Authors: do you find that... ??

[Hypoxia]

Do you find that the more you write, the less of others you read?

Do you find that you'd rather re-read your own work than read others' new work?

Do you find that your older work is pretty good but could use some revisions?

 

[Handley_Page]

Hypoxia:

Do you find that the more you write, the less of others you read?
Not so far.

Do you find that you'd rather re-read your own work than read others' new work?
No

Do you find that your older work is pretty good but could use some revisions?
A great deal of revision !.

 

[StrangeLife]

Do you find that the more you write, the less of others you read?

Nope.

Do you find that you'd rather re-read your own work than read others' new work?

No. I rarely re-read my own work. I get my fun from writing it.

Do you find that your older work is pretty good but could use some revisions?

There is always something that could be improved, but George Lucas has clearly demonstrated the importance of leaving the classics alone.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Do you find that the more you write, the less of others you read? YES

Do you find that you'd rather re-read your own work than read others' new work? NO

Do you find that your older work is pretty good but could use some revisions? KINDA

I don't read LIT wares, I download stories from AMAZON. LITs too crapped up with shitty stories to be worth the hunt.

I recycle some of my stories to use as filler in new wares.

 

[lovecraft68]

Yes to everything. I barely read at all anymore.

And I cant look at my old stuff without starting to edit it.

 

[Aynmair]

Do you find that the more you write, the less of others you read?

only because time is a zero-sum game; wish it weren't


Do you find that you'd rather re-read your own work than read others' new work?

no, but I have gotten pickier with time, knowing the difficulty of doing it well; and have become more impatient with shoddy editing

Do you find that your older work is pretty good but could use some revisions?

I am a fairly compulsive editor, and blush when I/others find mistakes in my work

 

[Swilly]

Do you find that the more you write, the less of others you read?

For years, I visited the site as a reader only. Now that I'm writing, I read very little. If I have time, I'm writing or rereading whatever it is I'm working on. I did read all of the tag team stories and a bunch of the Earth Day stories.

Do you find that you'd rather re-read your own work than read others' new work?

See above. Although I will admit that getting a new comment on an old story can get me yo read it again. I'm often pleasantly surprised by them.

Do you find that your older work is pretty good but could use some revisions?

Always find corrections I should have caught.

 

[oggbashan]

Do you find that the more you write, the less of others you read?

Yes. I spend too much time writing when the Muses are kind.

Do you find that you'd rather re-read your own work than read others' new work?

Yes and No. I re-read my own work to get ideas for sequels, for new stories, and because once I have posted a story, I can forget it - and do.

Do you find that your older work is pretty good but could use some revisions?

It depends what you mean by older. Some of my earliest work published when I joined Literotica in 2002 had been written up to five years earlier. Some of them are not 'pretty good'. They are dreadful and would need a complete rewrite, but I'm not the person I was then. Even stories I wrote say three years ago require me to get back into the mind set I had then. That can be difficult.

I prefer to leave the posted stories alone, flaws and all, and move on to write another story.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

Do you find that the more you write, the less of others you read?
Absolutely. When I am actively writing, I don't read at all. I haven't written anything since December, so my reading is up at the moment.

Do you find that you'd rather re-read your own work than read others' new work?
No, not really. Every once in a while a topic on this forum causes me to go back and re-read something. The thread on info dumps, for example, prompted me to read a story where I thought I pulled it off rather well. Otherwise, I read works of other authors. What I find frustrating is when I read something new that resembles something I am currently working on.

Do you find that your older work is pretty good but could use some revisions?
I find that my oldest work is almost embarrassing to read, and I'm tempted to pull it down. My intermediate work could be pretty good with revisions, but I know I'll never go back and do it.

 

[sr71plt]

Do you find that the more you write, the less of others you read?

It's natural to have less time to do anything the more you write. I still keep two novels in "read" no matter how much I write and finish an average of three of those a month, so I'm not reading less. I don't read much on Literotica no matter how much writing I'm doing. Part of this is that I don't want to be absorbing anyone else's writing style or plotlines.

Do you find that you'd rather re-read your own work than read others' new work?

I rarely reread my own work once it's published. When/if it comes time republish, I revisit it from the ground up.


Do you find that your older work is pretty good but could use some revisions?

The only time I revise is upon relaunch for some reason or the other. (Doing some now with changes in publishers, going to a higher royalty cut. Also, I think in e-booking reissuing every three or four years finds a new audience that wasn't there the first time.)

 

[Zeb_Carter]

There is always something that could be improved, but George Lucas has clearly demonstrated the importance of leaving the classics alone.

Actually, he revised the first three movies to reflect better technology. There were a number of scenes in the three movies that were re-edited to add more CGI items. So he didn't leave the classics alone.


ETA: Yes to all.

 

[HeyAll]

I mostly write with my extra time. I don't read as much on here, but there is a huge backlog of stories I need to read.

But I do find that reading helps me become a better writer. If I read a great story or scene, I think, "Wow, this person is very talented." Then that inspires me to write better, or I learn how to expand my writing style.

I don't bother reading my old stories. I don't see what the point is.

 

[MrFoxwood]

Do you find that the more you write, the less of others you read?

No, I find that my increase in productivity goes hand in hand with an increase in reading other people's work.

Do you find that you'd rather re-read your own work than read others' new work?

Not at all, I've recently re-read a few stories I wrote years ago and although a couple made me kind of proud I'm pleased that I've matured. I'm trying to read a lot of recent submissions, that inspires me more than my own old stuff.

