I mean humiliating stuff, stuff that's not who you are anymore. I have a couple of old notebooks of stories/notes/ideas that now make me cringe. The thought of burning them has crossed my mind, but... *unsure*
Have you ever destroyed your own unpubbed work?
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Yes. Plenty of it. When I was in my 20s, I burned nearly everything I'd written since I was 10. No regrets -- I consider all that writing "training" (a big chunk of my requisite crappy one million words. 
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Yes. And if I had to again, I wouldn't.
We're constantly changing. That was you at one given point in time. Of course you're not the same person. Five years later, you'll look back on work you're doing now and wonder if you're still the same person who wrote it. You won't be. You'd have changed.
You'll constantly change. And your work will always continue to reflect who you are at a given point of time. Be proud of it, even if it embarrases you.
Put it away. Don't look at it. But don't destroy it.
We're constantly changing. That was you at one given point in time. Of course you're not the same person. Five years later, you'll look back on work you're doing now and wonder if you're still the same person who wrote it. You won't be. You'd have changed.
You'll constantly change. And your work will always continue to reflect who you are at a given point of time. Be proud of it, even if it embarrases you.
Put it away. Don't look at it. But don't destroy it.
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No. Even though past writing is no longer who I am it’s a part of me, and shows how I’ve grown as a person - my history. When you throw away your heritage/history that’s when you begin to lose yourself. My opinion is to hold onto parts of you that no longer exist because they embody who you were and who you are now. Just my two cents.moth said:
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I've destroyed most of my previous stuff - an 80,000 word YA novel, dozens of short stories and unfinished novels.s
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Very well said! This is exactly why I've kept pretty much everything I've ever written.KitKat said:
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I've got some horribly embarassing stuff that I wrote when I was late teens / early 20s. I've almost destroyed it a couple of times because it makes me cringe. But the great thing is I've actually managed to use some of it more recently in helping to develop immature, opinionated or generally bizarre characters. So don't chuck it away.
Who you once were, or what you once thought, might make you cringe, but that person is still of a part of you, just like your childhood memories are. It's all good to draw on later!
I'm generally more tempted to burn the current stuff actually...
Who you once were, or what you once thought, might make you cringe, but that person is still of a part of you, just like your childhood memories are. It's all good to draw on later!
I'm generally more tempted to burn the current stuff actually...
I've destroyed some and kept others. I have a journal I wrote in while I was in high school that I will keep forever. Some of my short stories from that time have gotten lost along the way. I did destroy the first novel I ever wrote. It was horrible, and it wasn't even salvageable. I am going to rewrite it one of these days, but it won't even look like a shell of it once was.
I have things that I would never show anyone, of which I'm not proud, but have resisted the urge to delete. Surprisingly, some of it is salvagable and I'll scavenge piece of it and use it in other places. Some of it will never be improved upon and I have chosen to move on.
Don't destroy it. Why would you? What purpose does it serve to get rid of it?It doesn't change the fact that you wrote it. You don't have to consider it part of you "body of work". Right?
Sometimes the urge is overwhelming to get rid of it, but I try to get out of the mindset by writing something else of which I can be proud.
I consider it a "you've come a long way, baby" moment when I write something better. It shows me how far I've come, and mostly I never read that stuff anyway, but on the occasion that I do, I'll steal a piece of it, make it better and use it somewhere else.
Don't destroy it. Why would you? What purpose does it serve to get rid of it?It doesn't change the fact that you wrote it. You don't have to consider it part of you "body of work". Right?
Sometimes the urge is overwhelming to get rid of it, but I try to get out of the mindset by writing something else of which I can be proud.
I consider it a "you've come a long way, baby" moment when I write something better. It shows me how far I've come, and mostly I never read that stuff anyway, but on the occasion that I do, I'll steal a piece of it, make it better and use it somewhere else.
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I keep it all, unless I lose it - lost a bunch of stuff on some 5-1/4" floppies I forgot about...and some notebooks that got tossed by mistake.
But I keep it all - there were reasons I wrote what and how I did at that time. I like to see I have improved.
But I keep it all - there were reasons I wrote what and how I did at that time. I like to see I have improved.
I know one guy who has a ceremonial burning of everything he's written over the year on December the 27th every year, with a crate of beer. I never quite understood that. He invites loads of folk round and makes it a party. I've always found the whole thing kind of freaky, and always find a reason to decline the invitation.
Until just recently, I destroyed (shredded, tossed in fireplace, or threw away) almost everything I've ever written--sometimes as soon as it was revised to completion. Revise, find it finished, then shred. It's like molting, sloughing old skin: it's soothing in the end.
Rather than trap the words in the wrong form, I like to destroy the pages so the words can re-form in a better order. It's not for everyone, but it's worked out beautifully for me. If there are bits of a text that are worth saving, I may excerpt it, but usually I find straight-up deletion & destruction very energizing.
Rather than trap the words in the wrong form, I like to destroy the pages so the words can re-form in a better order. It's not for everyone, but it's worked out beautifully for me. If there are bits of a text that are worth saving, I may excerpt it, but usually I find straight-up deletion & destruction very energizing.
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But it makes me sad that what I KNOW is wonderful writing isn't being shared. People would love to read your work and you don't give them the opportunity. consider, that the publishing isn't for YOU it is for other people to have that experience.
You're taking your vision and story away from others everytime you delete work that is publishable. Makes me sad, Kevadelic. Think of your favorite books, what if those authors had not shared that experience with you? that fulfilling experience you get from reading wonderful fiction would be gone.
I don't get rid of anything now, but I really regret losing all the stories I wrote when I was thirteen. I didn't destroy them, but my family changed computer systems (from Amiga to PC, I recall) and I just wasn't savvy enough to transfer anything, and the printouts got lost. I'm sure the stories weren't well written, as such, but I think they had some good ideas. I'd love the chance to read them again.
As long as I get glimpses of these beauties before they go back to the darkness of the well, I'll be ok with their lack of permanence, Kev.
Wow, I didn't expect so many responses! Thank you for all your input, you've given me lots to think about.
What purpose would it serve to destroy them? -- To make sure no one ever sees them. Especially family. Those stories are so Mary Sue, cliche, badly constructed, cardboard characters, etc. that I think I would faint dead away if my family ever saw them. (And to think I once tried to get some of them published...gah!)
Kevin, I know what you mean about it being easy to delete things. The delete key works magic for me in my writing. However I never delete whole novel mss and I'd never delete one an agent was interested in, so I don't know if you're a lot braver than me or...well I'll just stop there.
Thank you all for sharing how you felt about destroying them. I think that's the part that helps me the most.
What purpose would it serve to destroy them? -- To make sure no one ever sees them. Especially family. Those stories are so Mary Sue, cliche, badly constructed, cardboard characters, etc. that I think I would faint dead away if my family ever saw them. (And to think I once tried to get some of them published...gah!)
Kevin, I know what you mean about it being easy to delete things. The delete key works magic for me in my writing. However I never delete whole novel mss and I'd never delete one an agent was interested in, so I don't know if you're a lot braver than me or...well I'll just stop there.
Thank you all for sharing how you felt about destroying them. I think that's the part that helps me the most.
That's the one thing that worries me. It's all well and good keeping all your old stuff so you can go back over it. But I always worry about my family having to sludge through it all if I drop dead tomorrow. I'd be turning in my grave thinking about anyone else reading all that tosh.
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