coaltide | Coal All The Way

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2019

Coal All The Way

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ok coal I have a dilemma for you all to weigh in on! I wrote a very rushed treat and posted it right before the collection closed for reveals. I'm not super happy with it but there are parts I do like and the recip seemed pleased so I'm not planning on orphaning it or anything.

BUT. I realized how I can mostly fix the part I'm not thrilled with, and it involves expanding one scene in the middle. tbh I'm gonna do it before the anon period is over whether coal thinks it's kosher or not (I tweak little things after posting a lot, although not usually this much) but should I mention the change when I reply to the recipient's comment? it really is just adding one conversation, I'm not adding a chapter or changing the ending or anything drastic. thoughts?

If it were me, and I was pleased with the treat, I'd want you to mention the added conversation in your reply so I could go back and read it. More of a good thing!

I'd personally advice against it generally, though I know you said you were gonna do it anyway, unless your fic is long enough that some added dialogue wouldn't be noticeable.

But if you do, just sneak it through. I'd be kind of upset as a recip if I got a comment that's like "I revised my fic to be better!" after the fact.

You could always lie a bit and say that you realized you had uploaded the wrong version, and that that you were posting the correct final version which had a couple minor changes and additions.

+1

If you're going to change it, go ahead. If they ever reread their gifts, they'll appreciate it then. But don't point it out to them. "Here, read this again and give me more praise" is how that comes across.

Personally, I'd change it but also put in the notes that it was expanded a little, but I have really strong reactions to feeling like my memory is inaccurate.

DC +1, this is the best approach. If you put the fact that you made edits in the notes, anyone re-reading will be aware of it, but you're not directly telling your recip and maybe making them feel they need to re-read and re-comment.

It's not like AO3 tells you whether edits have been made since you last viewed a fic, except that it does.

does it differentiate between an author changing the tags/summary vs actually changing the text?

Yeah, but there's no way to know if the edits in question were just fixing a single typo or adding a whole new scene.

it actually says minor/major for that.

You could also dig up the notification email, which would have the original wordcount.

DA

That's not necessarily helpful when it's a placeholder being replaced with a different fic.

My gift went from 1.5k (placeholder) after reveals to 1k (actual fic, unifinished) shortly after and then slowly back to 1.6k (actual finished fic) over the next couple of hours. Just comparing the word count would make me assume that the author did only minor revisions.

100 words is a lot though? Fixing typos and tense shifts are minor and that would usually add maybe 30 words. 100 would be some tangible edits.

If you reread a fic that made you feel crazy and then saw there was a 100 word difference, wouldn’t you assume whatever you don’t remember is new?

AYRT

Honestly, not really? My memory is terrible. I very likely wouldn't even notice a 100 word difference in a fic. My point is: in this case, the 100 word difference on paper (which to me is minor, tbh; I can see how you could get there just by fixing awkward turns of phrase and maybe adding a sentence) actually amounted to a much larger difference because the whole fic was replaced.

Re: post-reveals (minor) edits

(Anonymous) - 2019-12-27 14:58 (UTC) - Expand

Re: post-reveals (minor) edits

(Anonymous) - 2019-12-27 14:59 (UTC) - Expand

Re: post-reveals (minor) edits

(Anonymous) - 2019-12-27 15:10 (UTC) - Expand

Re: post-reveals (minor) edits

(Anonymous) - 2019-12-27 15:15 (UTC) - Expand

I feel like whether 100 words is "a lot" depends on how long the fic is. Like if you go from 1000 to 1100, that's a 10% increase, and definitely a lot. If you go from 25,000 to 25,100, then that's a, umm, much smaller percentage increase and doesn't matter so much.

Uh, where does it tell you that??

In your history. eg ‘Last visited: 27 Nov 2019 (Minor edits made since then.) Visited 11 times’

^that’s copied from a fic in my history

DC I don't go to gifts through my history, though. I go through my Gifts page and as far as I remember, this doesn't show up there.

Beyond which, not everyone has their history turned on or even stays logged into AO3.

But there's no way to filter or sort your history, is there? In order to find out if your gift had changed, you'd have to remember when you last looked at it an then page through your history to find it, BEFORE you looked at it. I guess that's not too hard if it's only two days later, but again, it would mean deciding to check your history before you even reread your gift.

NC

Personally, I go to re-find the gift (and other fics) through my History rather than the gifts page (just a preference), so it's obvious.

Re: post-reveals (minor) edits

(Anonymous) - 2019-12-27 20:09 (UTC) - Expand

Re: post-reveals (minor) edits

(Anonymous) - 2019-12-27 20:10 (UTC) - Expand

Re: post-reveals (minor) edits

(Anonymous) - 2019-12-27 20:29 (UTC) - Expand

It comes across as fishing for more comments. They might have just been acting polite, and by telling them you've updated you're putting them on the spot to read it again and comment again. It's possible they'll like it better. It's possible their opinion won't change. It's possible they will resent the hell out of you. Don't tweak a gifted work except to fix typos.

Just be aware that they may like the original version better. Just because you think you improved it doesn't mean your recipient will agree.

I cannot believe this because I re-read the fic before posting, and my beta read through as well, and still, somehow, I just discovered that I spelled the name of one of my protagonists wrong. In two places. Coal, I am so ashamed. I've just combed through again and edited but I feel like I've let my recipient down /o\

My writer switched characters’ names a few times but it didn’t detract from the very tailored to me gift at all!

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