Cringing!

[WickedEve]

Since I've been at Literotica, I've learned some things about writing. One thing I've learned is that I don't know as much as I once thought I did.

Now when I read some of my older stories (hundreds saved on my computer!) I cringe! Those mistakes hit me like a ton of bricks. Typos are easy to fix, but other things aren't. I've tried to rewrite a few stories, and ended up changing the whole story-- for the better and sometimes for the worse.

Writers, what do you do? Do you try to salvage older stories, or do you just move on?

 

[Guest]

I try to resist burning them because i know i am my own worst critic. I save them. I try to assume the the idea had merit when i thought of it and perhaps it will again one day.

 

[WickedEve]

alltherage2...

I'll definitely save them. There's a lot of good work there. It's just that I can see so many areas in my stories that can be improved.

Oh... I think I probably should have posted this on the Author's Hangout. I spend so much time at story and poetry feedback that it's become a habit posting here.

 

[KillerMuffin]

I save them! There is a lot of crap in them, but some of the characters and some of the sentences or paragraphs are salvageable for a later date. I sort of have the categorized so I can go and pick the wheat out of all the chaff easier, but that's along the lines of characters and sentences.

I keep all writing, if only to keep myself humble. Doesn't work, does it?

 

[WickedEve]

I keep all writing, if only to keep myself humble. Doesn't work, does it?

Uhhh... sure it works... uh huh... yeah... lol

I've tried putting together the good parts of different stories and it doesn't work! lol Instead of creating a great, new story, I had something akin to Frankenstein's monster! Villagers with torches tried to burn it.

 

[PAUL C]

To save or burn

I try to save but I tend to lose them.

There are thousands of words floating around out there belonging to me.

The words don't, of course, but the order in which I used them does.

 

[daughter]

Me, too KM

Yep. I save my crap. It's crap, but it's mine. Seriously, I have worked on some pieces over time and eventually ended up with decent works. Even if they don't amount to much, going through the process of editing, revising and studying the mechanics of writing sharpens my skill.

One of the things I've learned through my mentors is to stop posting for the sake of posting. Do write incessantly. That doesn't mean everything you write needs to be posted before the ink dries. Poems have life of their own, don't rush them. Sometimes, the best thing to do is to put a work aside. Think on it. Forget about it. Come back to it later, hopefully after you've learned more. My friend used to tell me, "Let it simmer a bit".

There is satisfication in reviewing the breadth of your work and seeing the change over time. I also look back and am inspired by my commitment. I stuck it out and kept trying. We have reason to be proud of our work.

I'm not prolific. I am committed. I write deliberately. I can always tell you what something means to me, and what I hoped for in a poem. That doesn't mean I don't write off the cuff. That doesn't mean I don't believe my work doesn't evolves into more than I had intended. I enjoy my work, but it is work. I respect what I and others do to be serious endeavors. My name is on it. Therefore, it matters to me how much effort I put into it.

Who isn't arrogant on some level? I'm better than I used to be. Exposing yourself to others is good way to embrace humility.

Peace,

daughter

 

[KillerMuffin]

I am prolific. My hubby lost two boxes of writing "on accident" during a move. I pitched a fit that lasted months.

When I'm blocked, I go back through old things and put good sentences in a notebook. I analyze things that I've gotten some distance from and pick them apart. Why is it so bad? I have a character notebook and I use old things to record characters, vital stats and paragraphs that describe them. I even put magazine pictures to them on occasion. I take the bare plots, stripped to the minimum and put them in a plot notebook. I don't think I've ever actually used that as a resource, but it helps to analyze the writing.

Even when I'm not actively putting words down, I do things that are writing. Sometimes it's a break to just read stuff that I haven't looked at in years.

I usually don't try to rewrite what I have already written, but I have read it, analyzed it, put it away, and then redid the story on a fresh word processor page.

 

[daughter]

When I'm blocked, I go back through old things and put good sentences in a notebook. I analyze things that I've gotten some distance from and pick them apart. Why is it so bad?

Who says it bad? You are very methodical in your approach. I admire that. I know another writer who keeps files. She has electronic files for names, plots, good lines, etc. Great tools resources to have.

