When a new story has an old feel.

[lovecraft68]

Its my belief-and personal experience-that the longer we write the more our writing changes. Not always huge glaring changes, but sometimes just subtle ones.

I'm not speaking as much about getting better as time goes on or experimenting with different POVs and style, but more as in it shifts as we shift. Our lives go through changes for better or worse, we get older which sometimes can change how we see things and that change can be seen in our stories. Interests also change. Maybe we start off hot and heavy in one genre, but then interest wanes and we have a desire to reach out.

I think for those of us who have writing for a fair amount of time that we go back and look at our first stories compared to our latest you can pick up some of this.

But for this thread I'm speaking of mostly the intangibles of 'feel and tone" those two things have always drive my work. If the story doesn't have the right feel, I back off until I get it right, same for tone. Just like when people speak, our words on the page can carry different emphasis and meaning. A fun story should read in a fun way, a happy lusty tone. Darker works that touch on not so pleasant experiences should have a melancholy tone to it.

What prompted this thread is a new story I started and one that came out of nowhere.

When I first started writing it was heavily in the BDSM genre mostly focused on a secret club of wealthy male and female doms. Even my first taboo work, Siblings with Benefits featured a brother and sister who engaged in rough sex and BDSM control games. As time went on I broke into other genres and further from the BDSM genre. I'd mix a little into a story here and there, but it was an add on not the focus of the story.

Those old works from what I refer to as my "Circle era" had a feel to them a certain tone, a style to the characters personalities and backgrounds and how they 'told' the story. Often I played with the device of this was the type to have it all on the surface but a hot mess with a variety of flaws few knew of.

My new WIP-something I'm going to enter into Pink Orchid rather than an existing market piece I was going to drop in- caught me by surprise because it's 100% going back to not just BDSM but revisiting that type of character. I've written 6k of it in two days, my best production in some time due to real life drama but that's finally getting under control- and when I went back and read through I was like holy shit, this turns back the clock not just in going back to the roots so to speak but that identical tone and feel to stories I wrote between 2010-2013 or so. It feels like nothing I've written in years. I read it to my wife without saying any of this to her and her response was

"Wow, that sounds like some of your first stories," she then laughed and added the word 'Vintage!"

Am I the only one who experiences what I'm talking about or am I that much a whack job within my writing/process.

Curious to see if others know what I mean and have their own examples.

 

[Areala-chan]

I grok this 100% (in the Heinlein-ian, not the AI chatbot, sense).

As a depressive-creative, I tend to channel my darker urges and emotions into my stories, and even when they have the HEA, there's always a lot more going on beneath the surface than other characters in the stories tend to pick up on.

But going back and reading the earliest stuff I published, years before I found Lit, there is that youthful energy and enthusiasm, and a sense of, "I don't know all the rules, but screw it, I'm doing it anyway." And the results, just like you talk about, were that I'd finish a story incredibly quickly. Both "Dead Space: Kendra" and "Chasing Cars" were the result of epic creative bursts where I'd throw together tens of thousands of words in a short period of time, at least for my typically glacial writing pace. They both read closer to the style of that young woman who was frantically stabbing words into her copy of Microsoft Works on her Windows 95 laptop back in college in between classes.

 

[Voboy]

Yes. I VERY strongly feel that my earlier output was different (and a little better) than a lot of my later output. When I try consciously to "go retro," it reads to me as very fake. No idea how it would read to others.

I am a big believer in writing I think of as "organic," meaning (for me, and I'd never impose this idea on others) stuff written without much of a plan and then edited very minimally. A huge number of my stories sound different from each other, because their narrators are different people. So any attempt to ape a certain style, even my own, I think is doomed to failure.

But sometimes it happens organically. I just recently completed a piece that felt distinctly like something I might have written 8 years ago, let's say, when I think my writing was better and when I know it was certainly more effortless. I hope this story ends up sounding as good to me when I re-read it in a couple of months, for it's a Nude Day story and I always like to submit something special for that one.

