Should I rewrite What Brings Us Together? · 12:11am Mar 23rd, 2013
It is a thought I've been struggling with for some time now.
Why? Well, several reasons really.
The story was not only my first foray into fanfiction, but also the first piece of serious, non-academic writing I'd done in six years. I conceived the story as a way to see if I even still had the spark to write something anymore. In finding that I could still write a story, I decided to continue a story from the dinky little fifteen-hundred words that I had written about Twilight and Rainbow Dash reading a book. In doing so, I also decided that I would use that continuation to experiment with different things in order to slowly work out the kinks and rust, and to reteach myself how to write well. The result of that decision is the complete mess of inconsistency that is What Brings Us Together.
I won't bother listing every single issue that I or astute readers have noticed, but suffice to say, the current state of the story is not something I'm proud of. More problematic is that should I continue and finish with the last few chapters of my original plan, it is only going to perpetuate the inconsistent tone and direction of the story.
I understand that a lot of people have enjoyed the story so far, even now I'm surprised daily at the steady trickle of new trackers, and the occasional new comments and messages asking if I'm continuing the fic. I've enjoyed writing it, for the most part, but I just find myself looking at the remainder of the planned story and wondering what the hell I was thinking when I planned this thing out.
I could do it. I could finish the story and just never look back; relegating it as a thing of my past. But it would not be with the same enthusiasm I once held for it when I began.
So, it comes down to this: Should I continue and finish the planned chapters? Or would you, my readers, rather see the story rewritten into something more focused and (hopefully) polished?
As I know it is bound to come up, yes, I do have an idea of what I'd do as a rewrite. It isn't planned out too much as I don't want to waste time planning a story I'm not writing.
So you know, it would be more of a romance story with less heavy emphasis on the jokes. It would follow a fairly similar path, detailing how Twilight and Rainbow deal with being a couple, but with a more steady focus on just Twilight and Rainbow's activities. No spending an entire chapter, or half of one, focused on other events; just Twilight and Rainbow. Basically, more like what you'd expect after the little prologue of Dash coming over to read a book, and less of pretty much all the constant comedy, whimsically inconsistent tone, and unfocused subject and plot.
If I do end up rewriting it, I would leave the original material up for anyone who enjoyed it.
With all of that said, I'm asking you, the readers, watchers, and trackers of the story what you would prefer that I do.
As much as I enjoyed the original, if you feel that you can improve on your work and make it better than what it once wash, I'm all for it.
You could try to do both one the new way and an extra the original way it would be the best of both ways togather
Just a thought revelry
I would love an continuation of this wonderful story, especially when it's a new and improved ver. 2.0
Realigning your focus and making something better is usually never wrong
it's this exact reason i stopped reading fics before they are finished already.
i could be selfish and tell you to finish it, but overall i feel it is your work and you can do with it at you please, even if that might be inconvenient to me.
honestly i forgot everything about it, it's kinda hazed in with the other twidash's. I remember it, but can't remember which parts i am remembering are this fic and which are not. all i clearly remember is that i thought it was good and it still rest within my top 5 twidash, but when i first started reading was my #1 spot.
EDIT: i have not read the latest chapter and will not continue reading until it is finished. if you rewrite it, if it is completely new then i will reread it, if not, then i will start reading back from where i left off after skimming what i already read to trigger remembering what happened. either way i will not read anything until it is marked complete, so this forgetting the plot doesn't happen again. I just figured i would tell you my game plan no matter what happens. this is how i approach any fic i have forgotten about and is incomplete, this is in no way reflective on you negatively.
Well, I would say rewrite, except I find the other plot threads pretty interesting as well. It's just, they don't seem to really fit with what the story was originally trying to be. On the other hand, I really dislike total rewrites.
On the OTHER other hand, the story has been down so long, that I remember my feelings about the story, not the story itself.
I think....mulligan it, but take the other story threads it had, and make a separate but concurrent story along with it. Like a side project kind of thing, not something that is your main focus.
939647 Yeah, a lot of the problems are because of those threads not meshing. It started off as a sweet romance story then went into major comedy focus with random bits of conflicting drama because "I love drama" or something.
The main plot threads going were the build up for the 'first date', the double date with SA and Cadance, and Rainbow's uncertainty. Nothing else was central to the plot. All the other little ships were going to be dealt with, possibly, in post-epilogue content according to my original plan. I could still do that with a total rewrite as nearly all of those would fall into the background due to the more exclusive focus on the main reason people were reading it, TwiDash.