KM, do you not revise? I wasn't clear. You won't rewrite a story, but you will study it?

I usually don't try to rewrite what I have already written, but I have read it, analyzed it, put it away, and then redid the story on a fresh word processor page Isn't this re-writing a story?

Peace,

daughter

 

[P. B. Walker]

I'm actually in the process of revising several of my older stories. I haven't touched them in more than 6 months. After coming to this site and learning some great things about writing better, I went back to these stories and immediately saw ways to improve them. I didn't like the way they read and in one of them, I almost threw the entire plot out. But, I'm enjoying the time I'm spending on them and I'm learning as I go. Plus, I'm sort of a perfectionist. I can't just walk away from something when I know it has problems or errors. It'll nag the hell out of me.

At the same time, I'm putting down ideas for new stories and writing a few new stories. I can't seem to spend too much time on one story. Two or three hours is about it and then I have to walk away. So I walk away to a different story.

So if I'm not working on a new story, then I'm revising an old one, or I'm trying to finish a story I started and never finished, or I'm writing down an idea I had for a new story (putting down the plot, story, characters, location, POV, etc.).

- PBW

 

[KillerMuffin]

I guess it is. Most of my crap comes from when I was keeping myself out of the story. You know how you have to put a piece of yourself into a poem for it to be great? You have to touch the reader? I was hiding the things that bind the reader and the writer together in the story.

All of my stories have themes:

Absolution for Gretta MacClain - Guilt
If You Sprinkle When You Tinkle - Shame
Losing Pieces of You - Acceptance
etc.

If I keep those pieces of me out that I don't want to share then it's nothing but a flat piece of writing.

You're right though, I don't revise, I rewrite. I'm just used to thinking in writer's jargon where rewrite actually means revise. To put the work in front of you and redo it, rather than to put it away and start all over on it.

 

[daughter]

jargon

KM--

I was never quite clear on rewrite and revise. LOL

Yes, if I purposely withhold something from a poem because it is personal, it does come off flat.

On my listserve there was a major debate about turning reality into fiction or writing fiction from pure imagination. In short, some celebrated authors and academics contend that novices do the former. Accomplished writers' work, while it is influenced by experiences, it is not rewrites of their lives. Heavy topic. Shall we discuss it here sometime?

My work allows a reader to see how I feel about things and I definitely believe work has to have intimate details to resonnate with a reader. That does not mean it has to be a direct slice of my life. I'd like to think what I am transmitting on the page is a synthesis on how I view life.

Issues that I have not dealt with personally, I don't share with others. If you see it in print, I've already confronted the demons, and moved on. I do examine the ugly elements of my life in my work on some level, but I don't expose myself to the reader prematurely. Too many writers make that mistake.

We're writing fiction not autobiographies. If a slice of you is in a work, and you haven't dealt with it, don't leave yourself open to scrunity. When I read, I do not assume I'm reading your life.

Peace,

daughter

 

[PolarJuice]

Since I've been at Literotica, I've learned some things about writing. One thing I've learned is that I don't know as much as I once thought I did.

Now when I read some of my older stories (hundreds saved on my computer!) I cringe! Those mistakes hit me like a ton of bricks. Typos are easy to fix, but other things aren't. I've tried to rewrite a few stories, and ended up changing the whole story-- for the better and sometimes for the worse.

Writers, what do you do? Do you try to salvage older stories, or do you just move on?

Isn't it wonderful to see for yourself how much you are improving? Its much better to realise it yourself than to have someone else point it out to you.

Even if it is just for that fact, I save all my stuff in more than one format so things don't get lost. I know how that feels believe me.

Keep up the good work and move on to bigger and better things.

Polar

 

[karmadog]

I don't think it matters what other writers do or don't do. I think some writers justify bizarre habits by saying that Rilke or Hemingway or Bukowski did it.

Just try everything and see what works for you.

That said, I destroy the truly hopeless stuff. It gives me satisfaction to see the message "file deleted" or the smoke rising from a truly crappy story.

Other stuff, I will hang onto, and pick it up on days that I can't seem to make a new story work. Sometimes, I will discover that one of the old stories was better than I thought, or that it needed a simple revision.