 

[ADirtyPerv]

Yes. I VERY strongly feel that my earlier output was different (and a little better) than a lot of my later output. When I try consciously to "go retro," it reads to me as very fake. No idea how it would read to others.

I am a big believer in writing I think of as "organic," meaning (for me, and I'd never impose this idea on others) stuff written without much of a plan and then edited very minimally. A huge number of my stories sound different from each other, because their narrators are different people. So any attempt to ape a certain style, even my own, I think is doomed to failure.

But sometimes it happens organically. I just recently completed a piece that felt distinctly like something I might have written 8 years ago, let's say, when I think my writing was better and when I know it was certainly more effortless. I hope this story ends up sounding as good to me when I re-read it in a couple of months, for it's a Nude Day story and I always like to submit something special for that one.

That's really interesting (and sorry to derail the conversation). I always think my writing is getting better, but that perhaps I've used up some really good ideas too soon, before I could really give them a solid treatment. I don't like the idea of hitting a plateau or going backwards on writing quality.

 

[old_prof]

That's really interesting (and sorry to derail the conversation). I always think my writing is getting better, but that perhaps I've used up some really good ideas too soon, before I could really give them a solid treatment. I don't like the idea of hitting a plateau or going backwards on writing quality.

I'm with you on this one. I think I see jumps in my writing every few stories. My best story published yet (I honestly believe my Pink Orchid novel may be my best once it's published) is not actually that well written. I've made one superficial editing pass recently, although I've not pushed that to here. In some ways, I wish I had held this characters until I was a better writer. Two of my last five stories really need a better writer than I am now. I tell myself that I may try doing major revisions of them in a year when I will surely be that better writer.

Although I think I've grown a lot as a writer, I've still been writing for less than a year so there's not enough separation for me to be nostalgic about my old writing.

 

[Voboy]

That's really interesting (and sorry to derail the conversation). I always think my writing is getting better, but that perhaps I've used up some really good ideas too soon, before I could really give them a solid treatment. I don't like the idea of hitting a plateau or going backwards on writing quality.

The ideas aren't the problem. I've never run out of those. I've still got several hanging around.

I've found that good writing (defined by me, about my own stuff) requires much more effort to produce now than it used to. There are probably a number of reasons for that.

I don't think of it as a "plateau."

 

[old_prof]

The ideas aren't the problem. I've never run out of those. I've still got several hanging around.

I've found that good writing (defined by me, about my own stuff) requires much more effort to produce now than it used to. There are probably a number of reasons for that.

I don't think of it as a "plateau."

Why do you think it takes you more effort now? I really am curious. I guess it scares me a bit.

My last three stories, counting the one that is appearing tomorrow, took me vastly more rewriting effort. I'm happy that I could do it, because revising was high on the list of things I don't do well when writing and I think I did a reasonably good job at it, especially with my Valentine's Day story. It really was a terrible story when I finished the first draft. The other two went from truly awful to barely acceptable.

 

[anthrodisiac]

Yes. I VERY strongly feel that my earlier output was different (and a little better) than a lot of my later output. When I try consciously to "go retro," it reads to me as very fake. No idea how it would read to others.

I am a big believer in writing I think of as "organic," meaning (for me, and I'd never impose this idea on others) stuff written without much of a plan and then edited very minimally. A huge number of my stories sound different from each other, because their narrators are different people. So any attempt to ape a certain style, even my own, I think is doomed to failure.

But sometimes it happens organically. I just recently completed a piece that felt distinctly like something I might have written 8 years ago, let's say, when I think my writing was better and when I know it was certainly more effortless. I hope this story ends up sounding as good to me when I re-read it in a couple of months, for it's a Nude Day story and I always like to submit something special for that one.

100% agree with this. Well, not the minimal editing, but the rest of it. I usually start with a story idea and start writing and the story unfolds itself before me. It leads to some works being fantastic, and others being decidedly...unfantastic.

