Advice on how to approach old writing?

Glen

Glen

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I'm having to pace my WIP so I don't get too far ahead of my planning. So, I started looking through some old stuff, and there was the first "full length" book. I read the 1st 20 pages and I didn't think it was too bad. I quite liked the energy of it, and I liked some of the character observation.

Stats:

  • It took me around 10 years to write (duration, not effort).
  • It has only 81K words (about 50K short of the last thing I wrote).
  • It is first person pov, but I decided not to use the word "I" unless in dialogue (don't ask, I don't know).
  • It's been in a virtual drawer for at least ten years.

Now, the questions. Should I put it back in it's virtual drawer? And if your answer is no, what should I be bearing in mind as I re-read and edit?
 
I think that as long as you think you can make it work, and more importantly, that you want it work, you definitely should work on it some more.
You've already put all of that effort into it. You might as well see it through.
 
Have a go at the edit and re-write. It's only going to cost you time. If you don't, there could be that 'what if' niggling at you. If it goes nowhere after a while, then you can always put it back in its drawer.

As with all re-writes try to firm it up, fix the issues and build it into a stronger work. Maybe it will work out. Perhaps it will evolve into a different story altogether from the one you wrote back then. Either way, if the first 20 pages seemed good, it's probably an idea to carry on reading and see what happens. Good luck.
 
Glen said:
Now, the questions. Should I put it back in it's virtual drawer? And if your answer is no, what should I be bearing in mind as I re-read and edit?
Click to expand...

The question is what you want to do with it.

Old writing is old writing - you can move on from it, or revisit and revise it.

If nothing is pulling you into the former, then just leave it. If you feel like revising it, do so.

Don't ask us how you feel about which one to do, though - only you can do that. :)
 
From my own horrendous experience of continually revisiting an old novel, my instinctive advice is BURN IT!!!!!!!! It's easy to get caught up in looking again at old work, especially if there are passages you like and you can see how to improve it. What I think you should ask is why you abandoned it. In my case, there were big structural problems that I was seduced into thinking I could fix with a bit of rewriting. I couldn't.

My more considered advice, then, is to be very hard-headed about it. You'll have developed as a writer since, and it might be unfair to your more developed self to handicap it with something that might have underlying and unfixable inadequacies. But only you're in a position to judge.

I now look at my old stuff only for nostalgia.
 
HareBrain said:
From my own horrendous experience of continually revisiting an old novel, my instinctive advice is BURN IT!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...
As Glen's early book is in a virtual drawer, HB, I can only assume that you're asking Glen to make (another) secure copy of it. :rolleyes:


One (possibly) useful thing you might do, Glen, is to take a shortish passage of this early book and see where it doesn't work. I'm going to assume that your writing has improved gradually, rather than in a few step changes. It's more than likely that some of your old habits will have persisted (if only because there are so many things we can do wrong, and changing the way we do things is hard). In such an early work, the things that don't work should be more obvious than in something you've just written. Identifying, and fixing, bits of the old text may help you when you return to correcting more recent output.
 
I agree with HareBrain that you have to be hard-headed.

If there are severe problems, don't let yourself get drawn back in by a few passages that you like. If the problems are less serious, then do some of the necessary edits and revisions and see where it goes.

But, as springs says, it may be that the best thing you can do with it is take the basic idea and start fresh.
 
Thanks all. It was interesting to hear your thoughts.

I have a bit of a personal guideline not to retrace my footsteps. I don't always follow it and more than once it has caused bother. On the other hand I'm a strong believer that distance gives a clearer view of what works and what doesn't, so it might be an easy edit.

I was surprised at how short it was (80K) v the 130K of the last thing I wrote, and the WIP seems to be heading even higher. But I've always liked the story (Arthurian re-tell), and I like most of the characters. I think what killed it for me was the overworked style, and the earnestness of it.

Hm, perhaps petrol and a match is the best thing for it.
 
Glen said:
Thanks all. It was interesting to hear your thoughts.

I have a bit of a personal guideline not to retrace my footsteps. I don't always follow it and more than once it has caused bother. On the other hand I'm a strong believer that distance gives a clearer view of what works and what doesn't, so it might be an easy edit.
Click to expand...

It is true that if you leave a manuscript for awhile and come back to it later you will see errors or needed improvement easier (with fresh eyes). But that's usually a couple months at the most, leaving it for years is a different story.

The question is: Do you like the story?

If so, I'd take the story and start over if you really wanted to work on it again. Your writing style will have improved considerably since back then when you first wrote the story.
 
That's what I did; I still liked the story, i'd been building it up further in my head over the years, but I started from scratch this time, I didn't even look at the old versions.
 
I think it's a double-edged sword. You have to look at what made you abandon it, and yes, consider that aspect, but there also has to be something that won't allow you to let it go. Find the things in it that are redeemable and change the rest. I think there is always a way to fix any story, no matter how jacked up it gets. Even if that means completely starting from scratch. I wouldn't burn it. If you have to, refer to it from time to time. Or read it and pick out the best sentences. Then burn the rest.
 
I haven't been writing very long (2 years), but when I do come back to something - if I like it I read it, put it aside and start rewriting from scratch. If it is flowing I keep going.
 
From my own experience, I find re-writing a scene can be much easier and take less time than trying to put right what is wrong. Although how I would feel about re-writing a whole book, I'm not sure. Perhaps a bit of both - keep what you can, and re-write the rest.
 
I'd be inclined to use the earlier work for spares and repairs. Take out the characters or the bits that work and use them for any new project. Two of my characters in my current WIP started life in my first novel, which I finally cashiered out of the regiment* last year. A handful of gags also survived the slaughter.

Regards,

Peter

* The Golden Grahams.
 
I came back to a 'space-opera' type Sci-Fi novel I was trying to write BEFORE I gave up on prose, and to me it just proved I made the right decision. That said, writing it at the time did give me more experience, and I can see the way i now do characterisation in scripts coming through in it.

For you, it might be completely different, but bear something in mind:

Not everything you ever wrote HAS to become a project you try and run with, some of it can just be you learning your trade. Leanardo painted over a lot of his old pictures, I'm sure Henry Moore didn't sell every last piece of clay he ever laid his hands on.

You shouldn't start over on it JUST because you wrote it, that's totally the wrong motivation, you should only do that if you WANT to re-write it and move it on because you think it's worthwhile or the project still interests you. If you don't think that, chalk it down to a 'practice swing' and put your energy into something new that you do feel passionately about, because its that passion that drives you on.

You're the only one who can make that decision, and whichever way you go with it, you're the only one who'll know if it was the right one or not. Good luck either way.


Jammill
 
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