Ever re-read your old stories

[Reshbod]

I hadn't read my old stories for quite a while, but because I haven't found any lately that "do it" for me, I went back and read mine. I'll admit, I really enjoyed them and found them to be better than I often give them credit for being. Now not saying they're award winning or even very good, but I was entertained.

After all, the reason I wrote them in the first place is because I wasn't finding the stories I wanted to read. Now I am encouraged again to go back and try to complete the numerous stories I have floating around in my folders.

 

[SamScribble]

I often find reading stories that I wrote a year or two back quite rewarding. In fact, I read one just today. http://www.literotica.com/s/mrs-harrison-1. I thought that it still worked. Of course it's a Romance story, so not exactly a stroke story. But I enjoyed it. And, yes, it does motivate you to go back and look at some of the stories that you started but haven't (yet) finished.

 

[Hypoxia]

I often find reading stories that I wrote a year or two back quite rewarding.

I've only been writing for LIT for five months. After a year, I'll have to review my 'old' works, eh?

Five months. Thirtyfive stories (one rejected). A mean of seven stories per month. More in some months, less in others. I *do* go back to re-read bits and pieces. I re-read more carefully if I'm inserting or appending chapters in a series, mostly to check continuity.

And I find that I (mostly) rather like what I've written. My first accepted series, ALAN IN THE OFFICE, is probably finished now, and I'm least happy with it. But to finish ch.03 I had to re-read 01 and 02 -- and those don't seem as creaky as I'd thought. I started writing another series a couple weeks earlier, RON'S JOURNAL, whose posting was delayed. I polished it a lot during that delay, but the first couple chapters *are* pretty creaky. My later additions are better written. Future chapters will be even better.

I wonder how those will look to me after a year or three?

I have one old tale, my first-ever-published fiction, from long long ago. I should find it, re-read it, see if it's worth adapting to LIT standards (lots more sex). Maybe see if I've actually learned anything about writing over the decades. There's the old saw about whether I have 20 years' experience at something, or one year's experience repeated 20 times. Hope I'm not the latter.

Yeah, re-reading old work can be eye-opening (and gut-ache- or tear-inducing).

 

[RejectReality]

I've re-read everything I've ever written in all three pen names multiple times, and that doesn't even count the times doing re-edits.

Once it's been long enough, it's almost like they're new again.

 

[robertreams]

I recently reread and reedited all my stories because I have discovered an easy way to e publish. I have to admit, I enjoy my own stories even more than i did originally, except of course that the porn doesn't make me as hard as teh first time around.

 

[JakeBNice]

Five months. Thirtyfive stories (one rejected).

Can I ask why the one was rejected? Purely out of curiosity.

 

[jomar]

Sure. I'll rub one out to an oldie every now and then.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

I don't reread my oldest stories, but I do on occasion go back and read my more recent older stories. I feel that my writing turned a corner about two years ago, and I don't like to look at the stories before that point. I've thought about deleting some of the oldest, but every once in a while one will get a comment or a favorite, and I tell myself "well, someone's enjoying them." So they are still there.

 

[TxRad]

Read it hell, I'm in the process of posting the first story I every wrote. All 20 chapters.

 

[Swilly]

I go back and read them sometimes. One day, I will properly edit the early ones that I wrote. The lack of quotation marks and some lazy editing now embarrass me.

Even my newer stories always seem to end up with one or two errors that I missed, even though I read them multiple times before I post. It's maddening.

I really should use an editor, but I get so anxious to post them when they're done I end up self editing. Maybe I should try a contest and force myself to ask for help.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Uh, yes. I write the best stuff, although I might be biased.

 

[TxRad]

I go back and read them sometimes. One day, I will properly edit the early ones that I wrote. The lack of quotation marks and some lazy editing now embarrass me.

Even my newer stories always seem to end up with one or two errors that I missed, even though I read them multiple times before I post. It's maddening.

I really should use an editor, but I get so anxious to post them when they're done I end up self editing. Maybe I should try a contest and force myself to ask for help.

The way I look at it is, this is a free site, if I decide to publish it for sale then I'll worry about the editing.

 

[Cruel2BKind]

I read and re-read a million times just to keep writing, to keep the continuity going, and to catch mistakes.