I also tend to have stories with very different narrators and styles (more so in my non-erotic work than here at the moment), depending on how close to voice I am for a certain narrator. I always appreciate writers who hew close to their MC's voice in first person and third-person limited.

Why do you think it takes you more effort now? I really am curious. I guess it scares me a bit.

I think there is/can be a feeling of freedom when you don't have a firm grasp on some of the more technical aspects of writing. You're focused purely on story, less on craft. Disinhibited writing, for me at least, tends to be my more evokative work. So when I start editing real time, questioning if this is the right narrative choice/beat/what have you, the more effortless flow state devolves into a constant fretting that slows the process.

Keep in mind, I've been writing for 20 years, and this sort of thing comes and goes. It's highly dependent on the story, how inspired it is, how much you enjoy writing it, and all sorts of other intangibles that differ from person to person. I took a five-year break from writing, and am just getting back into it. I'm finding I'm a lot more critical of what I'm writing in real-time than what I used to be, but then sometimes I can bang out 3k in one sitting, no problem. Part of it is my newness in this genre, part of it is rust.

So, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Some people have this problem, some people don't. The best thing you can do is get out of your own way when writing. Fixing it after is what editing is for.

 

[Voboy]

Why do you think it takes you more effort now? I really am curious. I guess it scares me a bit.

My last three stories, counting the one that is appearing tomorrow, took me vastly more rewriting effort. I'm happy that I could do it, because revising was high on the list of things I don't do well when writing and I think I did a reasonably good job at it, especially with my Valentine's Day story. It really was a terrible story when I finished the first draft. The other two went from truly awful to barely acceptable.

Partly it might be lack of passion? I've written a lot of stories that I think are really good, and somewhere deep inside myself it's possible I think all my best stuff is behind me. I think that's part of it.

There's also the basic logistics of life: I have a family, and there is much less time and privacy for me as time passes and there are more demands on my time. So whatever momentum I gain from starting a story is at risk at some point.

Finally, I find myself wondering sometimes whether some of my more advanced plots bite off more than I can chew. My early stuff was simple, by comparison with some of what I've produced later. There is value in that simplicity, but there's also value in a more complicated story; I can do those too, and well, but they do take more motivation.

This recent one, the tale I just wrapped up for Nude Day, lent itself to the simplicity of 2017 rather than the greater complexity of 2024. I suspect that's why I think it has, in the OP's words, an "old feel."

 

[Erozetta]

My current WIP is basically the same tone and feel of the first time I ever wrote a story for myself.

It's dark and a bit melancholy. Very much an exploration of my sense of self in my darkest moments. The only other piece I wrote like that I never shown anyone because I was legitimately afraid of the consequences of facing those thoughts within myself.

I'm back to my introspective characters who are deeply troubled and barely straddling the line between life and whatever is next. I like my stories when I write from this space, but I so seldom do it because it's difficult to come back from. It becomes very easy for me to get lost in the dream-like quality of this style of writing.

It's the existential fear of love developing and creating something worth losing. Is erotic dread a thing? Facing the inevitability that what you have is deeply moving and worth fighting for, but also knowing that somehow you'll end up losing it.

For reference, my earliest erotic stories, which I've never shown anyone, always ended with a loss for the characters. A loss of:
Life
Emotion
Comfort
Stability
Humanity
Fear
Care


Just any loss that pushed the characters from straddling the line to falling full on one side of the other, messily and fully.

It's both comforting and terrifying to write and there are reasons I seldom revert to the tone and style in this type of story.

 

[lovecraft68]

Partly it might be lack of passion? I've written a lot of stories that I think are really good, and somewhere deep inside myself it's possible I think all my best stuff is behind me. I think that's part of it.

I often ask myself this. Have I written my best story? Or have I peaked at some point in general over the years? Or is he best story still in there somewhere?

