I was going through my files on my PC to try to get everything organized and make room by removing files I no longer need...I stumbled upon some old stories I write when I first started to write...
This is when I was green...
Green= me not knowing anything and breaking every rule in grammar...aka newbie
It was a nice reminder on how much I have learned with time and how much my work has changed...As I sat reading the story I spotted every change and wanted to start getting out the red pen....When I had first finished it I was sure I wrote the best thing out there...I was so wrong...so very very wrong...LOL
I'm proud that I've gotten better at my craft and I notice it..I know that I still have much to learn but..With time I know I will get even better...
Give it another few more months or a year and I will look back at more stuff and see the improvement I've made since that time...
I think that with every book every author grows...some discover their voice...and others improve it....that is the thing about writing....
One never stops learning and growing...
As writers have you looked back on old work and seen changes? As readers have you noticed authors work change as they grew with time?
Savannah
www.savannahchase.com
11 comments:
Hey Savannah! Great post. I know I've definitely grown as a writer since writing my first novel.
Mine was a historical--I was totally into them when I first started writing. I probably have a dozen or more finished historical manuscripts cluttering up my hard drive.
I opened that first one and started to read it. All I can say is thank GOD no one ever offered to publish it. I'd be mortified if they had. Head hopping. Scene shifts. Every grammar error you could imagine! Come to think of it, I don't even think it's that strong of a story!
We've come a long way, baby.
~Allie
Allie, I know how that feels...It is one of those stories that will probably never see the light of day again...
Thank you so much for your comment...
Hi, Savannah. It's funny you're blogging about this. My crit buddies and I were just talking about this very thing. We took a section out of our first novel and re-wrote it as we would now, for s*#$s and giggles. You wouldn't believe the difference we saw in each others work. It was a lot of fun.
Yeah, I like to think I'm a WIP myself. Always growing, always learning.
Dawn
Dawn, I might have to try to do that with that book I found...Hmmm...I wonder what it would look like now.....
Oh man, I still cringe. I once found a very, very early copy of Sweet Moon Dreams. It was horrible. I almost cried.
I think my writing has come a long way since then.
Thanks for the post Savannah!
Much Love Always,
Rose Marie Wolf
www.rosemariewolf.com
When I think back to that first short story I wrote early in 2004, I want to die. It's not a bad story, it's just that it's . . . not very good. Being a sub-editor in a newspaper environment has been one of the best "cures" for bad grammar and spelling.
As a fiction editor, I find I've been learning the most from the mistakes my authors make and I also totally recommend newbie writers to join online writing communities such as www.critique.org
Guess the thing is to always be open to learning from your mistakes.
I love reading my early material. I write for a local magazine and while they loved my stuff, I shake my head and say, "Wow, you've come a long way Becc!"
Rose Marie- i think we have all shed a tear....we just love our stuff that much..even if it horrible...LOL
Nerine- As long as we learn we know that we grow...thank you for posting that link...
Rebecca- It reminds you of how much time has passed and how much things have changed....It is a walk down memory drive...
It's always interesting to go back on an old work, especially an early one, and see just how much your writing has progressed.
I reread one of my first literary books last year, when I decided I wanted to write adapt a screenplay for a contest, and I was blown away by just how "green" it was. When I had written it, I had thought it was the best book ever written, lol; I still think the story is phenomenal ... but I will be doing a LOT of redrafting on that one, before I do any further marketing with it.
Never stop learning. Never stop getting better. That's what it's all about. ;-)
I have definitely grown. I think the minute we stop learning/growing is when we become stale. Not that we are loaves of bread, but we need to have that something extra that we are adding to our works to keep us appealing to our audience.
Lisa- it is funny how at the very moment we write it we think it is amazing and the best thing but after some time we see how wrong we are...
Ava- I agree.....We should never stop..
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