Opening a very old manuscript file

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SnugglePuggle

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I just finished my third book in my vampire series, and decided to take a break before continuing that one, so I opened my werewolf story, and WOW. My high school writing was laughably- ATROCIOUS.

I don't think I've really read through this one since I graduated high school- and that was seven years ago, :tongue As I read a few pages, I started to fix some typos and run on sentences, until I just couldn't read anymore. This file was already 296 pages long- Yes it was my first book I had ever completed- and I had no interest in reading anymore.

So, I just opened a new file, and started writing. I know my major plot line, so I'm going to rewrite it better, while keeping my old manuscript handy. There are a few scenes I want to bring over from it so I'll add those, but make it better in the end.

At first, I didn't feel much motivation- I wanted to keep writing my vampires- but with the way my writing has been going- I probably would finish everything before December rolls around- and I don't want to be done so soon! So, off to my werewolves I go :D
 

Animad345

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It's such a strange experience to look back at old writing. I've got around seven manuscripts from secondary school floating around on memory sticks and I don't dare plug them in -- I'm too scared of the cringe.

Sounds like it's been a fun motivation to start afresh! I do find looking back on old story ideas often fires me up, too.
 

Cyia

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Old writing is awesome. I found a stack of literal floppies and had to go buy an external drive to read them. Nostalgia-squared. It can kick-start some great ideas, too.
 

gothicangel

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I was just thinking about posting a thread on something similar.

I haven't written much in the last 5 years (I haven't read a novel in almost a year). But it seems that my first attempt at a novel just doesn't want me to let go. I spent years writing it. I haven't touched in 10 years (the first drafts were written on floppies too). But recently something has started nagging at me. I've completely overhauled the plotline and kept only 3 of my main characters, as well as starting the planning stage from scratch. I feel that the story is much maturer than the original story (although I came close to getting an agent with the old version).

So, is it a good or bad idea to resurrect a ditched WIP?
 

mccardey

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So, is it a good or bad idea to resurrect a ditched WIP?
for me, it’s not a good idea. Even reading old work throws me off - I avoid it like the plague. I think thinking and themes and ideas grow and change so much over time, that it’s better to start anew and trust that your earlier good ideas will still be in you, grown and altered though they may be, and the glorious characters will arrive from somewhere to work through the process again with you.

Partly I think this because I’ve seen good writers get stuck on an idea that they’ve simply outgrown; and partly it’s because I’d rather gnaw my own head off than have to go back and read old work. For me it would feel like exhuming a long-deceased friend.

eta: Sorry for that image, people. I’m still on First Coffee.
 
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gothicangel

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for me, it’s not a good idea. Even reading old work throws me off - I avoid it like the plague. I think thinking and themes and ideas grow and change so much over time, that it’s better to start anew and trust that your earlier good ideas will still be in you, grown and altered though they may be, and the glorious characters will arrive from somewhere to work through the process again with you.

Partly I think this because I’ve seen good writers get stuck on an idea that they’ve simply outgrown; and partly it’s because I’d rather gnaw my own head off than have to go back and read old work. For me it would feel like exhuming a long-deceased friend.

Thanks.

To be brutal, probably all that I've taken from the original book is that the plot is a kidnap plot and that I've lifted three characters from the original WIP (even switched the protagonist). Everything else I am treating as a whole new book. I think I've developed a lot not just as a writer. but as a person. My reading is much broader and just a lot more worldly-wise to be honest.

I'm just glad to be finally back in the writing zone at last. :hooray:
 

mccardey

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Thanks.

To be brutal, probably all that I've taken from the original book is that the plot is a kidnap plot and that I've lifted three characters from the original WIP (even switched the protagonist). Everything else I am treating as a whole new book. I think I've developed a lot not just as a writer. but as a person. My reading is much broader and just a lot more worldly-wise to be honest.

I'm just glad to be finally back in the writing zone at last. :hooray:
Oh, sorry! I engaged with your question without reference to your whole post.

