Cringe-Worthy Stories.

[Marco Polo]

Hey Guys. An odd rather strange ramble here that anyone can feel free to add to with their own little anecdotes.

 

i was sitting on my bed, drinking nice hot chocolate thinking to myself. 'Ah Marco, how long it has been since you sifted through your masses of unfinished plots and simple fiction.' I agreed with myself and said aloud. ' Why Marco's Mind, I do beleive you are correct.'

 

Thus I went searching through my archives and found many a foul plot line. I mean what was I thinking? The typical gay boy is in love with the jock and the jock is secretly gay? It wasnt believable to me now, so how was I going to sell it to readers. I get the fact that we all started somewhere. But somehow I think that that particular trip through memory lane was completely unneccessary and as such I have locked the doomed plots in a folder in the deep recesses of my computer.

 

That is all my comrades.

 

Ugh, Russian Revolution is making my head spin.*

 

 

_Marco-Goldfish Lover.

 

 

*completely unrelated.*

[DragonFire]

Whatever dodgy plots I've had in the past have been summarily deleted from my computer. I don't tend to keep them around long enough to talk to myself about them!!

[Zeoanne]

If the ones you've started simply nauseate you, gather them all, see which characters have the best traits and try to compile them into something that will satisfy you instead of archiving them and let them forgotten. As we read from others and continue writing our own 'scenes', we develop our own style. I say, don't waste what you've started, make use of them instead!

Good Luck!

[Nephylim]

If the ones you've started simply nauseate you, gather them all, see which characters have the best traits and try to compile them into something that will satisfy you instead of archiving them and let them forgotten. As we read from others and continue writing our own 'scenes', we develop our own style. I say, don't waste what you've started, make use of them instead!

Good Luck!

 

 

I agree.... even though the plotlines might be a little... er dated there may still be nuggets of gold in there among the dross... characters, dialogue, descriptions. Go through them again with an open mind, cut out the good bits and put them in folders. At the very least they could give you inspitaraton or 'fillers' And it is always heartening when you read something which you have written that is, on the face of it cringeworthy, to find that it is not all that bad after all.

[Zeoanne]

I agree.... even though the plotlines might be a little... er dated there may still be nuggets of gold in there among the dross... characters, dialogue, descriptions. Go through them again with an open mind, cut out the good bits and put them in folders. At the very least they could give you inspitaraton or 'fillers' And it is always heartening when you read something which you have written that is, on the face of it cringeworthy, to find that it is not all that bad after all.

Not only that but you'll also be amazed at how much you've improved from when you started writing. Every day is a learning classroom when ever you're tapping at the keys. Don't discard the old entries, they could be there ready for you when ever you're feeling down and will give you a boost of pride to know how much you've improved!!! (Sheesh! I need to adopt what I'm preaching and go back to writing!)

[Sir Galahad]

Whatever dodgy plots I've had in the past have been summarily deleted from my computer. I don't tend to keep them around long enough to talk to myself about them!!

I've read some of the stuff you've deleted, all I'm saying - what a waste!

 

Don't shoot me down for saying it, I gave you my opinion then and I'm giving it now. Before you delete again, get a second or third opinion, because most of it was really good! You have no idea just how talented you are dude!

[David McLeod]

Marco,

 

First, congratulations for going through the old stuff and looking at what you thought and wrote in the past. It's an important part of being a writer.

 

Second, shame for deleting anything! Save everything. There's no way to tell what might stimulate, encourage, or otherwise prod you to write something that you would be proud of and we would like. I lost a great deal of my older writings when Katrina sent a 20-foot wave through the 10-foot ceiling of my office. I envy your stash of original thoughts.

 

Third, listen to DragonFire!

[Cynical Romantic]

There's a "then and now" meme going around on some writers' communities. That made me think of this. I think Libby Drew posted hers the other day.

