Who the fuck was I when I wrote THAT story?

[nice90sguy]

I've just read an old story of mine, a very early draft of a story I eventually submitted here a couple of years later. The style of the first draft, which is now over ten years old, is COMPLETELY different from my current style -- and in many ways it's a lot better.

It's like another person wrote it. And there's no way I'd now be capable of adopting that old me's writing style, much as I'd like to.

Has that happened to you?

I liked that draft so much that I've just submitted it here.

 

[Djmac1031]

For me; my style has remained pretty consistent. But what's changed is improvements in grammar, paragraph structures, more vivid language and (hopefully) sharper storytelling overall.

I look back at some earlier ones and cringe because I wanna just FIX them all.

 

[nice90sguy]

Oh I have a LOT of cringeworthy stories too.

 

[ChloeTzang]

My writing's changed a lot since I started here in 2015, which was when I started writing seriously, and I've really consciously worked on that. The themes and characters are the same but my style has improved, I think, along with my characterization, plot, dialog, grammar - all things I've really tried to work on, and still am. I look back at my first stories, and oh boy, would I rewrite them......

 

[nice90sguy]

When I started writing smut, it was about a year after I took a screenwriting course. The rules of screenwriting are useful for fiction writing, but don't overlap completely. My style started out very terse, which is a requirement for screenplays. I've become more verbose over the years.

 

[Duleigh]

My first stories hit here in 2006 and 2008 and then reality set in. Now that I have time, I went back to read them and... ??? I remember exactly what I wanted to say when I wrote them, I know who I modeled my characters after - how did I miss it all that badly? I should re-write them, but I'll leave them up as a cautionary tale for new writers;

DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU!​

 

[Defluer]

I often wonder, when I see how far I've progressed. I tried to edit my first story a couple years back and gave up, cleaning up the grammar/spelling was okay but it was everything else that killed me. Made me want to do a complete rewrite. Now, I can actually get to the sex and get through a sex scene in under 10 (Lit) pages. It's a long long time ago and not a style I want to return to.

How do professional writers get through an entire series without the first book and last book feeling like they were written by completely different people?

 

[nice90sguy]

How do professional writers get through an entire series without the first book and last book feeling like they were written by completely different people?

Exactly.

 

[TxRad]

How do professional writers get through an entire series without the first book and last book feeling like they were written by completely different people?

By doing a lot of writing before going professional and finding a sweet spot in that writing. Finding a style you can hold over time but even then there will be changes. Hopefully for the better.

 

[MelissaBaby]

When I wrote my first series, I really didn't have a good grasp of writing in any technical sense. My first submission was rejected for bad grammar and formatting. I wrote fast and I did almost no rewriting.

Since then, I have worked hard at honing my writing, and I feel that I can confidently say that I have greatly improved.

But when I look back at My Fall and Rise, aside from fixing some typos, I would not change a thing. It's rawness and immediacy conveyed exactly the story that I wanted to tell. I do not think I could write it now.

 

[SimonDoom]

My writing hasn't changed that much in the six years since I started here. I was over 50 when I started, and I'd written for my profession for a long time, and I'd been reading erotica online for over 15 years, so I had a pretty well-established grasp of the mechanics and a good idea of how I wanted to write by the time I started. I've probably tightened things up with my prose a bit since I started. I hope so, at least.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I've been at it for half a year only, and it is just a hobby for me, but even so I can tell the difference and see the improvement between my latest and my first works. But I get OP's point. Not all of the change will be good. Some things will get more streamlined, more blended. When you start, you are more likely to have a distinctive, if more naive style of writing.

 

[nice90sguy]

Okay, people's writing style generally improves, hopefully. But as Melissa says, you can lose the visceral element when you get too pro. Think of music artists who started out raw and powerful.

 

[Euphony]

you can lose the visceral element when you get too pro.

I don't know it's always naiveite. Turing pro often means your situation has stabilized enough to where you had time to focus on the craft of the work along with the need to get the story out of you.

It's hard to qualify exactly the ebbs and flows in improvement but its pretty obvious to me the quality dip in pieces written in pockets of difficult times in my life.

Musicians also have the trouble of loss of novelty. Plenty of audiences want you to sing the exact same bundle of words you have thousands of times before. I can barely stand the monotony of the more tedious reedits. I can't imagine feeling like the organ grinding monkey and displaying any emotion whatsoever.

 

[Djmac1031]

Okay, people's writing style generally improves, hopefully. But as Melissa says, you can lose the visceral element when you get too pro. Think of music artists who started out raw and powerful.

I see your point. You start out "young" and fresh, full of fresh ideas and a unique voice.

But how many "hits" does one have in them before it becomes rote and routine, rehashing what you've done before?

I don't think I'm at that stage yet, BUT I do know I've probably already written my best "tunes" here. And finding new, fresh ideas is already getting tougher.

Still, I don't think it's time for a "Greatest Hits Tour" before retirement yet lol.

 

[Djmac1031]

There were two stories that had been living in my head for a long time, and I'll always consider them to be 'special'. The rest of the stories I made up to for Lit. Technically, those other stories may (or may not) be better, but to me, they have less history, and less baggage. I wonder if it shows, or if it's only for me.

