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| Photo credit: sonrisa electrica on Flickr |
And sometimes, it can be embarrassing encouraging to
see some of my writing from last year or three or five years ago, because it
gives me a pretty good idea of how much my writing has improved over time. And
sometimes it’ll remind me of the ideas I had and inspire me to write something
new and brainstorm with new WIP ideas and play with words for a while.
But other times I look at my old writing and remember why I
put it in the (virtual) drawer to begin with.
As writers, unless we experience some sort of computer (or
non-computer) related catastrophe that destroys all archived copies of our
writing, we’ll always have the files
waiting to be opened again. And as we writers tend to be a perfectionistic
bunch, it can sometimes be a little painful to venture into the database of our
previously archived writings.
But I think there’s a lot that can be learned from
occasionally looking back at where we started with fresh, more experienced
eyes. Because while the flaws in our writing from a couple years ago may stand
out as if a neon sign was pointing at them and dancing around in little
circles, flaws in our writing from, say, yesterday, are much harder to find.
And although we’d like to think that we’ve improved so much from our archived writings that we won’t find any of the same mistakes, chances are
that’s not the case, regardless of how much we’ve improved.
Being aware of the flaws in our writing from a couple months
or years ago can help us not to make the same mistakes again when we work on a
new WIP. And even if we don’t go through our old work with a fine-toothed comb
to try to pick out all the little mistakes on the page, just knowing what
elements didn’t work in an old WIP can make it infinitely easier to avoid them
in our newer manuscripts.
So next time you’re between WIPs and books and blog posts
and you find yourself using the interwebs to entertain you for a while, take a couple
minutes to go through your documents and pull out some of your old writing. You
never know what you might gain from the experience.
Do you read your old writing? If so, does it help? If you don’t, why
not?
I was cleaning out some stuff from my childhood and I came across my first serious attempt at writing a novel. I call it serious because it was over 30 pages long but it sorely lacked plot, dialogue, grammar and many other things. Surprisingly, it wasn't god-awful. I'm not sure whether that means I used to pretty good back then or that I haven't improved very much since. :)
ReplyDeleteInteresting timing for this post. Unfortunately, all (and I mean all) my WIPs are on my iPad in the iBooks shelf. I convert all my work to epub format. Last night, finally with a bit of downtime, I decided to read something I had finished last July. In some ways, as you stated, I liked that I easily spotted problem areas that just ten months ago I had thought were brilliant -- feedback of this sort is critical towards growth. But at the same time, I got a bit of energy, wondering if I should revisit this WIP and fix it. Dangerous thoughts for sure :)
ReplyDeleteLol well just the fact that you know just by looking at it that it sorely lacked plot, dialogue and grammar is a pretty good indication that you've improved since then, I would say. :)
ReplyDeleteHa. Yeah, I read my old stuff sometimes. Boy, is it embarrassing. But I keep everything, hoping there's a good gem or two hiding in there somewhere that I can fix in the future.
ReplyDeletePersonally I see nothing wrong with revisiting old works...as long as you aren't currently working on something else (in which case, I'd say the current project takes priority). But if you're in-between WIPs and you feel inspired to rework an old manuscript, I'd say go for it.
ReplyDeleteI firmly believe we learn something from every WIP we write, and I like to keep my old works both to look back at, and to possibly keep for future recycling of content. Even if the entire WIP isn't salvageable, there could be other elements in there that I could still possibly use.
ReplyDeleteLet's say (hypothetically speaking, of course) you are in between two WIPs and this is (hypothetically) the third WIP that's rearing its desire for attention. Hypothetical, of course :) Because I would never do that, nor plan on going to a conference in three weeks. Suddenly, I'm feeling tired...
ReplyDeleteWelllll, in that (hypothetical totally-not real) situation, you probably want to finish WIPs 1 and 2 first, and go to the conference, and finish whatever extra editing/writing things the first two WIPs need, THEN think about WIP 3 assuming it's still demanding attention. Hypothetically, of course. But you probably already knew that. :)
ReplyDeleteAlso, enjoy your (hypothetical) conference!
It's so funny that you posted about this today, because I happen to be spending the afternoon going through some of my old blog posts.
