they'll likely understand; they'll just want to know what's going on. 

[Quantus]

11 hours ago, ReaderAt2046 said:

 

So I find myself in need of advice on how to recover from a major writing mistake, and this seemed like a good place to ask for it.

I am in the process of writing a fanfic on another site, and have been posting the chapters as I finish them. Unfortunately, I now realize that I have made a major structural error in the fic. Roughly put, I skipped ahead to the beginning of the major plot too quickly, both in and out of universe, instead of spending a few chapters and a couple of weeks setting the stage with world-building and character development and letting the characters get to know each other. Now, I know pretty much exactly what I need to add and change to fix this. The problem is that, as already mentioned, I've been posting the chapters as I finished them, and I didn't realize the mistake until a couple of chapters after I'd made it. So in order to fix the mistake, I will need to make major retcons to the story, retcons that would be blatantly obvious to anyone who read the story before the changes.

Basically, the question is: Do I bite the bullet and rewrite what I've already posted, or do I go forward with a story that I know is flawed?

Thoughts? Considerations?

Flashbacks and/or offscreen event with a new character?  Speaking in ignorance of the story specifics or the scope of the retcon plan, you say your issues boil down to three parts:  You need more world-building, you need more character development, and your characters need the characters to have more time to establish relationships.  The first two you could theoretically do with a flashback chapter or two, have them remembering and/or retelling some personal events that may or may not have related to the Major Plot (or did tangentially but they didnt realize it at the time, maybe).  The third one harder, it's not easy to just invent more time for them to settle into relationship patterns. 

What could work for all of these is to flashback and introduce a new character, one with relationships to each of the ones you wanted to have more time; one shortcut to them getting to know each other is a mutual acquaintance (not necessarily friend).  So you take some time to introduce this new character in some flashbacks with the other characters (doing whatever character and world-building that makes sense), then tie it back in with a Meanwhile Chapter that informs the reader what they've been up to during the current actions of the main group, until eventually their paths cross.  The other characters wont have relationships with each other, but they will with this new support character which will pull them together, skip some of the team-building needs, and force them to get to know each other against and/or relative to this new character.  They become the nucleus of the group until the others have their moments to develop deeper direct relationships.  It's adding the complication of a new character, but it offers a way to justify the flashbacks and new characterizations, and give you more background screen-time to world-build, without having to actually retcon the series of events to make it happen all with the current stable of characters.  

Again, I dont know if that's workable with your specific case, but it might be a roundabout path forward. 

 

[ReaderAt2046]

First, there's something else I probably should explain. The story I am currently writing isn't just a story in its own right. It is also the first installment (or technically the second, but the first was more of a prelude) of a series of stories, which themselves form a larger story. The larger story is about the interaction between the two main characters, and the complex interpersonal dynamics of their relationship, while the individual substories are more focused on action and adventure. That's where I made my mistake, I tried to skip to the immediate payoff of the shorter story, rather than putting in the time to start a story in motion that would pay off further down the line. Basically, if I go forward with the plot I have now, I can finish this story, but it will make any future stories almost unwriteable.

On ‎10‎/‎29‎/‎2018 at 11:40 PM, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

Well….I think it comes down to personal choice, on a lot of levels. Do you want to plunge ahead with the story and just get it done, or do you want to tell it in a way you've since realized is better? 

Crass as it sounds, I'd also ask how many chapters you've written so far. Fanfic is an unusual beast, since the serialized format doesn't really allow for much editing after the fact; and readers can get invested in a story that might wind up changing later on down the line when the writer discovers a new direction. That doesn't mean the writer can't go ahead and pursue the new angle; it just means that if they'd thought the story would go in a darker direction before and now it's leaning more toward the sunny side of things, the writer's going to have more work to do to make the beginning lead more naturally toward the ending. (I've seen it happen before—a writer once ended their fic with a note saying they regretted a certain chapter, because the story after wound up being a lot less dark than they'd thought it would be; and that particular chapter was so dark that they felt the story would've been better off without it.) If you're closer to the beginning than to the middle or end, starting over would probably be a more viable option. If you're approaching the climax, then it would probably be more practical to just keep on going. 

If you do decide to rewrite the story, I'd leave as many notifications for your readers as possible. Put a note in your profile. Add an author's note. If site rules allow, you might even consider just publishing an author's note explaining what you're going to do in lieu of your next chapter. Quite a few fanfic readers are also fanfic writers, so they'll likely understand; they'll just want to know what's going on. 

As mentioned above, I'm near the very beginning of this series, just a few chapters into the first story.

On ‎10‎/‎30‎/‎2018 at 10:13 AM, Quantus said:

Flashbacks and/or offscreen event with a new character?  Speaking in ignorance of the story specifics or the scope of the retcon plan, you say your issues boil down to three parts:  You need more world-building, you need more character development, and your characters need the characters to have more time to establish relationships.  The first two you could theoretically do with a flashback chapter or two, have them remembering and/or retelling some personal events that may or may not have related to the Major Plot (or did tangentially but they didnt realize it at the time, maybe).  The third one harder, it's not easy to just invent more time for them to settle into relationship patterns. 

What could work for all of these is to flashback and introduce a new character, one with relationships to each of the ones you wanted to have more time; one shortcut to them getting to know each other is a mutual acquaintance (not necessarily friend).  So you take some time to introduce this new character in some flashbacks with the other characters (doing whatever character and world-building that makes sense), then tie it back in with a Meanwhile Chapter that informs the reader what they've been up to during the current actions of the main group, until eventually their paths cross.  The other characters wont have relationships with each other, but they will with this new support character which will pull them together, skip some of the team-building needs, and force them to get to know each other against and/or relative to this new character.  They become the nucleus of the group until the others have their moments to develop deeper direct relationships.  It's adding the complication of a new character, but it offers a way to justify the flashbacks and new characterizations, and give you more background screen-time to world-build, without having to actually retcon the series of events to make it happen all with the current stable of characters.  

Again, I dont know if that's workable with your specific case, but it might be a roundabout path forward. 

 

Unfortunately, it won't work. The larger story is primarily about the two protagonists getting to know each other through a complex web of deceptions and facades, so it's actually important that they know nothing about each other's true selves until the story starts. And, as mentioned above, I just plain didn't give myself time for them to get to know each other. But thank you for the suggestion!