I get that, too. My first few stories were all long running fantasies in my head long before I tried to actually write them down.

Now, it's more of a "What haven't I tried to write yet" or "how can I write that fantasy a different way?" type of thing.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

How do professional writers get through an entire series without the first book and last book feeling like they were written by completely different people?

When I wrote and posted my first story, there was no serious intention of it becoming the foundation for a universe of related stories. Fortunately, the story boarding that I did for that story with the characters, locations, plot, etc. allowed me to continue and maintain both the continuity from the original story, but also the characters and style which had made it successful.

I believe that my stories within the various genres that I have published in are different enough that someone might not recognize my work in one from another, but all other things being equal, I think there is a consistency there that the readers like.

 

[Comshaw]

My first stories hit here in 2006 and 2008 and then reality set in. Now that I have time, I went back to read them and... ??? I remember exactly what I wanted to say when I wrote them, I know who I modeled my characters after - how did I miss it all that badly? I should re-write them, but I'll leave them up as a cautionary tale for new writers;

DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU!​

Growth, maturity, experience, all of those. It's like any other endeavor. Ali didn't get to be the fighter he was until he spent years training and sharpening his skills. Same goes for Linsey Vonn. How many times did she fall on her face before she became a champion? Or Kenny Roberts, how many races did he lose, how many bikes did he blow up before he got to be the best?

Two quotes from Nelson Mandela come to mind about this:

“I never lose. I either win or learn.”

“Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.”

We try, we learn, we do it again. And eventually, we get good at what ever it is we are doing. Natural talent puts us on a path, effort, perseverance and stubbornness gets us to where we want to be. I will never denigrate those sloppy, disjointed, misspelled stories I wrote way back when, for it was my first steps toward where I wanted to be. Cautionary tale? Not hardly, at least not for me.


Comshaw

​

 

[SimonDoom]

I think in a sense you do LOSE something over time as a writer or artist. It's easier to write with a sense of reckless abandon when you start. In the spring of 2017, six months after I'd started, I was amazingly prolific. I've never been able to match that pace since then. I think it's because when I started I had no expectations and no standards to meet. I just wrote. Now I write with 54 published stories under my belt and I want to keep improving. It's harder for me just to write, the same way I did back then. My highest-rated story ever was my second story, over six years ago. My most-viewed story was published almost six years ago. Back then, when I started writing I'd accumulated a stock of ideas over quite a few years and was bursting with the need to get them in writing. Now, the process is more deliberate. I'm probably more craftsmanlike now, but I don't know if I'm better.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Now, the process is more deliberate. I'm probably more craftsmanlike now, but I don't know if I'm better.

To some extent, I reckon your plot and plan and outline approach works against you here. The output might be individually better for it, but the process might kill any spontaneity, which would have been there in your first pieces. You know, when your mom was bringing up coffee.

Whereas my "just write" approach means every piece is still all new, first time on the page, but I'm better at it.

What fascinates me, when I occasionally go back and read my early works, is how many of my tropes are already there.

 

[Voboy]

I think I'm less consistently funny now. My early stories have little spikes of humor in them that I think I've partly lost.

 

[nice90sguy]

I think I'm less consistently funny now. My early stories have little spikes of humor in them that I think I've partly lost.

I have a similar thing; in fact I used to write exclusively in the Humor And Satire category, where the stories ranged from mannered comedies of errors to downright surreally absurd. My inclination towards comedy has subsided these days, but I still can't help the humor creeping in. But more wry snorts, fewer belly-laughs. I'm older.

 

[SimonDoom]

I think I'm less consistently funny now. My early stories have little spikes of humor in them that I think I've partly lost.

I hope I don't ever lose my sense of humor, such as it is. I've attempted to sprinkle humor in my stories from the beginning, from my first story until my most recent one, but it's not easy to gauge the success of humor in erotic stories. Some people feel humor and erotica don't mix. I don't agree, but some may not like my sense of humor (which doesn't bother me). You might try another one just to see how it goes.

 

[TxRad]

This thread has me going back to read some of my very old stories and some of my not so old ones. A lot of the ones I'm reading I remember the general story but not many details. All I can say so far is, damn, I wrote some good shit for the most part.

What i write now isn't much different but there are far fewer errors. Also, what I write now tackles ideas that I wouldn't have wrote about before.

So far I'm about the say fool that I used to be but more educated.

 

[gunhilltrain]

For me; my style has remained pretty consistent. But what's changed is improvements in grammar, paragraph structures, more vivid language and (hopefully) sharper storytelling overall.

I look back at some earlier ones and cringe because I wanna just FIX them all.

You can do what I do. Give yourself a couple of years at least, fix them, and post them on another site. Or even post them on this site with a different title. I usually leave the old version up, and nobody has ever noticed. The year 2019 is ancient history here.

I only change something - create a new one, actually - if I have an inspiration about what to do. That's maybe happened ten or twelve times; I'd have to do a count. Otherwise, I leave it alone as a reminder of where I've been.