Just wanted opinions from the gang.

1.  Do you ever go back and rewrite stories as your skills improve?

2.  It you only have time to read one story, do you choose Angst or Comedy? 

My writing has changed a lot since I first started out, so yes, I have gone back and rewritten a few of my stories.  I'm also not a huge fan of angst, so I would probably choose comedy.

1. I haven't gone back and rewritten anything I've posted, but I wrote a LOT before I ever started posting it anywhere, and a lot of that has gone through major revisions before being posted.

2. Depends on my mood. I like them both, so it really is just a question of how I want the story to make me feel.

1. I think I may have rewritten one, but I'm so focused on the next project, it's hard to go back sometimes.  And yeah, looking at me starting out--kinda hard to stomach and go through...so I kind of avoid it.  Now, at least.  When I run out of material, then I'll probably go revamp the bulk of it

2.  I usually go for mixtures.  Straight up angst can be a downer, but if there's a balance, sure.  If it's purely one or the other, I'd choose comedy.  I like to end on a high note (though, not to say fluff, but if it makes me laugh, I'd say it's a feel good type of story

Hmmm - totally missed this when it first came on.   I'm chiming in anyway, even though everyone has obviously gone on to other things.   Maybe it will spark some more responses.

1. I've never totally rewritten anything that has already been posted. When I make new pages for my personal website (which happens occasionally as I change methods), I always go through the fic first just in case there's stuff that needs fixing. I don't think I've ever reread something and not changed a word here, a phrase there or something. It's a sickness. lol  But major re-writes? Um no. Too lazy for that. I just cringe and go on.

2. I love some good angst, however, I have to qualify that by saying that, to me, angst is emotional pain. I don't consider torture, slavery, etc (although they obviously create a lot of emotion in those involved) to be angst in the way I mean it, so I avoid them most of the time.  I also like a happy ending, so the ideal for me would be something that tears my heart out and then mends it again. Think cousinjean's stuff, or Prophecy and Warmth by the Bear, My Life Closed Twice by Anaross. Things like that.  I'm not averse to reading a really good story that does not end on a happy note, though. Sometimes the proper ending is a sad one.
I don't dislike humorous fics, I just prefer the humor to be part of the story (as it was during the series, where there might be something funny stuck into the middle of moments of terror. lol). My experience has been that most fics written with an eye to just being funny fall a little flat.  It's too easy to see where the author is trying too hard.  As any comedian will tell you, being funny is not easy!

being funny is not easy!  - so true.  I think it always has to be salted with something sad or mushy.  Otherwise you end up with I call the Danny Kaye syndrome - all funny, no substance.

It seems to me that the vast balance of stories on the site lean to sad, angsty rather than comic, which is kind of surprising considering the comedy nature of the show - and that angsty stories seem to be more popular in terms of reviews.

That is interesting, I think you're right, there do seem to be more angsty than humorous ones.  On the other hand, as we've just said, Funny is hard!  It is probably easier to bring tears to someone's eyes than it is to make them laugh.  Also, the show's funny was very rarely the focus of an episode. More often it was just a scene here and there in the midst of something potentially horrific.  So many truly heartbreaking things occurred during the course of the show - not the least of which was the death of the main character and then the death of her lover (and one of the most popular characters on the show), that the world just seems to lend itself to sad fics more so than humorous ones.

Just have to say how very much I enjoy your quote - slaymesoftly -  Doing comedy is hard - but when it works I really enjoy it - mostly I like it as part of a story and not a work that is specifically intended as comedy.  Still, one of the works that I enjoyed very much, and plan to read again, is the story that involved Buffy and Spike doing a large holiday dinner - I think the author is Holly, but not sure.  The scene when they go to the market really connected with me. 

I am not a writer but I think that it is a good thing to go back and look at first works - it is good to see how you have developed plus it is an opportunity to bring in your new skills and ways of seeing back on an earlier writing project.  I find it very useful to see older works with a different eye and skills.

