Anyone else do re-writes they don't remember?

FergieC · Feb 7, 2007

I just went through my completed MS and found a couple of chapters were completely different to the way I remembered them. They were both ones that had big problems, and the novel had been on a back burner for a few months. So I went back to try and fix them and found I've re-written them at some point, but I don't remember doing it.

I'm a bit freaked out.

Has anyone else had that experience?

:Huh:

icerose · Feb 7, 2007

I forget parts of my novels, character names, and so forth, which is why I make notes at the end of my document. I figure I'm just a scatterbrain.

Marlys · Feb 7, 2007

Not with whole chapters, no. But I have been reading through one of my manuscripts and thought "I wish I'd written that sentence," then realized I had. Some phrases just don't strike me as something I would come up with.

FergieC · Feb 7, 2007

Maybe that's it, just scatterbrainedness (that's not a word, surely?) It was cool in a way, like reading something written by someone else, plus the relief of thinking well I don't need to re-write it after all. But it's still freaky. I've been trying to remember if there was a morning I woke up to find my Glenmorangie mysteriously depleted - that might explain it too.

Jamesaritchie · Feb 7, 2007

FergieC said:
I just went through my completed MS and found a couple of chapters were completely different to the way I remembered them. They were both ones that had big problems, and the novel had been on a back burner for a few months. So I went back to try and fix them and found I've re-written them at some point, but I don't remember doing it.

I'm a bit freaked out.

Has anyone else had that experience?

It's the night fairies. If you have a good heart, treat children and animals well, and never, ever cheat on your taxes, the night fairies rewrite those troublesome passages for you. Or so I'm told.

allmostcomatose · Feb 7, 2007

Yep, happens to me all the time.

Sometimes it's: "Who wrote this crap!"

Sometimes it's: "Huh, Who wrote this, it sounds good.

Welcome to the world of dyslexics.

finch · Feb 7, 2007

Jamesaritchie said:
It's the night fairies. If you have a good heart, treat children and animals well, and never, ever cheat on your taxes, the night fairies rewrite those troublesome passages for you. Or so I'm told.

This explains everything.

Well, except the taxes part. Maybe they're lenient with taxes.

TheIT · Feb 7, 2007

Night fairies, eh? Think I could convince them to do the dishes and vacuum the house while they're at it?

To answer the OP, yes, I've found changes I don't recall making. I've also written the same scenes twice wondering all the while why the words seem to flow so smoothly. It's because I've already written them down. I figure anything I've come up with twice must have some staying power.

Saundra Julian · Feb 7, 2007

allmostcomatose said:
Yep, happens to me all the time.

Sometimes it's: "Who wrote this crap!"

Sometimes it's: "Huh, Who wrote this, it sounds good.

Welcome to the world of dyslexics.

Glad I'm not alone!

MightyScribbler · Feb 7, 2007

FergieC said:
I just went through my completed MS and found a couple of chapters were completely different to the way I remembered them. They were both ones that had big problems, and the novel had been on a back burner for a few months. So I went back to try and fix them and found I've re-written them at some point, but I don't remember doing it.

I'm a bit freaked out.

Has anyone else had that experience?

I did this once. I outlined a chapter before writing it, wrote it, then for some reason I forgot that I wrote it, and it got saved in the wrong folder. So, thinking I didn't write it in the first place, I re-wrote it. The same events transpired in the chapter, I just had two different version. The good news: I liked the second version much better.

TigerFire · Feb 7, 2007

I've made so many changes to some parts of my story that I forget what version I actually have. Sometimes I think, wait I thought such and such happened, but it was actually in a previous version of the story.

Desert Author · Feb 7, 2007

I've had rewrites that I've tried to forget, but after I thought they were purged from the grey matter, one night, in the middle of a dream about an endless supply of chocolate....arrgghh! They reappeared. And, they were as bad as I thought they were; and, my bag of M&Ms was empty. Sometimes, writing is hell.

WildScribe · Feb 7, 2007

Marlys said:
Not with whole chapters, no. But I have been reading through one of my manuscripts and thought "I wish I'd written that sentence," then realized I had. Some phrases just don't strike me as something I would come up with.

I do this sometimes. I once read a poem on a public message board, and was blown away. Who wrote this??? I wondered... I checked the name... checked again. Yup, that's me. Damn, I'm good!

johnzakour · Feb 7, 2007

Yeah I do it all the time too. Part of getting older....

WildScribe · Feb 7, 2007

johnzakour said:
Yeah I do it all the time too. Part of getting older....

I'm only 21 (and I don't drink)... should I worry?

Inkdaub · Feb 9, 2007

All the time.

FergieC · Feb 9, 2007

I'm really glad it's not just me. I like the night faries idea; I'll put it down to them rather than the Glenmorangie

Tia Nevitt · Feb 9, 2007

One time I came to the computer all set to do a particular rewrite . . . only to find that I had already done it!

KiraOnWhite · Feb 9, 2007

It happened to me once, when it was still in my head...when I was actually revising the scene again, I was like, " Since when did his hair become brown!?" Pretty surprising how your story metamorph in your head, every second you think and dream about it.

Michael Dracon · Feb 9, 2007

Last week I started re-reading a few of my old pieces of online fiction. I always remember that they were there. But with some of them I had the idea that I was reading someone else's stories. I just completly forgot the contents over time.

I haven't had any problems completely forgetting rewrites of the novel I'm currently working on. I do however pretty often confuse what I have written down with what's in my head.

Maprilynne · Feb 9, 2007

WildScribe said:
I'm only 21 (and I don't drink)... should I worry?

Oh yes, be afraid . . . be very afraid. Bwahahahaha!

Maprilynne

allmostcomatose · Feb 9, 2007

OK, How about this one? You have very clear memories of writing a whole lotta stuff, chapters. But, after returning to the story after two months you can't find the work any where on the computer.

TheIT · Feb 9, 2007

I completely forgot about a notebook once. I'd been putting ideas for my current WIP into a purple notebook, then switched to a green one for NaNoWriMo. When I went back to the original WIP, I went back to the blue notebook which was the one before the purple notebook and kept going. It wasn't until I was halfway through another notebook that I stumbled upon the purple notebook again.

What was bizarre was that I recreated a lot of the same ideas, completely forgot about others, and came up with some new takes on the storyline. I figured anything I came up with twice was worth working. I also found it fascinating how the story has evolved.

Jamesaritchie · Feb 9, 2007

Find

allmostcomatose said:
OK, How about this one? You have very clear memories of writing a whole lotta stuff, chapters. But, after returning to the story after two months you can't find the work any where on the computer.

I've had this happen after mere hours away from the computer. That's why I backup on a CD, online, and on an external hard drive.

kristie911 · Feb 9, 2007

I recently re-read part of a novel I wrote a couple of years ago (I shopped it for a while but haven't picked it up in a while), and I was really shocked at how much I'd forgotten. It was like reading someone else's work...and I liked it! Maybe it's time to start shopping that sucker again!

I thought I was just getting old...

Anyone else do re-writes they don't remember?

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