Feel better about where you are now... (looking back at old drafts)

yoghurtelf · Aug 28, 2017

When I looked back at an old version of one of my novels the other day, I was horrified by this part I stumbled across:

“Ben! Uh…” I trail off helplessly, silently congratulate myself on my eloquence.

His smile is grim, and tells me instantly that he does know. My heart begins to ache for as his eyes wander to the ocean. “How’s it going?” he asks softly.

I frown slightly. “It’s... I’m all right, you know. You?”

He laughs bitterly. “Ah, you know... Been better.” He shakes his head and looks at me thoughtfully. “I guess you were right, huh?”

I watch him closely, sceptically. “Sorry?”

He says, “I should’ve chosen you.”

Thankfully it's not ALL that bad... but that's pretty bad.

Do you feel better when you look back at how you used to write, as compared with how you write now?

StoryofWoe · Aug 28, 2017

God, yes.

I've drawn a line in the sand when it comes to reviving old work. If an idea is good enough, I'll rewrite the damn thing. Hashing through the old stilted prose just makes me cringe.

What's interesting is how well that line matches up to my last major bout of writer's block. I couldn't produce more than a handful of paragraphs for eight straight months. Then I wrote and sold three stories, all of which my betas noted (unprompted) were significantly better than anything I'd written before.

Brains are weird. :poke:

yoghurtelf · Aug 28, 2017

Yeah, I wrote this book when I was 19... then rewrote it entirely when I was 32. hehe

I still fall into "not that great" habits when writing rough drafts, mostly because I am a pantser and I tend to spew out drafts quickly. But at least I'm not as bad as in the sample above, most of the time

MerriTudor · Aug 29, 2017

Oh, yeah.

I came across the rough draft of the first historical I ever wrote. My jaw had dropped when I finished. Mercifully, I abandoned it when my brain was distracted by a shiny new idea and scampered away. Otherwise, who knows what monstrosity I would have unleashed on an unsuspecting world.

Yeah, I wrote this book when I was 19...

Actually, that's not too bad for a 19-year-old. Now, if you had said you wrote that last week....!

yoghurtelf · Aug 29, 2017

StoryofWoe said:
God, yes. I've drawn a line in the sand when it comes to reviving old work. If an idea is good enough, I'll rewrite the damn thing. Hashing through the old stilted prose just makes me cringe.

What's interesting is how well that line matches up to my last major bout of writer's block. I couldn't produce more than a handful of paragraphs for eight straight months. Then I wrote and sold three stories, all of which my betas noted (unprompted) were significantly better than anything I'd written before.

Brains are weird.

That reminds me of how Billy Corgan from the Smashing Pumpkins had awful writers block for ages before he wrote the entirety of the most epic Mellon Collie double album, plus a ridiculous number of amazing b-sides. From absolute creative anguish comes sheer brilliance sometimes.

MerriTudor said:
Oh, yeah.

I came across the rough draft of the first historical I ever wrote. My jaw had dropped when I finished. Mercifully, I abandoned it when my brain was distracted by a shiny new idea and scampered away. Otherwise, who knows what monstrosity I would have unleashed on an unsuspecting world.

Actually, that's not too bad for a 19-year-old. Now, if you had said you wrote that last week....!

I'm quite proud of the novel in general, though I read some parts and cringe - I picked out one of the worst bits to showcase here, though I'm sure there are other bits that are the same as the above that I didn't find in my skim through. The novel still had way too many ellipses though, no matter what else it had going for it.

Proserpina · Aug 29, 2017

I think its like when you dance in front of the mirror in the bathroom. You wouldn't want anyone to watch you do it, but unless you do, you wont recognize what needs to be fixed to make it better. I try to be kind to 5-yrs-ago Proserpina. At least she was trying.

Silva · Aug 29, 2017

Oh, yes. I use old drafts of my current WIP as therapy when when I'm feeling like my current draft is irreparably terrible.

One might think this would encourage stagnancy ("this is good enough because it's better than the old stuff") but it hasn't so far. It just gives me the emotional boost I need to keep plugging away.

Actually this thread just prompted me to go and dig up the first thing I wrote when I started writing again (about three years ago, I'm not sure I have much anything from the previous writing stint) and now I'm crying/laughing over my overuse of dialogue tags. The characterization is actually pretty good, and I don't have a lot of adverbs (that phase came later, and was fortunately brief), but it's all,

"Elise changed the subject. [dialogue]
Teresa hesitated. [dialogue]
Lucia tilted her head. [dialogue]
Teresa nodded. [dialogue]
Lucia raised her eyebrows. [dialogue]
Elise cleared her throat. [dialogue]
Teresa shook her head slowly. [dialogue]
Keith raised his eyebrows and shifted awkwardly. [dialogue]
Claire walked over next to Teresa. [dialogue]
Teresa glanced at her. [dialogue]
Claire frowned. [dialogue]
Sierra frowned. [dialogue]
Claire nodded. [dialogue]
Elise touched Keith's arm. [dialogue]
Keith glanced quickly at Teresa. [dialogue]
Elise smiled. [dialogue]"

I think I must have been trying really hard to make sure the reader knew who was talking, and felt weird about using "said" too much. :roll:

yoghurtelf · Aug 29, 2017

Haha, yep the dialogue tags are something I still work to make right in my stories. I feel like I'm pretty good at avoiding an overuse of them nowadays in rough drafts, but getting the balance right takes some doing during revisions.

My very first "longer work", a novella which I wrote at 12 - 13, is absolutely hilarious to read back over nowadays. It had a whole heap of exclamation marks, too. Like, many in a row sort of thing. haha

Silva · Aug 29, 2017

yoghurtelf said:
Haha, yep the dialogue tags are something I still work to make right in my stories. I feel like I'm pretty good at avoiding an overuse of them nowadays in rough drafts, but getting the balance right takes some doing during revisions.

My very first "longer work", a novella which I wrote at 12 - 13, is absolutely hilarious to read back over nowadays. It had a whole heap of exclamation marks, too. Like, many in a row sort of thing. haha

I only have one thing I wrote about that age and it is actually pretty decent, childish voice aside.* But it was also in omniscient third. Once I got older, started making more of a conscious effort to be "good" at writing, and in particular, started experimenting with close third and first, that's when I started making all the noob errors.

*actually, I think it's the childish voice that really makes it. It wouldn't be the same if I re-wrote it in my current voice.

yoghurtelf · Aug 29, 2017

I got an A+ for that novella, since it was for an English assignment. It was handed in way later than everyone else's because it took so long to write. haha

JetFueledCar · Aug 29, 2017

I only started finishing things a few years ago, but just looking at my notes and outlines from my old projects is enough. I had a habit for a while of scrolling through icon makers, grabbing a face I liked, and trying to force a character to fit the face and a plot to fit the character. I had a whole attempted high fantasy universe I made this way. Needless to say, it never went anywhere--but it makes me realize how much better my current work is.

Feel better about where you are now... (looking back at old drafts)

yoghurtelf

yoghurt elf say wheeee!

StoryofWoe

Sick and pale with grief.

yoghurtelf

yoghurt elf say wheeee!

MerriTudor

yoghurtelf

yoghurt elf say wheeee!

Proserpina

Silva

saucy

yoghurtelf

yoghurt elf say wheeee!

Silva

saucy

yoghurtelf

yoghurt elf say wheeee!

JetFueledCar

tiny hedgehog