I’m really glad for you that you’re back in the writing zone - I know how awful it is to be stuck - and my response was only pertinent to me, and only because you got me thinking about it. I didn’t mean to rain all over you. Sorry!
 

MythMonger

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Old writing is awesome. I found a stack of literal floppies and had to go buy an external drive to read them. Nostalgia-squared. It can kick-start some great ideas, too.

3.5" floppies?

5.25"?

8"? :tongue
 

indianroads

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So, is it a good or bad idea to resurrect a ditched WIP?
and
To be brutal, probably all that I've taken from the original book is that the plot is a kidnap plot and that I've lifted three characters from the original WIP (even switched the protagonist). Everything else I am treating as a whole new book. I think I've developed a lot not just as a writer. but as a person. My reading is much broader and just a lot more worldly-wise to be honest.

If the story is good it's probably worth resurrecting. As you say though, WE all change as we gain new life experiences. I have several novels written back in the 80 - on zip drives - that have finally moved from a box at the back of a closet to a shelf in my office. If I decide to return to them, all that will be left will be the bones: the characters and the main plot (problem the MC must solve).

I'm not the same person I was back then, so the stories will have to be completely rewritten with a new perspective.
 

angeliz2k

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Ah, yes. I've pulled out some stuff from elementary school, middle school, high school, college... Every so often I'm impressed with younger-me's turn of phrase or vocabulary, but mostly it's, uh, not very accomplished

But that's fine. For obvious reasons, I'm a better writer now than I was in high school, or even than I was in college or six or seven years ago. It's inevitable, really. The more you write, the more comfortable you become with the written word, and the more comfortable you are with the written word, the more you can do with it. I think there probably is a plateau for each individual person, where you stop improving exponentially. You still improve, just at a slower rate.

All of this is a good thing.

And why not scavenge from older work? You probably will need to start with a blank page, but that doesn't mean ditching absolutely everything. Keep what works, build a more mature story around it. If you feel inspired, do it.
 

ALShades

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I've looked back at some of the very first chapters I ever wrote, and they're pretty bad. I'm surprised I continued writing, because even I knew they were bad back then. It's cool to see how far along I've come, though.

I've contemplated resurrecting one of my old stories. I still really like the premise, but I think the idea of it is all I would keep. Overhaul the story, characters, and the world. It hasn't interested me enough to do much with it, though.
 

MythMonger

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Sit down, that boy at the back.
:granny:

I could dig deep enough in my closet and find my small stash of 5.25" disks. Not that I know if they still work anymore, as they went to a Tandy Color Computer 2 and, alas, I have none. :)
 

litdawg

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The manuscript I just finished was drafted over seven years, so it has many layers of skill and maturity. I've reread, rewritten, and revised extensively throughout the seven years, but structurally is still a beginner's story. So, yes, I look at old work all the time, and I don't think I have to shed my past self or bury previous incarnations. Maturity is memory working through judgment. Discarding past selves isn't always a journey toward wisdom; it may also be the path of fragmentation and denial.

Perhaps it matters when the old writing was drafted? Writing completed before full adulthood (something sociologists/psychologists now say occurs around age 25 in developed countries) could have fewer salvageable components. I started writing fiction in my 40s, after two careers, many losses and triumphs, parenthood, death, war, and more. My craft is developing a lot, but my character? Not so much.

I have a longer writing/publishing history in poetry. I don't try to revise poems from high school/college, mostly because I use poetry as an "art of the now." Yet I occasionally open those old manuscripts so as to stay connected to the idealism and essentialism that animated youthful vision. I'm surrounded by young people in my current profession and I need to love both their present and their potential. I'm no less idealist than I once was, but I am more patient. That adds nuance and depth to ideas.
 

maggiee19

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I recently opened the PDF of a book I wrote 15 years ago, and I had to edit it and kill off my main character because I decided I don't like him.
 
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