It is probably easier to bring tears to someone's eyes than it is to make them laugh.
I think it probably seems that way, and maybe it is, but there's also the difference between real angst and manufactured angst (which I know you and I have talked about many times ). A lot of people think that all you need for angst is to make the characters cry, but truly good angst makes the readers cry, something that is much, much harder to achieve.

LOL What both Patti and Eowyn said!

I much prefer angst to comedy.  I'm not a huge fan of comedy in general, especially when it feels contrived. But, as Eowyn pointed out, angst isn't about making the characters cry, chaining them up, torturing them or any of the long list of things that people seem to think are angsty...a good angsty story will have the READER in tears, regardless of whether the characters are (and usually it is easier to make the reader cry if the characters aren't doing it for them).

I'm also a compulsive tinkerer...if I reread something I am bound to change something, even if it is just one word that I think could be better. But I definitely don't have the energy (or the inclination) to completely rewrite my earlier fics. Am I happy with them when I reread them? Probably not as happy as I'd like to be, but I am still happy with the stories I told, if not the execution. Other than fixing up punctuation mistakes, or changing a word or two when I reread, I don't think I'd want to rewrite them even if I did have the energy. I think your fics are kind of like photos of kids as they grow--you should be able to see the growth and improvement in your writing as you become more practiced.

I think your fics are kind of like photos of kids as they grow--you should be able to see the growth and improvement in your writing as you become more practiced.

Good point. Being able to look back and see where and how you've grown and improved (assuming that has actually happened - ROFL) can be very useful and also can help see where you still need to go.  

Sosa - since you brought up the subject of co-writers - how do you handle the mechanics of that? 

I've never co-written a fic, but I have betaed for a couple teams of authors, and they used very different methods, which I thought was interesting.

One pair divided it up so that one person wrote the outline, basically plotting out the story, and the other did the actual writing, fleshing out the outline into a full chapter, adding in the details. This is probably a good method if one person is a stronger writer than the other, or if the two have incompatible writing styles. It would be hard to get a consistent voice if the writing styles were very different. The outliner, of course, got to read and approve of the full chapter before it was posted.

The other pair plotted together and then divided up the writing of each chapter, depending on what characters and plotlines they liked to write. I will admit that it was very hard for me to tell who had written what, so their styles must blend very well, or they did a lot of editing each other's sections before they sent it to be betaed. 

The other pair plotted together and then divided up the writing of each chapter, depending on what characters and plotlines they liked to write. I will admit that it was very hard for me to tell who had written what, so their styles must blend very well
Ah, this sounds familiar

Anyway, the most important thing when it comes to a writing partner is to find someone you're very compatible with (writing wise).  I met my writing partner in a writing class, and usually we would see eye to eye on most things, and we would read for each other, and then the idea of collaborating came about.  Anyway, what we do is sit down and work out an outline that makes us both happy together, discuss the characters (who they are, how they act, etc.), and then divide up the scenes.  But we don't do that for fan fic--I imagine that would be slightly easier since the characters, scenery and whatnot is already established.

Sosa - since you brought up the subject of co-writers - how do you handle the mechanics of that?

It has its advantages and disadvantages. The best part was that I didn't have to write fighting scenes because my co-writer handles them all, plus her knowledge in British accent is better than mine so she handles/corrects the Giles and Spike speeches. It was nice to divide the writing between us and correct each other and discuss plotlines and characterization.

The bad side of having a co-writer is RL. She'll have a major RL crises or a college paper due on Monday. Same with me sometimes. So we take a long time to finish a chapter due to our RL commitments.
 

Ah, this sounds familiar
Actually, that was Athenewolfe and Weyrwolfen on "To Ride a Pale Horse." I didn't even think of your script - since it was your idea, and you wrote the majority of it, it never felt like a co-writer thing from my perspective, more like you wrote a script and your partner filled in some scenes. But I never interacted with her, so there could've been more collaborating going on that I was attributing just to you, though you usually told me which scenes your partner wrote, so I didn't have to guess.