Now, for the main plot, any rewrite would bear a similar path and cover many of the same points, just with less shoved in comedy and a bigger focus on telling a proper story. As you point out, it would be a disservice to my readers to call something a rewrite only to change everything. I still want to tell, more or less the same story, but in a different way that I feel is more appropriate to the actual plot.
Also, something I should have mentioned: I would have the rewrite take priority over my other projects, except for maybe Twilight's Bird Feeder, which I want to finish first right now.
939781
But more importantly, it would probably be to your on benefit if it was done, and not sitting there taunting you with it's incomplete tag. While I have no direct experience with this, I understand that is quite maddening. 
I kinda figured it would become a priority project. Indeed, I support that. One way or another, I would like to see this story completed.
939567 I understand. That's a very reasonable stance to take. I know the number of fics I wish would update is in double digits at the moment.
What you mention about your personal rankings is indicative of how I feel about the story. One or two things aside, I feel like everything just went wrong after the prologue... except chapter seven. That section with Celestia and Luna is probably the one thing in the story I'm actually happy with.
Rewrite it for sure. It would be sad for both you and the story if you continue it and you don't put your heart in it.
I vote for re-write, if you wont enjoy finishing it as much as you did writing it, then there needs to be changes so you can feel satisfied with the work you've done. It's not a good thing when finishign a fic leaves ou feeling like you could have done better. Best of luck with whatever you decide to do with it.
I know I'm super late on this but I'd honestly like to see you do both. Being able to compare your older work to your new work (in terms of 2 completely finished stories, as apposed to one incomplete, and one completely version) might be nice for your readers. On the other hand, if you don't have time for that it would be cool for you to just rewrite it so newer followers as well as old ones could have something new and fresh to read.
I'm a little late but I'd be cool with you rewriting the story.
Our opinions are completely irrelevant. It's your story. What makes you happy? Never write for other people, you will fail. Write for yourself, and you'll find the audience that wants your product.
You write to cater to others and you're just putting out dime store romance novels.
And if you're gonna write dime store romance novels I recommend you go write real ones because at least then you can make a whole bunch of money off stupid people ;)
I'm really amazed that noone wrote a thing here for such a long time, don't people want this to continue or what...?
As for me, do continue the story as it is, its an awesome read already and just leaving it on an undending hiatus is just a waste, and I think that too many good stories in this site die out like that.
Overall, this is way more than worth continuing.
I would like to see both done, but if I had to choose one over the other I would think that it would be more beneficial to do the rewrite. An unfocused story is usually quite hard to follow, and takes away from the value of the story. So that being said, I vote for the rewrite
Okay, so I just read this story today. I would definitely love to see it finished.
The main arc is very entertaining. Maybe the side-narratives are a little awkwardly spliced in, but not ruinously so. And sending Twi and Dash to prank AJ and TL made that sideplot a bit more integral to the story, so good weave there.
Twilight and Dash are very much in character, right down to the sometimes awkward romance that one would expect when one mare is "too cool" for mushy stuff, and the other is big on book theory and short on practical application. The humor is great. A story that startles that many laughs out of me is worth every minute spent reading it, and will be reread again someday!
I didn't even notice more than one or two spelling or grammar mistakes; you've clearly done a good editing pass at some point. I thought Twi's mom was eventually named Twilight Velvet in a more or less official video game so that may deserve updating if you do decide to do major work on it, and this is where I crack the obligatory Soarin Pie joke...hope the custard isn't too tough to wash out of your mane! ;)
But seriously, I think you are too hard on this story! It's good! Don't leave it forever, ok? :)
It’s funny, here this story is, written over 6 years ago, and I’m just finding it. I definitely think a rewrite would be nice, but since their is such a low chance of you seeing this, let alone having interest in the story, I was hesitant to write this. But any chance is still a chance, right? Anyways, I wish you the best of luck on the rest of the stories you may right for this beautiful fandom.
-GSP
I would love to see this story finished rewrite or not. I think maybe some of the earlier stuff could use a rewrite but honestly I would just be happy to see the end of it. The story caught my interest as is but if you wouldn't be happy with finishing it in its current state then I would say a rewrite is warranted. Unfortunately it seems unlikely after all this time that a rewrite is going to happen. It seems unlikely that it will be finished at all.
The story is wonderful though.