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Anyone else here just really like to read their own stuff?

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Adversary

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I hear you, Adversary.

This really gets to the main issue, for me anyway. Yes, I love reading my work, because I know what’s going on in my characters' heads and hearts. My mind can fill in the rough spots where a reader would miss something important. That’s good for my experience when I reread my writing, but it’s not helpful if I want someone else to enjoy it, too!

I’m at the place in my work where I'm almost ready for betas. My critique partner is halfway through my WIP, and it’s a revelation. She'll comment on a scene, and suddenly I can see where a character's emotions — that are perfectly obvious to me — don’t come across. It’s like the scales have fallen off my eyes. Then I'll rewrite and it’s so much better.

So as much as I enjoy reading my own work, I know that the same experience is not necessarily going to happen for a reader. That, to me, is the essential challenge that fascinates me about writing. How do I build a bridge of words across that gap?

Yeah, thats a thing i'm wary of for sure. I think the more you know your characters/the deeper they go, the more trouble you can get into with this. I know my characters so thoroughly i could read (my own writing) saying 'Mary crossed the road.' and have a whole wonderful cinematic experience in my head. You're just gonna read that and think, yeah dude, stick to music... Might be a double-edged sword? having that much depth to work with?



CathleenT

I've been thinking about it a bit, and going back, well back, i remember now that i never used to like my writing. I loved the characters, the story, but i thought my ability to convey it was shit. I used to burn anything i didn't like back then. I'd let it sit for a few months, then come back to it and re-read it. If i didn't like it? burn pile. I'd re-read stuff over and over, after months, after years, and sometimes it'd take a few years to get the torch. I wrote tomes back then, and yeah... pretty much nothing survived... only the ideas. I still do the same (only now 'burning' is hitting delete and emptying trash), and you know, i haven't burned anything in a long long time. Progress maybe?

I cant listen to audiobooks or podcasts, i just cant, but what i do like to do sometimes is read it aloud. Interesting how that changes things sometimes.
 

eqb

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Does anyone else here just really like to read their own stuff? By that i mean, i'm not completely in love with my own writing (my 'voice' as it were), but i am liking it more and more. I mean the story... i love my stories (well, most of them). They say write what you want to read? Well, i do. But then i end up reading it... a lot. Obviously when i'm reading it i wont pass a spelling mistake or a bad sentence without fixing it, but i really dont count this as editing.

Anyone else do this? Is it a bad habit for a writer to have?

When I'm re-reading for revisions or copy-edits, I don't fall in love with my own stuff, because I'm reading to see what doesn't work. But oddly enough, when I read first page proofs, or later to choose a section for a public reading, yeah, I do fall in love with my work all over again. (And I'm always surprised.)
 

Toto Too

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The responses in this thread are so much the opposite of me! I don't think I've ever read even a page of my writing without throwing up my hands in disgust. Then again, I hate hearing my own voice played back on a recording or seeing myself in photos or -- even worse -- video. Do most of you not mind those things either?

I just have such a different impression of myself from the inside than what I actually present to the world. Which is an introversion thing... I guess? Maybe not? All these responses that people enjoy their own writing surprise me :)
 

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I'm among the minority in this group. I don't reread my stuff. While many would enjoy that, I don't. I'm very critical of my work. I enjoy creating the story and writing a story that I would read if I wasn't the one writing it. However, writing a story versus enjoying a book after reading its synopsis imposes a different approach. Reading a book puts me outside the situation, but writing throws me in the inner circle which clouds my judgment. So I write and even when I hate it, I edit. Since my judgment is clouded, I lean on the opinions of people with experience in the industry, the editors and betas. Either way, I'm too critical of my work to like reading it. But I plug ahead anyway.
 
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Chase

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By the time I finish multiple (in the dozens) read-throughs, revisions, re-reads, more revisions, major editing passes, proofreads, etcetera ad nauseam, I've had enough of my own stories and novels.

