Improving?

[hoo_hoo_boo]

Oh my goodness. I'm going through old stories of mine and it's embarrassing. The language in some of them is so bad. Once I thought the writing was wonderful. I guess that is a measure of my improvement. I guess, when I go through them again in a few years time I'll be embarrassed again. It makes me wonder though whether it really is improvement or another set of mistakes.

Am I alone in this?

 

[johneb87]

Haha, nope. I'm my first chapter of New Life, I made the mistake of using the main character's name at the start of every sentence.

 

[geronimo_appleby]

no, you're not.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Oh my goodness. I'm going through old stories of mine and it's embarrassing. The language in some of them is so bad. Once I thought the writing was wonderful. I guess that is a measure of my improvement. I guess, when I go through them again in a few years time I'll be embarrassed again. It makes me wonder though whether it really is improvement or another set of mistakes.

Am I alone in this?

It works like this.

The grass is never greener on the other side of the fence.

Viewed from the novice side the other side seems obscure and strange and a struggle to master, viewed from the masters side the novice side seems pedestrian and crude.

 

[TxRad]

We all do it. The fact that you realize how bad it was means you've learned.

 

[RoyceConnors]

We all do it. The fact that you realize how bad it was means you've learned.

I'll go with this too ^^^. When you first wrote it, you thought you did a good job on it. Now that you're improving on your writing, you can see the results of your hard work paying off. It's a way to see your accomplishments are getting where you want them.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I'll go with this too ^^^. When you first wrote it, you thought you did a good job on it. Now that you're improving on your writing, you can see the results of your hard work paying off. It's a way to see your accomplishments are getting where you want them.

Or maybe youre simply in the grips of delusions. Its likely.

 

[TxRad]

Or maybe youre simply in the grips of delusions. Its likely.

Go take your medication, please.

 

[desertslave]

We all do it. The fact that you realize how bad it was means you've learned.

I agree with this, too. It's also very good that you kept your early writing AND are reviewing it! I think that's a great exercise in any creative endeavor.

 

[TxRad]

I agree with this, too. It's also very good that you kept your early writing AND are reviewing it! I think that's a great exercise in any creative endeavor.

Trying to edit it and bring it up to your new standards is a pure pain in the ass.

 

[PayDay]

My first story makes me laugh...

I used to be funny

 

[Stella_Omega]

Trying to edit it and bring it up to your new standards is a pure pain in the ass.

and sometimes a perfect excuse for not writing that new thing.

 

[desertslave]

Trying to edit it and bring it up to your new standards is a pure pain in the ass.

Oh noooo, no editing! Sometimes a story needs to be left alone, for that epic "horrible warning" you need when you get a wild hair about having sex on a bike during a triathlon (or something similar).

 

[Stella_Omega]

Oh noooo, no editing! Sometimes a story needs to be left alone, for that epic "horrible warning" you need when you get a wild hair about having sex on a bike during a triathlon (or something similar).

Warnings? We don't need no stinkin' warnings... We need validation, dammit!

I re-edited 'Meeting Robby" probably four times over the years. And because of that, jbj thinks I rite gud.

 

[TxRad]

Warnings? We don't need no stinkin' warnings... We need validation, dammit!

I re-edited 'Meeting Robby" probably four times over the years. And because of that, jbj thinks I rite gud.

I've done that a dozen times with the first thing I ever wrote. It is better butt... and there is always a butt. A 287 page novel is a whole lot of editing.

I kept an original copy just to remind myself....

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Warnings? We don't need no stinkin' warnings... We need validation, dammit!

I re-edited 'Meeting Robby" probably four times over the years. And because of that, jbj thinks I rite gud.

You do write gud, don't contradict me.

 

[oggbashan]

Warnings? We don't need no stinkin' warnings... We need validation, dammit!

I re-edited 'Meeting Robby" probably four times over the years. And because of that, jbj thinks I rite gud.

I have left my earlier stories unedited.

I have problems when I want to write a sequel, a further chapter, or to complete a long incomplete series. I'm not the writer I was 10 years ago.