 

Bottom line is, there's no sense in cringing over what you wrote then. It was what it was. Either it's salvageable, in which case you should look at how it could be fixed, or it's not, in which case you chalk it up as a learning experience and move onto something else. There's no shortage of ideas out there; what separates true writers from hacks is the execution.

[Libby Drew]

what separates true writers from hacks is the execution.

 

 

Great point!

 

And Marco, Cyn liked my "then" piece, which I still consider to be overly formulaic, sloppy porn. (Sorry, Cyn, you know it's true ;-p) The point is, you never know what's going to resonate with a reader. Keep your creations. If nothing else, they're a diary of sorts -- of where you've been, and where you're going.

[corvus]

My "then" pieces were so childlike and innocent in a way -- not the subject matter, which would've indicated a very disturbed child, but the approach, which was pretty headlong and immolative (which isn't a word). Anyway, I cringe at a lot of then-things, but "betterment" is a very subjective term.

[Krista]

Heh.. my early stuff, I actually like. They're straight love stories, but my writing.. uhh.. correctness wasn't what it is today. It was pretty pathetic to say the least and would need a thorough editing and rewrite. The plots and characters though, I thought were good. I probably haven't changed much in how I develop my characters, which could be a problem in the future when I'm looking to do that.

 

But, I would say, keep them, you may not look at them with a sense of accomplishment, but it is nice to keep them. I like to look at things I've archived.

[Rilbur]

I know that I'm just about ashamed of some of my earliest work. It was... technically, the writing isn't so bad. But the plot... the characters... The plot devices! Bleh. And everyone was complimenting me on the work, too.

[Marco Polo]

Hey guys, Just to clear this up. What I meant in my original post, was not that I had deleted anything at all. I've just put them into a seperate folder. I would never intentionally delete anything I've done.

 

As Rush has said, It's great to look back and compare and see how far I've come. I enjoy it most of the time. Who knows, maybe sometime in the future you'll see that story I had quickly doomed from the beginning and I will have applied a fresh coat of paint. Someday

 

 

[DomLuka]

I agree that deleting isn't a good way of going about things, though there are many files from the past that I'll never let see the light of day. I've lost things unintentionally, and always end up missing them when i want to go in search of characters, plots, and even conversations I came up with in the past. Just because "that" story wasn't right for them, doesn't mean a more recent one isn't. And don't knock the cliche, make it your own. It's not the circumstances, it's the story, and if you enjoy writing it, chances are someone will enjoy reading it.

[Rilbur]

I've lost things unintentionally, and always end up missing them when i want to go in search of characters, plots, and even conversations I came up with in the past. Just because "that" story wasn't right for them, doesn't mean a more recent one isn't.

 

I've lived that one, recently. Jer and Da from my "Redemption" story were originally a part of a much different story. They didn't fit the story (I figured out eventually) and they found a new story, and made it their own. And it's a much better fit for the characters.

 

And the old story didn't (completely) die, either; I just found some new characters that did fit it, and a new activator. The result is a new, better story (Hector and Eddie's tale from Redemption).

[S.L. Lewis]

I've actually taken to going through my plots, which are written out and kept in a binder or folder near my desk, and figuring out what to keep, what to rework and what to throw out like yesterdays trash.

 

It's always a good idea to go through stuff. You never know when you'll find a little piece of gold that can grow into something more.

 

That's actually how I started A Butterfly's Dream. I found Markus and Edward from one story and I found an idea and some research after that for another story...from there it was history.

[Kia Zi Shiru]

I've got a huge file on my computer full of old stories (2 large story lines that together form 2 generations of schoollife in a sf world that also does resemble Harry Potter for a bit, but also it is totally different, and 2 smaller story lines one is a porn/romance and the other one a fantasy story). Also I've got a ringbinder full of handwritten stuff, notes, drawings and the like, even a couple of empty papers and some pens in it. On top of that I have some small notebooks tht also have parts of stories in them.... I've got quite the archive when I think about it. I used to take the ringbinder and the small notebooks everywhere with me, school, holidays, everywhere

 

I do read back some stuff and sometimes i borrow names from old stories, too bad I won't be able to show you guys some stuff, it's all in dutch. But the story lines weren't bad, the writing was kinda...