Maybe when a few more readers give me review stars, I'll take another peek. :greenie
 

rwm4768

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I have a love/hate relationship with reading my own stuff. I love the stories I wrote, but I often can't get past every little bit of writing I find even slightly awkward.

In the end, the story wins out. I write my books because they're the stories I want to read.
 

Lolly12

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I've been thinking about it a bit, and going back, well back, i remember now that i never used to like my writing. I loved the characters, the story, but i thought my ability to convey it was shit. I used to burn anything i didn't like back then. I'd let it sit for a few months, then come back to it and re-read it. If i didn't like it? burn pile. I'd re-read stuff over and over, after months, after years, and sometimes it'd take a few years to get the torch. I wrote tomes back then, and yeah... pretty much nothing survived... only the ideas. I still do the same (only now 'burning' is hitting delete and emptying trash), and you know, i haven't burned anything in a long long time. Progress maybe?

I cant listen to audiobooks or podcasts, i just cant, but what i do like to do sometimes is read it aloud. Interesting how that changes things sometimes.

Took me a long time to forgive myself for my writing style. For the first few years, I could feel how functional it is and how little of art there was in it. I'm used to it now and don't really let that bug me anymore.
 

thomasdown92

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Loving what you've written is an amazing feeling. It boosts your confidence as writer and eggs on to write more. But again, your love for your own writing shouldn't mask the flaws in the prose. If you can strike a balance and identify areas of improvement, then it's all good.
 

Elenitsa

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The novel I published in 2016, my debut novel, was written in 1988 (not in the same form it got published almost 30 years later, though!). The one I published in 2017 had the first 12 chapters written, in a first version, in 1984- 1985, and the two published in 2018 were written, the one now in 2 volumes in 1985-1986, and the other in 1982-1983. One more, written in 1985, will appear in the upcoming spring. Then, the others will be new ones.

If these old ones had some literary value and were able to be polished and improved into how they looked when published, there are others written in my youth which didn't. They can't be rescued and rewritten/ improved. But what I wanted to say was that, during these 30 years, I was reading from time to time my old manuscripts. My mother was teasing me that I am my most fervent reader (there were a few other people who read my manuscripts, back then, friends, relatives, teachers).

This is how I decided that some of them had a literary value and were transcribed on the computer 10-15 years ago, then, when I met a publisher, in 2015, I was able to send one to him for consideration, if I stand any chance for publication or not. And he was enthusiastic about it :) so since then I am a published author (receiving the needed guidance how to improve my writings, too).

Some day, when I'll have enough free time and no creative endeavour at that moment, I'll read again the "unsalvageable" ones. Maybe there are scenes or ideas which can be saved and re-written/ adapted for a different context/ story, while the general story isn't worth working at. For example, I know for sure that a sort of novella I wrote in 1992 will be cannibalized into a few short stories in a collection :) (which will comprise more short stories than the ones I can draw from there, though).
 
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Adversary

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My mother was teasing me that I am my most fervent reader

Hah! I am definitely my own most fervent reader...

I have literal stacks of notebooks, tomes, and other papery things, full of old ideas, concepts, characters, and some writing, all in my once-preferred pencil. I have binders full of character sheets. I haven't even blown the dust off that stuff. I dont know if i can actually write a book... but man, i'll never be short on cool ideas...
 

corybaker

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I really like to read my writing! Since I don't write novels (I write screenplays) it really helps me learn how to pace my future work. And it's always nice to go over pieces that I'm exceptionally proud of.

Though there are some scripts I've written that I just generally don't like to touch. Mostly the ones that I wrote really quickly because I needed to "get them out of me" - those are just generally really upsetting.
 

Adversary

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Yep. A lot of things I write just for me with no intention to publish.

I do that too. One is sort of a 'what if?'... concerning some favorite characters, where i wrote myself (as a character) into the story... just for something to do. Turned out to be by far one of my most searing pieces. Too bad. It'll never leave my hard drive.
 

buz

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The responses in this thread are so much the opposite of me! I don't think I've ever read even a page of my writing without throwing up my hands in disgust. Then again, I hate hearing my own voice played back on a recording or seeing myself in photos or -- even worse -- video. Do most of you not mind those things either?

