a musing on editing and publication

[edenfalling]

Only one day since I posted chapter 14 of "Apartment Manager," and chapter 15 is already halfway written. (Also, I have edited some of the squoodgy bits out of chapter 14 in preparation for its appearance on ff.net.)

*feels smug*

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It's funny. When I write Harry Potter stories of any length (that is, more than about 1,500 words), I send them to beta readers for editing. I haven't ever done that for my Naruto stories. However, I do post Naruto fic on my livejournal, and I don't always do that with HP stuff.

I think what I'm doing, really, is using livejournal as a sort of generalized beta-reader. What I post is the second draft of a story -- the equivalent of what I'd send to my HP betas -- and then I go back and revise after a few days, taking various comments into account.

I don't mind the delay in posting that beta-reading causes for my HP stories, but I also like the immediacy of posting a second draft directly to lj. I can't really see posting a chapter of "Secrets," say, without beta feedback, but I also have a hard time wrapping my mind around a several-day gap between finishing a chapter of "Apartment Manager" and making it public.

I think this may be because I'm just more careful about the structure of "Secrets," and I take so long to write any given chapter that a week or two of editing time seems negligible. It may also be related to the speed at which new canon comes out for Naruto -- a chapter every week instead of one book every couple years.

If any of you write in more than one fandom, do you have different posting styles in each of them?

Comments

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

Well, I only write in the HP fandom. But normally, if a story is less than 2,000 words, I might or might not get it beta'd. If it's something I feel like I sweated over (and sometimes 2,000 words is a killer for me) I'll get it beta'd. If it's something that I want to have more of a stream-of-consciousness feeling, then no, I might not (I've got a short WIP on Portkey now that's like that). Certainly anything that's bigger and more involved (like a certain Fic of Doom), I'll get beta'd chapter by chapter. I really would like to have my betas more involved in story plotting (so I can bounce ideas off them) but alas, they have RL commitments that make it hard for all of us to chat together. *sigh*

[edenfalling]

Stream of consciousness... yeah, I can see that. I don't like bouncing plot ideas off people -- I'm too possessive of my stories, and too likely to just drop things on no particular notice -- but I can see how it would work for other people.

Real Life can be a pain. *sigh*