Do you find that your older work is pretty good but could use some revisions?

Yes, kind of, planning would've helped in most instances and I hate finding the typos.

 

[Hypoxia]

As it happens, all my answers are YES. Imagine that...

 

[49greg]

The more I read, the less I write, and the more time I spend here the less I write.

 

[JKendallDane]

Do you find that the more you write, the less of others you read?

Mainstream wise, I still read six to eight novels a month. With Lit, I probably read more now since I started writing again. Seeing the different styles and varied ways others weave their tales is motivating to me.

Do you find that you'd rather re-read your own work than read others' new work?

I will occasionally re-read a specific chapter from a series or a favorite short stroker, but it's usually because the muse told me to. Seems to help short circuit the onset of writer's block. For pure pleasure and entertainment, I would much rather read something new from someone's else's perspective.

Do you find that your older work is pretty good but could use some revisions?

Most definitely! But instead of tackling that undertaking, I prefer to leave well enough alone and wear the mistakes as scars of the growth process and reminders to not do that again.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Do you find that the more you write, the less of others you read?

Yes. When I'm working on a story I drift out of reading other people's work.

Do you find that you'd rather re-read your own work than read others' new work?

Do you find that your older work is pretty good but could use some revisions?

#3 is why I avoid doing #2...

Actually, he revised the first three movies to reflect better technology. There were a number of scenes in the three movies that were re-edited to add more CGI items. So he didn't leave the classics alone.

I think SL's point there was that Lucas should have left it alone - a lot of fans were very unhappy with the changes.

I feel like a bad nerd because I just can't get worked up about Star Wars.

 

[SikFuk]

Do you find that the more you write, the less of others you read?

Do you find that you'd rather re-read your own work than read others' new work?

Do you find that your older work is pretty good but could use some revisions?

1. The more I write, the more I learn about writing. This makes it harder to put up with half-assed writing, so I end up reading mainstream fiction instead. Great writing is more inspiring to me than hot sex scenes.

2. In a sense, yes. See above. It's not so much rereading my old work, it's the inability to find new work that satisfies my very eclectic tastes.

3. I would definitely revise some of my old work, but there is a spark of vitality there that reminds me to not get too caught up with the mechanics of writing. Just tell a good story. Bring it to life. If that requires a few adverbs, Stephen King (the anti-adverb nazi) can go fuck himself.

 

[DiminutiveDame]

Do you find that the more you write, the less of others you read?

Do you find that you'd rather re-read your own work than read others' new work?

Do you find that your older work is pretty good but could use some revisions?

Slightly, ish to the first two.

I lack faith in my own writing so most defiantly to the last question.

 

[AMoveableBeast]

1. Yes, but only because I can only, in good conscience, allocate so much of my day to reading and writing. I try to split the time. In my more productive periods, the writing tips the scales a bit.

2. No. Writing is to reading as speaking is to listening. I have yet to meet a good conversationalist who doesn't listen well. Paying too much attention to your own side of a conversation is a sure way to become a dreadful bore. Writing is much the same. There is no dependency so intellectually crippling as an addiction to one's own wit.

3. I find my older work to be garbage. I find my newer work to be garbage. But, it turns out, one man's trash and all...

 

[JKendallDane]

2. No. Writing is to reading as speaking is to listening. I have yet to meet a good conversationalist who doesn't listen well. Paying too much attention to your own side of a conversation is a sure way to become a dreadful bore. Writing is much the same. There is no dependency so intellectually crippling as an addiction to one's own wit.

I can't help it, but I do an instant whenever I check out an author's profile and seeing that the ONLY favorite they have listed are themselves.

The ones that go the extra narcissistic mile and add just their alts too, get a double .

 

[AMoveableBeast]

I can't help it, but I do an instant whenever I check out an author's profile and seeing that the ONLY favorite they have listed are themselves.

The ones that go the extra narcissistic mile and add just their alts too, get a double .

People actually do this? And they say personal loyalty is dead.

 

[sr71plt]

The first mantra of a writer is to believe in yourself.

 

[AMoveableBeast]

The first mantra of a writer is to believe in yourself.

Quite true.

Still, writers can be a bit like athletes. It's the ones who have risen a bit, who have competed at some tangible level, that realize just how truly talented others are in the world. These people, with the exception of those that really are elite, are generally very humble. There is a reality in competition.

It's the basement bards and the backyard badasses who often overestimate their own worth so egregiously. They read William Faulkner or David Foster Wallace and see their own sentences spooning those great lines, in the same way that kid's on asphalt courts stick their tongues out like MJ when they throw up awkward fade-aways.

The cheers of an imaginary crowd are loud and without dissonance. Some people spend their entire lives listening to that deafening self-adulation. They grow fat on it, full of undeserved confidence. Which sours, eventually, turning bitter inside them. It leaves them unsatisfied with the gulf between what they perceive should have been, and what is. They attack professionals, people who have accomplished things, because they can't see how truly out of their league they are.

It's important to believe, and to squeeze every drop out of yourself. But don't confuse junior-varsity pluck with major-league ability. In short--don't believe your own press-clippings, especially when you're writing the headlines yourself. For the vast majority of us, we're better off learning from our betters than watching our own imaginary highlight reel.

 

[sr71plt]

They attack professionals, people who have accomplished things, because they can't see how truly out of their league they are.

So true, so true.