I just have such a different impression of myself from the inside than what I actually present to the world. Which is an introversion thing... I guess? Maybe not? All these responses that people enjoy their own writing surprise me :)

I think it's also fairly common to not like, or hate, reading your own writing, especially with repeated readthroughs; it's just that this thread may not invite many such responses :) Like, I mostly haven't had this thread on my radar; if I come in here with all my honesty I'd feel like barging into someone's party all "I FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE AT PARTIES" yanno what I mean? (But then "all my honesty" about my own work is fairly, uh, harsh and anti-fun in its marrow, let's say; your wording above is much softer and more party-friendly...)

This is just to say, you're likely in some quantity of company, at least from what I've seen around here and other internet corners. For my part, I always have this issue; I often have to stop writing something and have someone else read it to do a reality check, because what I usually think is an undredgable field of uniformly terrible poop-mire is, apparently, not. At least if external sources are to be believed. :D

The most recent example -- I've started trying to go over a manuscript again, to edit/revise, and I've had to just skip the first chapter entirely, because I every time I try to get myself to read it I want to fling it across the room. And this is, like, a fairly expensive laptop, for my budget anyway; I can't have it kissing the lusty side of the banister.

So, eh, you're not alone, and I don't think it's unusual to go either way. :)
 

indianroads

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If I read my own stuff I tend to fall into editing mode.

Lately this tendency has extended into my pleasure reading, and I've taken to hilighting formatting / spelling and other such errors in Kindle.
 

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Oh I loved it the first time I had a good solid draft. Even the second and third times.....now that I've been in the editing trenches for ages, not so much. LOL
 

Lolly12

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If I read my own stuff I tend to fall into editing mode.

Lately this tendency has extended into my pleasure reading, and I've taken to hilighting formatting / spelling and other such errors in Kindle.

I do that too, if I find I'm proofing more than reading for pleasure, I delete the book!
 

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I read my novel a bit every couple months or so. I find it helps motivate me to write more on my current WIP because I think it's well-written and it has received positive reviews. I also find it helps with my day-to-day soul sucking job to remember that I'm a writer first and foremost, and an artist (regardless of my cubicle and 9-5 stress). I have also caught bad habits IN my writing, like phrasings and such, and know now to be more careful about repetition. There's always something to learn. And honestly, I love my characters. They're like family, and reading snippets now and then lets me visit them in my own way.
 

RosalieStanton

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These are the sort of threads I live for.

I always thought I was weird because I enjoy rereading my own stuff. Or not weird -- egocentric. And I've always been this way -- as a teen writing fanfic and an adult writing original work. Hearing that I'm in good company is a relief!
 

Adversary

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Not sure if i even mentioned this, but the entire inspiration for this thread was talking to another 'writer' friend of mine some time back, who I at least thought had some promise. This guy hated reading his own stuff. He could not stand anything he wrote, good or bad. He thought he was shit, and could not be convinced otherwise. I know another person who writes (wont call her a writer so much), who also loathes her own work, and wont read it, except to edit it. At least two more people i've known over the years that had decided to 'write', but never quite got anywhere with it, hated their own stuff too. I was beginning to think i was weird.

I love many of my characters, but even with those i dont, i still enjoy a strong emotional response. If i have a piece that does that for me, i'll drop by it every now and then. Like Lindsayshayne said, its nice to 'visit' them.

Its kid of like some bands talking about how they just hate a certain release. I'm not talking about sellout artists here, the hate there can be well-deserved. Artistic creation is supposed to be your baby. Should you hate your own offspring? What does that say if you do?
 

Lolly12

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Not sure if i even mentioned this, but the entire inspiration for this thread was talking to another 'writer' friend of mine some time back, who I at least thought had some promise. This guy hated reading his own stuff. He could not stand anything he wrote, good or bad. He thought he was shit, and could not be convinced otherwise. I know another person who writes (wont call her a writer so much), who also loathes her own work, and wont read it, except to edit it. At least two more people i've known over the years that had decided to 'write', but never quite got anywhere with it, hated their own stuff too. I was beginning to think i was weird.

