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Fuzed
Aug '20
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Hi everybody!

So I've started publishing my novel a few weeks ago and got some pretty decent following. However, I have a feeling that I should be uploading more regularly. However, with my editor, we have an agreement on 1 chapter/week.

That's why I want to ask people, do you care more about the story or about the quality of writing? I mean, my writing isn't bad without editing, but after editing, it's a lot more concise.

So what would you people prefer, more regular updates (I'm thinking a chapter every 2-days, with slightly lower quality) or a chapter every week, with slightly better quality.

Thank you to everybody that gives their opinion on this matter!

I wish everybody all the best!

EDIT:

I'm going to provide an example of how an edited and unedited paragraph looks like so that you people have a better idea of what I mean by that.

This is my unedited paragraph:

Nathan had been practicing his special move for hours, and he still didn’t see any progress. After the fight with the thugs he realized that he still had a lot of room for improvement. Especially his Shadowstep—the one and only special move, that he himself had discovered. But now, he found out he wasn’t the only one using it.

And this is the edited version:

Nathan had been practicing his special move for hours, and he still hadn’t seen any progress. After the fight with the thugs, he’d realized that he still had a lot of room for improvement. Especially his Shadowstep—the one and only special move he’d personally discovered. But now, it seemed, he wasn’t the only one using it.

alexlcuri07
Aug '20

I don't mind some grammar issues because I usually invest in a story for the plot and characters but if things become confusing because of too many errors I stop reading. It doesn't sound like that would be the case here and you can always go back and edit I suppose.

I was wondering if I should do something similar (go from posting once a week to twice a week) but I personally would rather shorten my episodes. They're pretty long already though. Most weeks they're over the limit.

sonten
Aug '20

I vote for quality. One chapter per week is a pretty good schedule. Personally I'm a picky reader - grammar mistakes, misspelling, and other small stuffs can turn me away from the novel. Maybe you wouldn't lose many readers, and would grow a bigger circle faster - but that will stagnate by time. On the long run I think quality is better choice.

Fuzed
Aug '20
alexlcuri07

I don't usually make grammar mistakes, apart from some tenses and minor stuff. But that's mostly nitpicking. My editor mostly rewords my paragraphs if they feel too lengthy or clunky.

And yes, I would go back and edit them after I got the edited chapters from my editor. I want Tapas to be the way of spreading the story and if someone would like to look at a version with more concise writing, they can then buy the whole book on Amazon.

My episodes are pretty short, that's why I am considering this idea of more frequent updates.

Thank you for your response!

Fuzed
Aug '20
sonten

Hi Sonten, thank you for the reply! How're you doing today?

I would just like to clarify, that when I talk about quality, I mean stuff like wording and making stuff a little more concise. I feel that I should maybe provide an example of how my writing looks pre-editing and after editing.

This is my unedited paragraph:

Nathan had been practicing his special move for hours, and he still didn’t see any progress. After the fight with the thugs he realized that he still had a lot of room for improvement. Especially his Shadowstep—the one and only special move, that he himself had discovered. But now, he found out he wasn’t the only one using it.

And this is the edited version:

Nathan had been practicing his special move for hours, and he still hadn’t seen any progress. After the fight with the thugs, he’d realized that he still had a lot of room for improvement. Especially his Shadowstep—the one and only special move he’d personally discovered. But now, it seemed, he wasn’t the only one using it.

You can see some tenses used incorrectly but I personally as a reader wouldn't mind that stuff. What's your opinion on this now that you see what I actually mean?

Once again, thank you!

KRWright
Aug '20

You kind of need a level of both. You definitely need your writing to be high enough quality that people want to read it, but Tapas users do tend to be content fiends and like works that update with a high quantity. As writers, we like to think that people are there for our artistry and skill, and while readers definitely do appreciate that, they're not necessarily admiring our prose but rather skillful dialogue, characterisation or plot construction most of the time.

So how do you get round this?

Write the whole thing offline and complete it before posting it, or have a huge buffer. If you don't want to sacrifice quality or editing time, then I'd recommend going on a brief hiatus until you've built up a back catalogue with your editor and then publishing on a more regular schedule then.

Fuzed
Aug '20
CommanderMarty

Hi Lordsomething, thank you for the answer! How're you doing today?

I would perhaps like to clarify what I mean by quality.

