Another serious question

[SpecterNecter]

Do you ever look at what you've written and just simply hate it all, or most of it. I mean you have probably read it a hundred times while editing and somehow it just morphs into something ......I'm lost for the word. Anybody or just me? If you can tell me the word I'm looking for I would appreciate it.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Yes. When I'm rushing to finish something that I really haven't thought through, and the final product shows it. I don't do that anymore.

 

[IWroteThis]

Yeah, I'm in the process of cleaning up around 10K that I wrote over the weekend before realizing I'd mixed in another story idea with a similar event, as the combination did not turn out like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Four named characters and the two characters I was picking names for when I realized what I had done got cut. Only a couple of scenes got the cut in whole, but a big chunk of two chapters requires rewriting to remove parts and rework others to use the original characters.

I've had it happen a few other times where I've went back to finish a story and had to rewrite it from the start. However, I've never had it happen late in editing. It's always been while trying to complete that first draft, or after I've already posted it.

 

[SpecterNecter]

Ok..I'm not talking about my current story..I mean almost everything I've written. There is one story I still like.

 

[Andreas_Kreuz]

For me every story is a learning experience. So my next story is written with a bigger toolbox of skills and I automatically assume is more skilled.
When I look back at older stories I am often surprised that they actually contain parts that I still consider to be ok.

 

[Writer61]

Do you ever look at what you've written and just simply hate it all, or most of it. I mean you have probably read it a hundred times while editing and somehow it just morphs into something ......I'm lost for the word. Anybody or just me? If you can tell me the word I'm looking for I would appreciate it.

I don't often reread my earlier pieces. If I do, it is to check details for continuity issues.

When I do, I don't hate the work, but I do see how my writing has improved. One day, I might go back and polish them.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Do you ever look at what you've written and just simply hate it all, or most of it. I mean you have probably read it a hundred times while editing and somehow it just morphs into something ......I'm lost for the word. Anybody or just me? If you can tell me the word I'm looking for I would appreciate it.

Nothing that I have written for this site.

In the past, I have been paid to write things that I ended up hating due to the subject or the characters not being my own or not to my particular tastes. I once wrote a scene for a British program that parodied a well known person, making him a deceitful and scheming homosexual, and entirely counter to his public persona. I wanted to give the money back once I saw the final version.

 

[WittyUserName]

Do you ever look at what you've written and just simply hate it all, or most of it. I mean you have probably read it a hundred times while editing and somehow it just morphs into something ......I'm lost for the word. Anybody or just me? If you can tell me the word I'm looking for I would appreciate it.

Yes. Mainly my earlier stuff.

 

[ColtonWrites]

I used to feel that way. But lately I'm actually rather impressed with the work I can turn out. And being able to stand re-reading my stuff makes it possible to edit it properly.

Some of the stuff I tried to write for NaNoWriMo (a challenge where you attempt to write 50k words in a month as a standalone novel) was real bad, though. I'd blame it on the speed, but I've been turning out stories at that rate lately that are some of my best work. I think it happens when I try to rush something I don't feel.

 

[Voboy]

I recently had occasion to re-read something I wrote several years ago. I had forgotten much of what I put into the story, especially the little tiny details.

I was very impressed with how the writer set everything up. Lol. It aged well, at least by my standards.

More often than not, when a piece is really fighting me, that's a message from the story that I should stop writing it. So, OP, that's exactly what I do: I stop. I move on to the next idea.

 

[flatiron2]

The first story I ever wrote feels bloated, badly written in parts, and with entire chapters that are unnecessary. I wish I could take it all down and rewrite it. I chalk it up to a learning experience.

 

[CalBishForNow]

I like most of my older stuff better than most of my more recently published stuff. That's interestingly contrary to what you're describing. I think there are three main reasons for this.

1. Scores. I try to tell myself I don't care about scores, I'm writing what I want to write because it's fun, etc. But the fact remains that most of my recent stories are in Loving Wives and the critics are harsh there.
2. Most of my recent stories are in an ongoing series that's gone on so long that I've got bored with it. I think the overall plan for it that I outlined 8-10 months ago is still good, or as good as it ever was, but 8-10 months (and that isn't even when I started the series, just when I settled on the current outline!) is a long time for this sort of thing. A year after the whole series is in the past, maybe I'd look on it more fondly than my first series, but right now I'm still in the weeds of it or actively avoiding it.
3. My early stuff, including the start of this series, was almost pure masturbatory fantasy. I was writing the kind of stuff I wanted to read when I was in a Literotica mood. I didn't literally have one hand on the keyboard and the other on the hand lotion as I was writing, but it was pretty close. I can enjoy that for what it is and appreciate the experimental nature of it now just as much as I could then. I'm slowly evolving out of writing that sort of thing as I get it out of my system, but the basic idea of my current series is still that kind of thing. I've got a WIP I'm enjoying writing that is more plot- and character-driven than the gonad-driven stuff I started with, and I think I'd be enjoying that more than my recent stuff even if not for points 1 and 2.

 

[KittyOfSteele]

Depends on my mood and how much time has passed since I wrote it. Sometimes I just see it and I'm like "maybe I can upcycle this," and perhaps I do upcycle the idea into something better, longer, or just smash it on another story and make it work. It's how Raymond Chandler saw his stories anyway.