I love many of my characters, but even with those i dont, i still enjoy a strong emotional response. If i have a piece that does that for me, i'll drop by it every now and then. Like Lindsayshayne said, its nice to 'visit' them.

Its kid of like some bands talking about how they just hate a certain release. I'm not talking about sellout artists here, the hate there can be well-deserved. Artistic creation is supposed to be your baby. Should you hate your own offspring? What does that say if you do?


Hating your own stuff is more about how much it falls short on the page compared to what is in your head, or at least it used to be for me. It can be extremely disappointing, but it's part of the learning process. I don't suffer quite as much from this as I used to, and it never stopped me writing anyway. I draw a lot too and that's a similar process.
 

Tocotin

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Artistic creation is supposed to be your baby. Should you hate your own offspring? What does that say if you do?

It doesn't say anything except for that everyone is different, every artist is different, and you can compare artistic creation to just about anything. I've seen it compared to vomiting and worse, for example, because the act of creation is also the act of release. It's very natural to feel relief upon finishing a story, and yes, it is also natural to NOT like something you've written, because of its high emotional cost, among many, many other reasons.

Not every story out there was written simply because the author loved the plot and the characters.
 

buz

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Not sure if i even mentioned this, but the entire inspiration for this thread was talking to another 'writer' friend of mine some time back, who I at least thought had some promise. This guy hated reading his own stuff. He could not stand anything he wrote, good or bad. He thought he was shit, and could not be convinced otherwise. I know another person who writes (wont call her a writer so much), who also loathes her own work, and wont read it, except to edit it. At least two more people i've known over the years that had decided to 'write', but never quite got anywhere with it, hated their own stuff too. I was beginning to think i was weird.

I love many of my characters, but even with those i dont, i still enjoy a strong emotional response. If i have a piece that does that for me, i'll drop by it every now and then. Like Lindsayshayne said, its nice to 'visit' them.

Its kid of like some bands talking about how they just hate a certain release. I'm not talking about sellout artists here, the hate there can be well-deserved. Artistic creation is supposed to be your baby. Should you hate your own offspring? What does that say if you do?

It doesn't say anything except for that everyone is different, every artist is different, and you can compare artistic creation to just about anything. I've seen it compared to vomiting and worse, for example, because the act of creation is also the act of release. It's very natural to feel relief upon finishing a story, and yes, it is also natural to NOT like something you've written, because of its high emotional cost, among many, many other reasons.

Not every story out there was written simply because the author loved the plot and the characters.

Yeah, what T said, more or less :D

I would never think of something I write as my baby or my offspring. I wouldn't say it's objectively "supposed" to be either of those, though it's up to an individual if they want to think of it that way. To me, it's a thing I wrote, like the mess on the floor is a mess I made, like this sandwich I'm eating is a thing I sought ingredients for and assembled, like the degree I got is a thing I worked and studied for, like the humidifier on my nightstand is a thing I just broke probably and the mail that was on the nightstand is a thing that is now soaked by the humidifier water that I inadvertently put there.

It's something that's there because of my actions, because I caused words to exist there. The stories I write aren't like Michelangelo's sculptures, which preexist in the stone and wait to be freed; they are tiny laboriously-formed pinching-offs of mental excrement that I have to force into being. The characters aren't people unto themselves, they're compilations of words that I have to type, one by one, into a computer, while I angst about why I'm doing it at all, in a pissy little ever-smallening spiral of existential nihilism that eventually implodes on itself and checks out into endless binges of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

That's what the thing is, to me, but I don't expect it to be like that for anyone else. If it is, fine. If not, that's fine too. It doesn't matter; we just do what we do, you know? No "supposed to be" or "should"s or anything like that. If writing is produced, then it's been written, and it doesn't really matter how.

But it is probably a lot more enjoyable if you like reading it. ;)
 
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