Sometimes I'll have a story that I've been working on for more than a month and I'll have read it half a hundred times (conservatively) but it isn't until the final read-thru that I notice a clunky phrase or a british spelling.

It helps to know your work. I'm trying to imagine writing one of my stories without ever re-reading it and I have to think that the finished product will be shoddier than my current standard.

 

[sr71plt]

I'm usually doing it the other way around--rereading a story I have in an anthology in the marketplace before posting it here to Literotica.

 

[RoyceConnors]

I like to go back and look at my progress. I see where mistakes were made and how it affected the story's impact. I re-read my first story I ever did, (not posted anywhere) and compared it to my latest work and it reads like two completely different writers.

To me, my old stuff is there to remind me what not to do when I'm writing now.

 

[YDB95]

I often read my old ones to get in the right mood for writing new ones. It's a good way to fight writer's block, seeing what I'm capable of when I put my mind to it.

 

[Hypoxia]

Five months. Thirtyfive stories (one rejected).

Can I ask why the one was rejected? Purely out of curiosity.

Actually, two were rejected, one AFTER it was accepted because of complaints -- it was in LW and I didn't BTB enough, apparently. It provoked a firestorm of hatemail. A slight rewrite, a different title and category, and it's back up. RIGHT UNDER HIS EYES

The most recent piece was rejected because 1) a fuckee exploded, and 2) I had adapted the story from an old underground comic. No plagiarism -- I rewrote every word and added a fair amount. But that's apparently a rule-breaker. I'm not sure if I can fix it so it'll be accepted.

I'm thinking of starting a site for my rejected stories. That could be fun, hey?

 

[MrFoxwood]

When it's been long enough (a year or two) I do, sometimes I'm not even completely horrified. I swear I can proof-read until my eyes are bleeding but I'll still miss mistakes that appear the moment I submit.

 

[lovecraft68]

I recently undertook the arduous project of overhauling my published version of SWB.

Part of the overhaul is to remove a lot of the sex. Scene after scene worked when it was being posted here one installment at a time, but reading it straight through its way too much.

So my plan was read the entire thing(I finished it 2 1/2 years ago and have not looked at it since.

My first take, was wow is there a lot of things I can do better now, followed by yes, a lot of sex can be cut.

But what caught me was how dark it really is and at the risk of sounding bad I sat back and said, "Hey this is really good" in parts, not all of it.

I also think that I was in one hell of a zone during it and can tell the difference between writing from the soul and writing for fun.

It showed me a lot of things.

 

[PennLady]

I do go back and reread mine, especially if I get a new comment. And sometimes I do it to see if it can jump start me with writing.

 

[StrangeLife]

Rarely.

The fun part for me is writing them - once they're done I move on to the next project.

 

[BuckyDuckman]

I go back and read them sometimes. One day, I will properly edit the early ones that I wrote. The lack of quotation marks and some lazy editing now embarrass me.

The way I look at it is, this is a free site, if I decide to publish it for sale then I'll worry about the editing.

^^^^What Tx said.

Letting a story simmer and going back to it is often a great fix, though. New eyes and all that.

Used to work in radio years ago and had a huge stack of cassette tapes left over from sound checks. I found an unlabeled tape, tossed it into the tape deck and went about my work. I was enjoying the music without really listening to the tape. I noticed a few really good segues between songs that made me smile. I absentmindedly thought "The announcer is doing pretty good, too" until I heard "the guy" say one of MY catchphrases. That's when it occurred to me I had spent the last half an hour listening to me.

Time and distance can make a difference.

 

[MeredithEighty8]

I haven't written very many, but yes sometimes I do. Got some very nice feedback on one of my stories over the weekend and went back and read it again. When I finished I was a bit moist between my legs and I thought . . . Damn, that was a good story!

 

[Saxon_Hart]

I've re read one of my first stories. I kept thinking "Motherfucker needed an editor."

 

[Reshbod]

It looks like re-reading can be a little dangerous. One of my stories that I re-read I can't seem to get out of my mind. Now I want to re-write part of it and add a second chapter. I'm torn between just writing a new story and use some of the elements from the first or completely changing the ending and adding more.