Whether I've improved? I'm not sure. I know I'm a different writer. It can be hard to get back to the mindset I had then.

 

[hoo_hoo_boo]

Or maybe youre simply in the grips of delusions. Its likely.

I have no delusions- I started with significant disability in writing. That I can be comprehended at all is a little miracle I've been told. They don't realise how much work has gone into it though. It has been a constant effort and some thing I'm a little proud of. Comparing me with others is ridiculous- I'll never be that good, but comparing me with me is another matter.

 

[hoo_hoo_boo]

Oh noooo, no editing! Sometimes a story needs to be left alone, for that epic "horrible warning" you need when you get a wild hair about having sex on a bike during a triathlon (or something similar).

I've had sex on a bike- not a motor bike and writing about it was just as difficult. No triathlon though.
I made it a motor bike in the story because it seemed to lack credibility as a push bike.
Funny!

 

[TxRad]

I've had sex on a bike- not a motor bike and writing about it was just as difficult. No triathlon though.
I made it a motor bike in the story because it seemed to lack credibility as a push bike.
Funny!

The closest I got to the bike thing was using a dildo in the seat of an exercise bike. It went up and down as she pedaled and then a vibrating egg in the front of the seat went off when she reached her goal.

I wonder if those would sell. I need something to do when i retire.

 

[RoyceConnors]

The closest I got to the bike thing was using a dildo in the seat of an exercise bike. It went up and down as she pedaled and then a vibrating egg in the front of the seat went off when she reached her goal.

I wonder if those would sell. I need something to do when i retire.

They have rocking horses with dildo action in them. Just rock back and forth either way and the harder you rock, the deeper it goes. Looked interesting. Make a motorcycle version for the biker chick fantasy maybe?

 

[slyc_willie]

I look back at the first batch of stories I wrote for this site and think how juvenile they were. Purely stroke fantasies with the primary emphasis on sexual detail and not much on personality details. I could almost say I'm embarrassed to keep them posted.

But I see it as a constant reminder of where I came from. Years and years ago, I wrote a few short stories that got published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. They were all heavily edited, with more flowery prose added at the suggestion of my editor, to the point where the resulting publication was the same story in spirit only, not form. Really, the only thing I was told I did well was writing dialogue, and that was pretty much the only thing that got those stories published.

Now, after years of writing fanciful little erotic stories, I've learned a hell of a lot more than I think I would have had I kept trying to get published mainstream. And while those first stories from seven years ago may come off as being written by someone half my age, they're an indication of a milestone I've met and exceeded.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I have no delusions- I started with significant disability in writing. That I can be comprehended at all is a little miracle I've been told. They don't realise how much work has gone into it though. It has been a constant effort and some thing I'm a little proud of. Comparing me with others is ridiculous- I'll never be that good, but comparing me with me is another matter.

When I write 'you' I generally mean YOU. I was thinking of an editor I know who writes wonderful stuff then goes on a HAD binge. HAD is the hallmark of a lazy writer. Its like an alert to readers that you got no fresh fish nor any of recent vintage. So some writers are delusional about their wares.

The average LIT reader gets by with a 50 word vocabulary.

 

[hoo_hoo_boo]

When I write 'you' I generally mean YOU. I was thinking of an editor I know who writes wonderful stuff then goes on a HAD binge. HAD is the hallmark of a lazy writer. Its like an alert to readers that you got no fresh fish nor any of recent vintage. So some writers are delusional about their wares.

The average LIT reader gets by with a 50 word vocabulary.

Yes, it's onward and upward. Always. It's about having a go and learning. I read here and see many things I can identify with and wished I didn't. That is a stage every one goes through- or perhaps should. One has to persist to be rewarded. Well, that's my fifty.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Yes, it's onward and upward. Always. It's about having a go and learning. I read here and see many things I can identify with and wished I didn't. That is a stage every one goes through- or perhaps should. One has to persist to be rewarded. Well, that's my fifty.

You'd think best selling authors would get better with time but they don't. After 5-6 huge successes they end up on Hollywood Squares or Dancing with the Starz.