ReplyDeleteHaha this is probably good advice but my old writing (and drawing, this applies to art too) scares me. XD I think the reason why my art or writing from two years ago scares me is because part of me wonders if what I am writing now will give me the same feelings two years from now. O.o Haha great post! :)
ReplyDeleteI recently did a blog purge. I reviewed some very old blog post that I kept when I transferred over to Wordpress and discovered they were awful. It was embarrassing. All stream of consciousness, no structure and a lot of nonsense. I just copied them into a word document and deleted them from the blog. It was a great exercise in seeing how far I had come. I am quite proud of what I am putting out there these days. Even more so after reading that old crap. Great post.
ReplyDeleteFunny how that kind of timing sometimes happens. :D
ReplyDeleteNot to scare you, but two years from now I imagine you probably WILL feel the same way about your current writing as you do now about your writing from two years ago. But that's not a bad thing--it's actually a good thing because it means that you're improving. You want to be able to look back at your old work and see how much you've improved. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sydney! It's amazing how our writing can evolve over time as we improve. Whenever I look back at my old posts, I laugh a little at just how much my blogging style has changed over the course of a year.
ReplyDeleteHaha very true I'm sure. :)
ReplyDeleteOkay. I am finally getting a chance to put together a somewhat coherent comment!
ReplyDeleteYes, I do think going back and reading your older writings is important. But mostly because I forget about stuff and think, hey I should go back and see if that's worth pulling back out again? Most of the time the answer is nope. And I shove it right back into its dark lil corner. But I've never thought about using it to compare to your current writing. With this thought in mind, it turns the whole experience into a much more positive undertaking. Plus, there are a lot of stories I would like to redo and/or build upon.
And that's what I've got! Earth-shattering stuff I KNOW!
Great post. =)
I try not to read too much of my published work except to reference it for my current book since I'm an obsessive editor, but I do like to dig out some of my writing from high school. I was even brave enough to post a 15 year old poem on my blog one day. Reading my old work shows how far down the rabbit hole I've tumbled, and I think that is a good thing
ReplyDeleteGreat advice. I always gain something from looking at my old stuff. Shared on my "Mechanics of Inspiration" page (http://www.facebook.com/TheMechanicsOfInspiration). Thanks for the excellent blog!
ReplyDeleteI have gone back to read my old stuff, but usually I'm looking to see what I did right so that I can keep on with the good stuff. Sometimes I think we get so lost in the technicalities that we forget why we loved writing in the first place. It's always a good reminder :)
ReplyDeleteGlad this post helped, Angela! We often talk about learning from other writers, but sometimes we forget that we can learn from ourselves, too. Plus there's the added bonus of possibility working with old material again as well. Thanks for commenting! ^_^
ReplyDeleteI could understand not wanting to read published work--I've heard of a lot of authors who won't touch their work after it's published because they know they'll inevitably find a typo or something of the like. Looking at work that hasn't been published, however, can be a very interesting experience. :)
ReplyDeleteThat's a very good point--there should be a balance between working on the technicalities and improving and remembering why we love the craft to begin with. It's good to take a step back and just enjoy the process as much as you can.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing my post, Doron! I really appreciate it and I'm glad to hear you've been enjoying my blog. ^_^
ReplyDeleteSometimes I go back and think Oh My! Who wrote this?! and sometimes that a good statement and sometimes it's bad. But I do see the value in going back. I think it's important to see how far we've come as writers.
ReplyDeleteI won't pretend that I don't often find myself cringing when reading old writing (often followed by thoughts like and I thought this was good?), but just the fact that we recognize that it isn't exactly our best work is a pretty clear indication of how much we've improved, which is encouraging. :)
ReplyDeleteThis may sound weird, but when I read my old stuff I usually think "man, I was good"/"shit, I can actually do this".
ReplyDeleteThat's because back then I used to write a lot, but then personal things made me stop, and now my confidence in my writing abilities (and said writing abilities - thanks, college) are scarce. But reading stories I wrote in high-school - even if they need a less purple prose - give me confidence that I KNOW how to write, I just need to get back on the habit.
Considering you haven't had the opportunity to write recently, I don't think that's weird at all--in fact, I think it's wonderful that your past writing is encouraging you to pick it up again. I hope that you do! :)
ReplyDelete