Every Wednesday, my most awesome and wonderful friend, Silver, posts a thing called Wednesday Words, wherein she takes a prompt and posts a snippet with that particular word in it. And asks others to post their own snippet. Today's word was 'telescope'. And it made me trot out my first book. (Because I don't think any other book I've ever written has that word and I can't seem to write to spec.) You can read my snippet over there. Warning: It's pretty bad.
And that's what I want to talk about today.
Early writing can be awful. Actually Fear Itself can't have been that bad. It helped Hubs fall in love with me, after all. But it's not where I am right now. And looking back at it makes me want to cringe.
That snippet alone... ugh. I used 'breathed' as a dialogue tag for pitysakes.
It's nearly 18 years since I started writing that book, though, and I've grown a lot. Thank goodness for that. Eighteen years. I don't know how many books I've written in those years, but 16 of them are now published. One would hope after all that, I'd learned some things. I don't use 'breathed' as a dialogue tag anymore, that's for damn sure. LOL
I think every writer should go back and read the early stuff they've written, though. It helps to see where you've been. And then you can celebrate how far you've come.
Even better, go back and try to fix your early stuff. It helps stretch the editing muscles. I still love that book, flaws and all, and I have tried, from time to time, to fix the writing. I may do it yet. I'm stubborn that way.
One thing you should never do is shitcan your old stuff. You need it. Even if you never look at it again, it's part of your journey. It's your history. It's like an old movie of you learning to walk. You'd never destroy that because you walk perfectly now, would you? No, you embrace it.
Embrace your early writings. They may suck. They may make you cringe. You may never want to ever show any of it to the world, because, frankly, it can be a little embarrassing. But they're part of who you are now as a writer. Don't cringe. Smile. The same way you'd smile at uncovered art from Kindergarten. You've grown, sure, but that burgeoning writer is a part of you. Embrace her.
It wasn't that bad! Yes, it needs edits and fixing but the idea and scene, the premise? They're all solid. Not perfevct but hey, what first draft is? And yeah, I cringe over the first book I sold and was published. I learn and grow with every book I write. I won't even discuss the first book I wrote. (Hey, I was in the 9th grade!), Oor the bodice ripper (and it truely was, even if set in contemporary times!) I wrote as an adult. The next two, both written 30+ years ago, might see the light of day at some point. One is part of a trilogy and I'd want to finish the second and write the third. Anyway, I totally agree with all you said.
ReplyDeleteI hope you'll revisit FEAR ITSELF. It's sooo totally in your wheelhouse as far as plot and sense of story goes. It's worth saving IMO.
Also, thanks for the signal boost! I'm lucky that I can take a random prompt, do some free writing and end up with something usuable. Sometimes, my writerly brain actually functions. 😉
Happy writing, editing, reading day!