Has Age Improved Your Writing?

[mejau71]

The older I’ve become, my writing has evolved inward, delving far deeper into what makes my characters tick. Compared to what I was writing twenty years ago, it’s quite the contrast.

I’d like to think it’s wisdom, age, and experience.

Just curious, have any of you wiser, more seasoned authors noticed this? The sandbox I dabble in is as strong as ever, but find that the backstory and nuance permeates the sex scenes all for the better.

Thoughts?

 

[MillieDynamite]

Is it age, or has the writing changed how you write? The more I write, the better I write. Or maybe I'm full of shit.

 

[mildlyaroused]

Absolutely - though I'm not sure it's age so much as time. I'm still young, and still (at least in my life outside of writing) not particularly wise or seasoned, but each time I look back on my writing from >6 months ago, I find a world of difference. Writing is practice. The more I write, the more I improve, even if I don't notice it on a day-to-day basis. I guess this is a combination of practice and life experience.

Maybe once I'm older and wiser I'll improve even faster. Then you'll all be in trouble...

 

[ElectricBlue]

The older I’ve become, my writing has evolved inward, delving far deeper into what makes my characters tick. Compared to what I was writing twenty years ago, it’s quite the contrast.

I’d like to think it’s wisdom, age, and experience.

Just curious, have any of you wiser, more seasoned authors noticed this? The sandbox I dabble in is as strong as ever, but find that the backstory and nuance permeates the sex scenes all for the better.

Thoughts?

Yes. As I've become a better writer, I've got more confidence with deeper stories, also a longer life to tap in on. A lot of what I write, I call erotic nostalgia, so as I get older there's more of it, and there are people around me, new muses.

 

[XerXesXu]

The older I’ve become, my writing has evolved inward, delving far deeper into what makes my characters tick. Compared to what I was writing twenty years ago, it’s quite the contrast.

I’d like to think it’s wisdom, age, and experience.

Yes, as you describe and how you describe. Not technically, but in emotional depth.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

What I'm writing, yes. The basic technical stuff, not really - probably less good as I get more tired and put less effort in. But building characters and reactions and connections between strands of life, yes, that enables me to write more complex stories than I could 30 years ago (I have my notebooks from when I would pass the time on buses and trains by writing porn, often barely-amended anecdotes of student life.)

 

[Areala-chan]

Experience has improved my writing. Age is just a secondary function of that accumulation of experience.

 

[SimonDoom]

Age, no. I think experience writing has improved my writing somewhat, but age is probably working against that improvement. I wish I'd taken up creative writing much younger. I didn't publish my first story here until my early 50s.

 

[MrPixel]

Experience has improved my writing. Age is just a secondary function of that accumulation of experience.

I feel the same, and have to ask, "Improved in what regard?" I didn't start writing fiction until about five years ago, but was writing technical articles for regional publications starting fifty years ago. Generally my writing has improved not so much with age, but with practice. One specific change has been a better job avoiding run-on sentences. Possibly another improvement has been a learned avoidance of absolutes and superlatives. It tended to get me into trouble with the tech writing.

On the other hand, my go-to vocabulary has matured. Not so much expanded, as I had great teachers who emphasized vocabulary, but word choices.

 

[wuselmann]

The older I’ve become, my writing has evolved inward, delving far deeper into what makes my characters tick. Compared to what I was writing twenty years ago, it’s quite the contrast.

I’d like to think it’s wisdom, age, and experience.

I was thinking the same thing recently (writing erotic stories for about twenty years now myself). I also got bored at one point describing the act itself in endless variations and focussed more on the thoughts and feelings of my characters, which I believe is an improvement. Some readers might disagree, but maybe it's the age that I don't care that much about that either.

 

[Plathfan]

Definitely, but it has also stifled my mojo. The older I get, the lazier I become, like a villain.

 

[Candy_Kane54]

Definitely, but it has also stifled my mojo. The older I get, the lazier I become, like a villain.

Same here. My first year I put out 18 stories. This year, three.

 

[onehitwanda]

my early stories are infantile. I cringe when I go back to them sometimes.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Absolutely, it has. But I think it has as much, possibly more, to do with me gaining more experience as it does me being older. ('and wiser', while debatable, can be inferred if you'd like.)

 

[StillStunned]

Yes, some of the stuff I posted in November was just awful!

More seriously: I remember trying to write in my late teens, and it was probably what you'd expect. I started writing for myself a couple of years ago, and one big difference is that I'm in less of a hurry to get to the end. I've learned to write the journey, not just the start and the finish.

But that's mostly the result of writing hundreds of thousands of words.

 

[mejau71]

Nice to read some of your thoughts, thank you!

I also believe that with age comes a sharper interest in etymology and how people spoke in different time periods.

 

[yowser]

For Literotica purposes, the older you are means it's easier to write the 'over 18' rule stuff authentically.

 

[Britva415]

Has Age Improved Your Writing?

No, those poems from high school are even more cringe now.

 

[Erozetta]

The older I get the more practice I have behind me, so I certainly hope so!

 

[ChloeTzang]

Age, no. I think experience writing has improved my writing somewhat, but age is probably working against that improvement. I wish I'd taken up creative writing much younger. I didn't publish my first story here until my early 50s.

Yes, i feel the same way too. Writing improves writing, and the more you write while trying to improve, and the more you experiment as you write, the better you get.

 

[Noor]

My handwriting has gotten worse.

 

[ericalauren]

Maybe!

 

[Dearelliot]

Yes and no. It has helped in some ways, having the time, more writing experience, learning from others, articles, and patience, but in other ways, age is a problem with my memory. I'm 90 so...I have problems finding the right words. I find myself checking the thesaurus more often.