 

[ADirtyPerv]

I often ask myself this. Have I written my best story? Or have I peaked at some point in general over the years? Or is he best story still in there somewhere?

You write both novels and short stories. Do you feel like your "best" work so far is in the form of a novel? I'm curious because, to me, they feel like really different writing muscles, so to speak. Marathon vs sprint, I guess. So your peak with one might not be the peak with the other.

 

[lovecraft68]

You write both novels and short stories. Do you feel like your "best" work so far is in the form of a novel? I'm curious because, to me, they feel like really different writing muscles, so to speak. Marathon vs sprint, I guess. So your peak with one might not be the peak with the other.

You're right a story even something long-say 10-12 lit pages is different than a 120-150k novel.

Overall, I'd say my best work is in the novels because the subject matter is the focus whereas here the sex scenes are often what the story is driving the reader toward.

I have my "best" in each style but if I had to choose, the EH novels are better, at least to me.

 

[StrentWriter]

Its my belief-and personal experience-that the longer we write the more our writing changes. Not always huge glaring changes, but sometimes just subtle ones.

I'm not speaking as much about getting better as time goes on or experimenting with different POVs and style, but more as in it shifts as we shift. Our lives go through changes for better or worse, we get older which sometimes can change how we see things and that change can be seen in our stories. Interests also change. Maybe we start off hot and heavy in one genre, but then interest wanes and we have a desire to reach out.

I think for those of us who have writing for a fair amount of time that we go back and look at our first stories compared to our latest you can pick up some of this.

But for this thread I'm speaking of mostly the intangibles of 'feel and tone" those two things have always drive my work. If the story doesn't have the right feel, I back off until I get it right, same for tone. Just like when people speak, our words on the page can carry different emphasis and meaning. A fun story should read in a fun way, a happy lusty tone. Darker works that touch on not so pleasant experiences should have a melancholy tone to it.

What prompted this thread is a new story I started and one that came out of nowhere.

When I first started writing it was heavily in the BDSM genre mostly focused on a secret club of wealthy male and female doms. Even my first taboo work, Siblings with Benefits featured a brother and sister who engaged in rough sex and BDSM control games. As time went on I broke into other genres and further from the BDSM genre. I'd mix a little into a story here and there, but it was an add on not the focus of the story.

Those old works from what I refer to as my "Circle era" had a feel to them a certain tone, a style to the characters personalities and backgrounds and how they 'told' the story. Often I played with the device of this was the type to have it all on the surface but a hot mess with a variety of flaws few knew of.

My new WIP-something I'm going to enter into Pink Orchid rather than an existing market piece I was going to drop in- caught me by surprise because it's 100% going back to not just BDSM but revisiting that type of character. I've written 6k of it in two days, my best production in some time due to real life drama but that's finally getting under control- and when I went back and read through I was like holy shit, this turns back the clock not just in going back to the roots so to speak but that identical tone and feel to stories I wrote between 2010-2013 or so. It feels like nothing I've written in years. I read it to my wife without saying any of this to her and her response was

"Wow, that sounds like some of your first stories," she then laughed and added the word 'Vintage!"

Am I the only one who experiences what I'm talking about or am I that much a whack job within my writing/process.

Curious to see if others know what I mean and have their own examples.

This can also be problematic if you, like me, have taken three years to write one long work. I cringe at some of the earlier chapters that were written, and you can tell which in order they were written I reckon. Early ones really unnecessarily descriptive, later ones more clinical and about the characters rather than the acts.

 

[lovecraft68]

This can also be problematic if you, like me, have taken three years to write one long work. I cringe at some of the earlier chapters that were written, and you can tell which in order they were written I reckon. Early ones really unnecessarily descriptive, later ones more clinical and about the characters rather than the acts.

I can see where that would be an issue that three years could change how you write in general to some degree and I imagine it would be hard to get the same 'feel' back into the story. Good luck on that project.