One story i started when I was 11/12 and I've been writing till I was 15/16, and I can see how much I've improved back then. I was thinking about maybe rewriting the whole deal, but I'm not really sure

 

for now, I just like to sometimes look back on it and think about the hours of research I did for some parts

[Dolores Esteban]

I keep all that stuff in a seperate folder, too. A few of the older stories and drafts are so bad that I hesitate to read them. Now and then I do. And every time I wince and roll my eyes and feel utterly embarrassed. But I keep all that stuff. You never know.

 

[jovian_w2002]

Haha I had some of my old stories printed out. I kept them in a file then stashed it in a "forgotten" drawer. I can't remember where that file is, but I guess it's better if it stays hidden.

[Cynical Romantic]

Everyone talks about growth and improvement, but often, the raw, flawed early works are an author's best. Sure, the style gets more polished and mature over time, but often the work loses something - in intensity, in emotion, in sheer grit. Just look at the number of published authors out there who "break through" with wonderful first works, only to sorely disappoint with their sophomore or subsequent efforts.

 

So, sure, strive for continual improvement, by all means. But don't cringe at the earlier stuff, because - flaws and all - it probably has heart. An important lesson, if I may say so myself: Don't let your work lose that naive idealism as it improves over time.

[Gay_In_Flanders]

Hm, I'de like to start writing, but simply don't know where to begin.

 

I got huge plots in my head wich don't even contain a single secretivly (I wrote that sooo wrong ) gay jock. I'm so proud of that... .

 

Any tips on where to get started? (sorry if this is the wrong place to ask about that, I just don't like pinned threads ^^)

[JamesSavik]

Good writers are always readers first. Reading a good cross section of material is a good way to see how other authors handle character development, plot, setting and so on.

 

A good place to start in finding worthy stories is the Best of Nifty list that is maintained at Awesomedude.

 

Some authors that you may want to pay particular attention to are:

 

Dom Luka (all around)

Freethinker (setting)

Driver 9 (character development)

EleCivil (humor)

 

Very few people write a novel on their first effort. Short stories are a good way to get your feet wet. Because of their length you have to make every word count.

[Gay_In_Flanders]

Good writers are always readers first. Reading a good cross section of material is a good way to see how other authors handle character development, plot, setting and so on.

 

A good place to start in finding worthy stories is the Best of Nifty list that is maintained at Awesomedude.

 

Some authors that you may want to pay particular attention to are:

 

Dom Luka (all around)

Freethinker (setting)

Driver 9 (character development)

EleCivil (humor)

 

Very few people write a novel on their first effort. Short stories are a good way to get your feet wet. Because of their length you have to make every word count.

thanks a lot

[JamesSavik]

Every writer develops at their own pace.

 

If you don't write something that sets the world on fire you first time out, don't sweat it.

 

The more you write, the easier it becomes. Your skill grows and you will get better.

 

Think of it as working out with weights. You won't become Faulkner overnight but you will get stronger over time.

 

Don't throw away fragments or ideas that you have either.

 

I took two pieces about an old friend from my blog, welded them together, filed off the sharp edges and it became Remembering Joey.

 

I've had an enormous email response (250 and counting) about that one short story and struck a deeper chord than I ever dreamed of.

[Lugh]

I keep a file of old stuff too, arranged by year and content (some of it is just character development, some is just plot development, some is openings, some is just random scenes/conversations/whatever) I have my oldest stuff printed out and kept in notebooks, including the first novel I ever wrote (handwritten on yellow legal pads btw with blue ballpoint pen) that I leaf through from time to time to remind me where I've been and where I should be going.

 

I even keep the stuff I cut from novels (like the 200k words I cut once that I put on a CD and mailed to my sister for safe keeping) just in case I change my mind.