Sometimes I tweak parts I've already posted because of stuff I've written later in the story, or because of the comments I've received, but if that happens, I don't usually change the version on the boards. I just post a different version to the archive.
I think I'm right in saying that Masques has been the only story I've written so far that I did partly 'on the hoof'. I actually started with a darn
big buffer, but to my dismay it ran out pretty fast <g>, leaving me with the last half to write as I posted. So I ended up feverishly writing the next segment as soon as I'd posted the last and as I was working on an EOD schedule, that meant I had about two days to write it, get it to Wendy, poor Wendy to get it back to me (which she did every single time, which still astounds me!) and post. Often I literally got it back an hour before posting. This may be par for the course for some authors, but it was a whole new experience for this one!
I'm on record as saying it was at once the most exhilarating and terrifying experience of my writing life. I learned that if I have a deadline the Muse actually comes through and the pressure actually produced writing I was content with from the first draft and which was posted with hardly any tweaking. Most unusual. <g> Whether I'd want to do it again though...the thought fascinates and scares me in equal measure.
Generally speaking though, I follow Yvonne's pattern above. There were a few ideas and suggestions that were made on the mbs that I did incorporate into the final version of Masques...Paul wanted more of an actual wedding. One reader wanted the ending to tie into the 'epiphany' at the beginning. Someone else queried why Alex was so keen to toss in his career in the military. All of these and more I worked into the story after I'd posted the last of it and before I sent it to the Archive.
If someone points out a major plot glitch - and I agree with it <g> - I'll go amend a post. I think I did that a couple of times. But only if it's something really embarrassing.
And part of the scary factor of Masques was that on more than one occasion a comment on one segment lead me to suddenly radically change what I'd planned for the next, or a few further ahead as someone suggested a really great idea I hadn't thought of or an offhand comment they'd made made the Muse suddenly sit bolt upright, whiskers twitching.
Then, instead of having two days to fill in the blanks of the next segment half written, I'd be dashing off whole, entire new scenes I'd not previously thought of.
It was all a whole lot of fun, but exhausting.
Betas have much the same effect for me, just on a smaller scale. I love the back and forth conversation between author and beta - whether I'm fulfilling the former or latter role. I haven't written a story yet that didn't take on new life, expand in page count, sometimes considerably, and go off in whole new directions I'd never planned - all thanks to something my beta has said.
LabRat
