Posting Edited Work on Blog?

[1408]

Grr, titles... Anyway! What are your opinions on posting chapters on your blog that you've cut during the editing process? I have a couple, including the original first chapter, that I'm considering posting up. Not for any real reason because my blog doesn't exactly have readers. I think it's more that I find it interesting to see how books are shaped and changed, and also, I like those chapters - they just needed to go because my mammoth book had to become a heffalump!

I'm also wondering if it could negatively impact any chance with an agent/publisher. Would it put them off if they saw that your work had been shown in, I don't know, an imperfect way before it got to them? Admittedly, my blog is under a different name to the one I'm using to approach agents (I approach with my real name), so I'm unsure if they'd see it anyway. This concern is only because I've read some agents will Google authors they're interested in.

I'm not querying at the moment (re-edit hack and slash still) so I guess I could always take anything down that I needed to. I mean, knowing my luck an agent would Google the work, find it under a different name, and then think I was a plagiarist! The horrors!

P.S I used the fancy search majig and couldn't find a similar topic so I'm sorry if this has been asked before. It probably has been. Yesterday. I bet I even replied to it.

 

[EPHahn]

That's an interesting idea... I happen to LOVE reading "outtakes" from authors... I find them fascinating and if I have really connected to a character, I want everything I can get my hands on. I've never read something from an unpublished author, though, so I don't know if there are ramifications.

For some reason this is bringing to mind that whole fiasco Stefanie Meyer had when her unfinished version of Midnight Sun (the Edward companion to Twilight) leaked on to the internet. She scrapped the project after the leak saying that it discouraged her from writing more. She felt it ruined things for the audience to read the "before" version of her book. NOW, that COULD be because the writing was sub-par to begin with and she faced heavy criticism for her efforts, even after making zillions...

But still. There may be something to that.

 

[1408]

That's a good point! The first chapter wouldn't ruin anything, but later chapters would. I have chapters that were originally from one point of view and now have been rewritten from another that may be safe though. And I think, I might have told you ages ago about the problematic Biggins. I might actually write a side story for him called that!

That's a real shame about Midnight Sun. I'm not a fan of the books but I can't imagine how that would feel. I think because people generally only see the polished version of a manuscript they must look on a first draft with very critical eyes, when really, we all start with a first draft that's pretty shoddy compared to the final - that's the way it should be! Mine was awful. The first version of KDD was very different to what it is now. For a start, Death's daughter wasn't even a main character, it was just the two boys! The Four Horsemen weren't called by their titles, they were, I don't know, Death was Desmond maybe? Haha! The fun thing is, it was from giving them names that I ended up creating Farroh's (Famine) back story as the mortal who killed Famine and took her place - which then enabled me to create tension between him and ol' Pestilence. All because I liked the name Farroh.

I really like seeing how people get from A to B with their ideas. How things started out, how they changed and why. For example, my series deals with a dying, mad God and what is happening in the universe because of that, which could be seen as wannabe pretentious fantasy. In reality, it all began because I was so upset about my hamster dying I wondered what would happen if you took from death like it always takes from you!

 

[Marc Joan]

I suppose one way of looking at it is to ask practical questions such as: Will this help me to sell books / find publisher / achieve other specific goal? I'm not sure if it will help with any of the above [but I really don't know]. But if your goal is just to have a bit of fun or generate discussion, then why not?

 

[EPHahn]

I have my original draft handwritten in a notebook that I just found last week. I couldn't believe how far my story has come. It was fun to read and I shared with my two beta readers to giggle at.

I LOVE that your original idea came from your hamster's death.

And I agree with Marc Joan, that is an excellent way to consider things...

 

[1408]

It would definitely just be for the sake of it and a bit of fun! I think once I'm done with this rewrite and I'll sort through files and post something up. Thanks for your input!

 

[Katie-Ellen]

I'd save them, might find another use for them, but not post them in public view.
Oh, those hamsters. How they steal our hearts. All creatures great and small.
The implications don't bear thinking about.

https://katieellentarot.wordpress.com/2010/07/01/the-death-card-part-1-a-hamster-tale/

 

[1408]

Ah, that's a wonderful post, @Katie-Ellen Hazeldine!