/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.19347917]

one of my poems (30 lines) just got rejected by a literary magazine. Should I edit it before sending it to my Option B or just assume Option A didn't appreciate my still undiscovered genius?

Do you guys keep track of the changes you've made to your work? How closely do you monitor these changes? I usually just copy and rebaptize each version (e.g. Title - Version 5-Nov-2021) and move on. I don't keep track of every little detail I change, life's too short for that, but I understand some people do and I respect your dedication to your work if you're that meticulous, good for you!

[Anonymous No.19347973]

>>19347917
>Should I edit it before sending it to my Option B
It would help if we could see the original work, we're not going to steal it (I'm not, at least)
>Do you guys keep track of the changes you've made to your work?
Very rarely. When I finish a poem the work is really tight in the sense that if I pull on any thread (like changing an image, line composition, etc) it unravels the whole. If I can swap parts and exchange images and soundscapes easily, then it hasn't found its final shape. So, for me, keeping track of my changes is not very useful because when the poem is done, there are no changes that can be made without it turning into another poem entirely.
There is a balance between knowing what you want the poem to be, letting it become that, and keeping track of what changes it has gone through in its becoming. 99% of the time the changes are part of the journey and don't end up in the final poem, so I'm not sure how useful they would be.

[Anonymous No.19348320]

>>19347917
OP, you alive?

[Anonymous No.19348344]

>>19347917
Keep editing and submitting. Everyone gets rejections.

[Anonymous No.19348364]

>>19347917
I don't keep track of revisions, a poem is never really finished. I just put one date for a poem for my own interest.

[Anonymous No.19348430]

>>19348344
checked
>>19348364
>a poem is never really finished
true

[Anonymous No.19348853]

>>19347917
sohw poem

[Anonymous No.19348861]

>>19347917
>Should I edit it before sending it to my Option B or just assume Option A didn't appreciate my still undiscovered genius?
both

[Anonymous No.19349022]

>>19348861
both?

[Anonymous No.19349050]

>>19347917
I have about a 2% success rate with placing my poems in journals. I don't keep track of edits or changes I've made.

[Anonymous No.19349112]

>>19348853
This is the first half.

Farly fartly
Fairy dairy
Made me do
Drew my peepee
to the loo

Ghastly fastly
Beastly Weasley
In the cue
Ginger nuisance
That little Jew

Verily Cleverly
Holly Bali
In the Kali
Camel poop
But dont you look

[Anonymous No.19349141]

>>19349112

[Anonymous No.19349165]

>>19349112
Kek. Best thing i’ve ever read today so far.

[Anonymous No.19349532]

bump

[Anonymous No.19349625]

>>19347917
rejection is the norm. You send your stuff out to as many publications as possible. And then you do it again. There's nothing to lose. Rejection feels worse if you go all or nothing, it's easier to take if you're having parallel stuff going on all the time.
About changes, I don't know because all my writing is reviews and reports on music releases, concerts and art, so journalist stuff. It's extremely interesting to get that feedback from your editor(if you have a good one), to see the text go back and forth with annotations until it's fleshed out. This means we always have a copy of every stage of the editing process, usually 3-4. This also means I don't make all the decisions, which is actually quite liberating. But yeah journalism is something entirely different.
It's really good to get feedback on your work. Remember not to confuse yourself with whatever is being criticized.
I guess if you really want to keep a system then github would be unironically perfect. But you can also easily lose overview if you look at too many versions at the same time. You'll have to go for something eventually, and you have to let the arrow fly at some point. Don't let this shit break you. Godspeed Anon

[Anonymous No.19349923]

>>19347917
stop editing you fool
write the next poem and submit again you fool

[Anonymous No.19350113]

>>19349923
what's a good way to know when to stop editing?

[Anonymous No.19350463]

>>19349625
>It's really good to get feedback on your work.
Where do I get it? I'm not an arts major and I have no writer friends

[happiness !!a/OIDIldPy9 No.19350493]

>>19350463
Look for writing workshops in your area, or use cites like critiquecircle, scribophile, and writing theads in this board.
Also consider creative writing courses. Some of them can be found on coursera and skillshare, and can easily be pirated if you don't want to pay for them (but you should because people who made them are likely poor as fuck too)..

[Anonymous No.19350543]

>>19350493
The courses seem like a really good idea, thanks. I'll try to go after the real deal, not pirated stuff.
>and writing theads in this board
they told me to get off here and get published, so there's that

[Anonymous No.19350565]

>>19350493
>>19350543
I'm not OP btw

[Anonymous No.19350615]

>>19350113
>when do I stop editing
1. When the piece is published
2. When you’ve exhausted publications to submit to
3. When you are dead

You should be evaluating whether the piece is actually good each time edit. One of the nice things about the long turnaround time between rounds of submissions is that you can come back to the piece with a fresh set of eyes.

Also, you aren’t T. S. Eliot, poetry is for fags. Go write some short stories you worthless fuck.

[Anonymous No.19350628]

>>19347917
each work has a folder and I hit save as and note which draft it is. Takes no effort.

[Anonymous No.19350630]

>>19350615
>you aren’t T. S. Eliot
funny you chose Eliot of all people
>poetry is for fags
I agree with everything you said before this, here you can suck a fat black cock, retard
Thanks for the input tho, really