WIP Challenge Check-in, Day 12 -- Thursday

[linaewen]

It's Thursday!  What's happening in your world of words today?  Are any of the following on your list of things to accomplish today -- or are you in the process of accomplishing them?  For those of you at the end of the day, did any of these actually happen?

• Writing
• Editing
• Sending to beta
• Posting
• Procrastinating
• Planning/Researching
• Taking a Break

Does the Leopard speak truth when it comes to rereading old stories?  Or is does the Panda hit the mark?  Let's discuss....

                                                          

 

 

When you go back and reread old stories you've written, are you encouraged or discouraged?  Do you like what you wrote back then, or do you cry with shame?  Do you leave your older works as they are or do you go back and rework the ones that still show promise?

Comments

[roane]

I had a GREAT conversation with one of my betas last night on Chapter 2. It's so funny talking to her, because she doesn't really pull punches in terms of what works and what doesn't, so I'm always nervous, but then when she does like something, it's like BIG. Not that she's harsh, but just... yeah. It's definitely improving the story and my writing. So tonight I'll finish up those edits, and then take a hard look at chapter 3.

As far as past stories, it really depends on how long ago it was. The other night, I read some original stuff I wrote a couple of years ago, and I was still pretty pleased with it. Even the stuff I wrote ten years ago still has some potential. I haven't stumbled across anything really cringeworthy in a while. :)

[crowdog66]

I got hit by a major burst of depression shortly after waking up, which put me out of commission until early afternoon. Once it was more or less under control, however, I wrote about 2500 new words and posted the fourth segment of my plotting on the ReBoot AU fic "Lethe's Curse".

I'm with the leopard on the discussion topic question, and I don't rework old stories. They are what they are, and what they need to be. I prefer to expend my creative energy on new projects instead.

[linaewen]

I am currently procrastinating, but I'm doing it at home with nothing much that I have to do in front of me, so there's a chance I might get some writing in, if I don't procrastinate too much. ;-)

I usually feel pretty happy with my old stuff -- I actually make a practice of going back and rereading stuff to remind myself that yes, I am capable of writing well. I've decided to fix up my first longer fic and repost it, and I'm very pleased that it doesn't actually need tons of work. There are some timeline discrepancies and a few other things I want to change and some new stuff I want to add, but for the most part, it's still good enough to go on with. And that's encouraging!

[snowynight]

I took a break from writing.

Some of my old fic are old shame, but some still are enjoyable. I make minor correction to them but mostly leave them here. They are a part of my history anyway.

[bay_alexison]

Bleh only able to write less than 200 new words of my help_japan. I have an idea how I want to do this scene, but I keep thinking "needs more emotional description." x_x Maybe backtracking a bit on what happens before that scene is a good idea too.

There are some fics I'm ashamed of while others I'm pretty proud of. A couple fics I had posted I went back to rewrite a bit, but then I would stop as I would rather start with a new story.

[msmcknittington]

I'm afraid that my writing has been original fic oriented lately, so I have nothing to report on the fan fic front, other than that I wish there was fic about Malatesta's "woman"* in Alatriste. She's played by the supah awesome Pilar López de Ayala, and she's pretty much the best female character in the movie. I just can't imagine why nobody has written about her. I mean, apart from the movie being in Spanish and based on a series of books written in Spanish. I guess I'm making my Yuletide list already! /rant over

I have a love/hate relationship with things I've written in the past. I can see where I've written successfully, and I do tend to go back to read those things over to remind myself that I am not talentless. But then I always end up finding stuff in the same piece that is not perfect and therefore inherently awful and must be blasted from orbit.

Of course, I also have entire notebooks full of stuff that I dare not look at because I feel like it's immature and self-indulgent now, but I liked it a lot at the time I wrote it. Of course, I'm not sure if that's because my tastes are so much more sophisticated now or because I'm more comfortable with pared down language and don't feel like I have to prove myself so much. Though I kind of miss the desire to be lyrical when I write now, regardless of how well I succeeded in the past. I don't really feel free to have that "words singing in me" feeling anymore when I write, but I don' t have to edit as much, either.

_{*Really, that's what she's called in the credits! La mujer de Malatesta! No name whatsoever. So sad.}

[barbayat]

I did not manage to write more in fanfiction but I finally broke to the writer's block on the termpaper I got an extension for. So I probably won't be writing anything for the rest of the week on my stories. After that things should be easier.

As for old stories, yes, sometimes I cringe at what I wrote but always with the realisation that I did learn a lot. The first long fanfiction I ever finished, is not that bad but I do hope one day I get around to rewrite it. I still like the basic idea, even though the plot elements are a bit commonplace but the characters are not and I already got a cross-over sequal in mind with another fandom and fanfic I wrote. So yeah I definitely revisit old stories and try to salvage them or re-work them a bit.

I guess my Darth Maul one-shot could use some work but I did like the slight freedom I took with his character and hope to get the sequal on my project list for the June ;)