I think it is probably easier to blend styles on scripts, since dialogue is basically dialogue - the character should sound the same regardless of who writes them (which explains why writers' rooms for TV shows are so common).  But with prose fiction - original or fanfic - you have so many style choices in the narrative: what POV to tell it in; how much description to use; what type of language (flowery, stilted and formal, or conversational); how much symbolism to use, etc. For example, if I'm writing scenes that are very sparse, mainly dialogue with no description, and my partner is writing scenes with these flowery paragraphs full of metaphors and descriptions of every little detail, it would be jarring for the reader to switch back and forth. I think you either have to find a partner who has a similar style, or you really work at it to edit each other's work until it sounds like a mixture of the two voices, or you divide it up so that you're each writing to your strengths (so, in my hypothetical example, I could write the dialogue, and then my partner could go through and add description).

The bad side of having a co-writer is RL. She'll have a major RL crises or a college paper due on Monday. Same with me sometimes. So we take a long time to finish a chapter due to our RL commitments.
True. Or - especially with internet partnerships - one writer disappears and you can't get in touch with her to approve chapters, or she never sends you the parts she's committed to write. Beyond just slow updates, that can bring a fic to a complete standstill.

I can't imagine trying to co-write something.  Although, years ago, the BSV did a round robin and that was sort of fun. I forget how many authors participated, but it went pretty well and there were only a few easily-identified and/or jarringly different chapters. Most of it was pretty seamless and it came out a pretty decent story.  I guess I'm too cranky and independent for something like that. lol

I'm thinking having an outline is extremely important. It always helps me, but so many writers seem to be against doing one.
Beyond the stuff I do with my writing partner, I've only had an outline for a fic once, and I only loosely followed it.  I don't find outlines necessary when I'm working by myself.  A couple of notes here and there, sure, if I get a moment where I know where I want to go, but beyond that, nope, I don't do them.  But creative writing is a very eccentric medium--to each her own

I was re-writing and editing my first fanfic (also my longest) by hand, after I'd written several things. I wanted to edit out a lot of useless mentions.   But my hand eventually cramped up, so I stopped working on that. I haven't thought about re-writing any others.

The couple collabs I've read have been very well done, so I've been quite curious about how people go about it for a while. I think it'd be fun, if there was someone you gelled with enough to try it out. A writing team I know of cranks out original stories with amazing speed. I really do think they share a brain.

I LOVE comedy fics if done well...and the few I've read I really enjoyed. But a fic doesn't have to be labeled comedy to be funny.

I've never used an actual outline. Like Scarlet, I find that I can keep most of what I need to about where I want to go in my head.  I'll jot notes to myself about stuff that I want to include but that's about it.  Usually, if a story is going well, it just flows out.  I can always go back later and make sure that it makes sense. lol  But many people do write with outlines, and that's probably a more organized way to go about it.  I just figure that by the time I've plotted the outline, I've half-written the story, so why not fill in as I go?

I just figure that by the time I've plotted the outline, I've half-written the story, so why not fill in as I go?
Yeah, that's why my outlines never look like outlines... I write down as much as I have in my head, whether it's a basic "X, Y, and Z happen in that order" or a full dialogue exchange or a paragraph of description about a scene. But I do consider it an outline, because I won't start writing until I know how it ends, so sort of by default, I've sketched out the whole thing (with varying amounts of detail) before I really commit to a story. I'll add to and change my notes as I go, but there's always at least a skeleton to start with.

Also, I can't just keep it in my head, because there's always the chance I'll get wrapped up in the story and forget about that crucial scene that was supposed to go about six chapters back. I have, in fact, neglected to include things that I intended to put in a fic because I didn't write them down and then forgot about them, only to remember after it was posted and too late to go back and change it. Fortunately, it wasn't anything really important that impacted the story in any significant way.

*nods* that's why I jot the notes down ahead of where I'm working.  "need better villain" or "willow and spell" or whatever it is that I want to remember to put in.  Sometimes it's a conversation or a scene, and it just sits there where I'll see it every once in a while until I find the right place for it.  I almost always know how the story is going to end - just not necessarily how I'm going to get there.

if a story is going well, it just flows out. - heh heh, which would be just about the time that the whole thing comes to a screeching halt.