[Discussion] Is it time for a rewrite, yet? (aka: giving your old fics a new touch)

Hey everyone! How are my fellow writers, in particular those among us you who have been writing for a long while already?

I'm here with a question that is less about writing, directly, and more about the meta of writing. About why and when to write, or re-write.

See, one thing that eventually happens is, our works grow old. And while five or ten years since you published them might not look like it's much, in the world of the internet it's long enough that our works might grow some... wrinkles. New games bringing new canon, characterization details that marches on, plot or worldbuilding changes in a sequel that require bringing the older story up to date, or just getting the old story up to code with theming, spellcheck or formatting changes.

Or you just feel like the story is old and you want to tell its story anew.

Do you ever get this feel that some of your stories require such a touch? What arguments go into this decision, for you? How long do you think is long enough that a story really needs a rewrite, if ever? Here I leave it open to discussion.

Cheers!

A while back I made an attempt at rewriting one of my first fanfictions because back then it was riddled with grammar mistakes and wanted to add a few news scenes. I only made it to the second or third chapter of the rewrite before calling it quits oops.

I did rewrite the first few chapters of Foul Play and sometimes polish the grammar in the later chapters. Also because I was only in the beginning stages of writing the story back then, I was able to incorporate stuff from USUM easily. While the beginning chapters could be fixed with pacing/breaking down the chapters better, I decided in the end to not do that as I want to focus on finishing the story until the end. There are so many fic and original story ideas I want to do I don't have time to have my stories a hundred drafts lol.

I will not be rewriting anything I've written in the past. Aside from editing some stuff in my current fanfiction. I really don't feel like revisiting stuff I wrote over ten years ago. I don't think I could revisit most of that stuff because it's stuff I wrote when I was a kid. & I honestly don't even want to touch my horror novel, except get rid of some things that I do not vibe with, but I wrote that back in 2014, so no thanks. I'm good.

I don't have the energy to rewrite things I've long since abandoned. I already am working on my current fanfiction on a weekly basis, I think I'd overwork myself if I went and rewrote my other things.

I wouldn't re-write something fully, but I have a lot of concepts I've shelves for one reason or another that I'd love to go back and refine at some point.

I highly value rewriting, but there comes a point where you just kill it with fire. Case in point, my twelve year old self, and her first fic, which holds the title of being the stupidest mass-crossover I have ever seen. I burned all of the paper I'd scribbled that onto ages ago.
There's no point in even trying to rewrite a story, if it's the original concept itself in need of an overhaul. If you have a good concept, go ahead and polish up that diamond in the rough! It still has a chance. The moment you realize the concept doesn't work, either change the concept or scrap it. When it comes down to absolutely horrifying concepts your prepubescent mind came up with, you can hold on to little pieces of genius, but go ahead and rid the world of the majority of that project. You'll be doing yourself a favor.

I don't ever truly rewrite anything. I might change a few details but I'd rather scrap something I'm unhappy with.