This is my unedited paragraph:

Nathan had been practicing his special move for hours, and he still didn’t see any progress. After the fight with the thugs he realized that he still had a lot of room for improvement. Especially his Shadowstep—the one and only special move, that he himself had discovered. But now, he found out he wasn’t the only one using it.

And this is the edited version:

Nathan had been practicing his special move for hours, and he still hadn’t seen any progress. After the fight with the thugs, he’d realized that he still had a lot of room for improvement. Especially his Shadowstep—the one and only special move he’d personally discovered. But now, it seemed, he wasn’t the only one using it.

As you can see, there are some tenses and wordings that were changed but it isn't that much. Let me know what you think now that you've seen this.

Thank you!

KRWright
Aug '20

Having seen that - you'd totally get away with unedited on Tapas.

Fuzed
Aug '20
KRWright

Hi there KRWright. Thank you for the answer, I really appreciate it.

I also noticed that the demographics on Tapas are more inclined towards story, characters and dialogue rather than artistic writing, usage of figurative language and creative wordings.

I've just seen your reply, so I won't be posting the quotes here. Thank you for the answer. The edits are mostly just nitpicking, making sure that everything is perfect, pretty much. I'll have to consult my artist and some other people but I feel like this would be a lot more beneficial.

Once again, thank you for the answer!

MeltingCORE
Aug '20

Like others have said, it's a good idea to plan ahead! When I began posting on Tapas, I already had 10 chapters completed. I drip-fed them into the series and that way I was also able to edit them beforehand. Nowadays I post once a month and spend quite a bit of time making sure everything is up to par (story content, grammar, etc).

foxnflames
Aug '20

I’d pick quality but then again I’ve read stuff super popular stuff on here that has typos every other sentence. The plot and characterizations were really good, but my mental red pen was scratching furiously

KRWright
Aug '20
Fuzed

I don't know if you want feedback in general on what you've posted from the point of view of 'artistic writing'. There are still things that I would say you could sharpen in that sample you posted if you really want to make your writing 'pop'. But if you're going to move forward with posting more regularly, I really don't think it'll matter.

sonten
Aug '20
Fuzed

Hmm I see. Yes, the correction in your example is not that much. Nitpicking, and a bit of prettifying. The question is how often your editor corrects something. If every other sentence has something small, then maybe it's worth the wait.
For example there was one book I read long ago (not gonna name it, but pretty famous) - where the wordings and chopped off sentences just killed it. Good grammar, good plot, but somehow the way it was written made me put it down pretty early.

Of course I don't see that level of choppy wording in your example. If the corrections are only that minimal all around, then it's up to you to decide. It is readable and enjoyable (at least from what I saw) without the editors work too.

Still, I would vote for quality, but as a creator I understand how you want to publish faster and get more out to your readers :slight_smile:

Fuzed
Aug '20
MeltingCORE

Hi MeltingCore, how're you doing today?

I would say that overall I don't make as many mistakes when it comes to grammar (apart from tenses, I do get those mixed up from time to time).

But there are some stylistic errors, some minor logical errors (an example would be that my character suddenly transitioned from being angry to being calm in the span of 2 replicas). If you look at the original post, you can see an example of pre-edited writing. Let me know what you think about that. Thank you!

Have a good one!

Fuzed
Aug '20
foxnflames

Hi foxnflames, how're you doing today?

There usually aren't many typos, especially since I've got beta-readers that usually catch that stuff. The editing usually deals with wordings and phrasing. If you look at the original post, you can see an example of what I mean.

Thank you and I hope you'll have a great day!

Fuzed
Aug '20
KRWright

If you're willing to offer some feedback, I'm more than happy to listen.

I've been writing for a little less than a year, and 2 months ago I had no idea what I was doing. I would say that even the concept of paragraphs was foreign to me back then... I've still got a looot of space to learn and I'm always willing to listen to constructive criticism.

foxnflames
Aug '20
Fuzed

Hey! Doing well. Your unedited blurb isn’t bad, honestly.
Ah, the life of a beta reader :sob:.
Like you said, it’s a matter of style and syntax when it’s time to edit. But I can tell you’re probably the type to think through what you’re typing in a rough draft rather than slapping down whatever and letting someone else figure it out

wh_vigo
Aug '20

Quality.

I only post once or twice a month so I have enough time to create something I feel good about.