The "embarasing" stage

[David Kartos]

I think alot of us went through it. When we thought what we wrote was great and when we re-read it, it was actualy a pile of horse shit? So, when did you discover this?Mine was ca. 2 years ago, remembr, im only (soon to be) 19 (3th next month, so any cash sent without obligations is welcome ;D )

[benedictjjones]

i wrote a crime novella followed by half a dozen horror shorts which i thought were 'soooo original' and well written only to realise they really were quite poor... After i realised that and began to persevere (writing almost everyday and working on my composition) i think they started to improve (i say think since i have had stuff published and accepted) BUT i do feel i'll always be slightly emabarressed by my stories (i always now think the are worse than they are...)

[The Lurker In The Shadows]

I can honestly say that it has never happened to me!

Ever!

Eh?

What do you mean, 'What's that you're burning?' What, all these piles of pages with things written and typed on them? Oh... nothing interesting... HEY! LOOK OVER THERE! Is that H.P. Lovecraft on a trandem with M.R. James and Bram Stoker?

(Seizes opportunity to run away very, very quickly...)

[David Kartos]

Mar 4, 2009 10:34:18 GMT benedictjjones said:

i wrote a crime novella followed by half a dozen horror shorts which i thought were 'soooo original' and well written only to realise they really were quite poor... After i realised that and began to persevere (writing almost everyday and working on my composition) i think they started to improve (i say think since i have had stuff published and accepted) BUT i do feel i'll always be slightly emabarressed by my stories (i always now think the are worse than they are...)

I honestly feel the same. I wrote a mountain full of crap while 14, thank god none of the few people I showed it to understood literature.

Also, even today, I always have great doubts about me writing abilities. All the time, sometimes asking myself what's the point of trying to write. It gets very depresing then.

[David Kartos]

It may also have something to do (the doubts) with the way I write. An internet guide on writing and it's faults from a well established writer may say what it wants, I work on inspiration, on a sudden idea, which, if I dont develop and write down NOW , it will take me days to force myself into it.So, not having an end in mind while starting, it can end very badly. I do have around 8 or so stories I think are "up to date" , though.

[coral]

Too late Lurker, I saw through your ruse and got a squizz at the pages before they caught fire
Ben, don't doubt yourself like that, your writing is pretty good, you know.
I've written lots of stories, but I've only published them in my blog, I haven't even kept a record of them, so when I deleted that particular blog they were lost. A few more have been lost in other ways. The only story I now have a permanent record of is the one that was in FC 3, I hasten to add I didn't know Rog then, so no nepotism was involved, hee hee.
Whether or not my stories are any good is not something I could comment on, because it's human nature not to see yourself in quite the way other people do, and that goes for things you create too, I think. The best measure is whether you enjoy the creative process of writing or not. And whether you get a sense of a job well done when you've finished.
What other people say about your writing can vary so much, as everyone likes something diferent, but I think that if the general attitude towards it is that it's good, then you can safely tell yourself that it IS good and worth doing more of!
It's like giving a gift, it fills you with pleasure at the thought of the other person's pleasure. I love to think that stuff I've created has given pleasure to somebody else.
When I've posted art or writing on blogs I've usually had a positive response, although many people tend to find my writing a little on the weird side.
I started a story recently, then gave the notebook it was in to Rachel to draw in, then threw it away when it was full, forgetting there was half a story in it, duh! You can't keep everything the litttle ones do, or you'd need a whole extra house to keep it in, I only keep selected bits and the rest has to go.
I must try to remember that story and rewrite it, or maybe write a fresh one and post it in the member's fiction area, so you peeps here can tell me what you think of my writing.
There's something drastically wrong with the "f" key on this keyboard, harrumph...

[David Kartos]

Well, it isnt easy knowing you enjoyed writing crap.

[coral]

I don't understand the meaning of your comment lobolover, are you saying that you've written crap, or that I have?
If you mean your own writing, it's far from crap. If only it was easy for us English speakers to read, because at the moment there are so many typos and grammatical errors that it's a real chore to wade through, so one misses the "getting drawn in" to the story feeling.
If you used a British grammar and spell check and laid your work out so we could read through it smoothly, I'm sure we'd find it a great deal more entertaining.
The stories you write are lovely old-fashioned pieces, I'm sure I'd really like them if they were readable.
If you mean that I have written crap, then you're probably right.

[David Kartos]

No. You havent seen anything of what ive "writen" four years ago. Dear god......

And I just dont think its that hard to read my stories, so much so that they are not "readable" :/

[coral]

I'm going to get cross with you in a minute!
You may have had a bumpy start, but the stories you have put up here, which ARE hard for me to read, are GOOD stories.
You've been told

In fact, if you are able to clean up The Strange Crucifiction to something approximating English, we will publish it in a future issue of TTMC, with Caroline's permission of course.

[benedictjjones]

bah i hate throwing things away - i still have hopes that i will refind a folder packed with abut a dzen starts to stories and at least twice that many plans - i only vaguely remember some of the stories in there but had about 2000 words of one that i really want to rewrite (i might start again from scratch)

[David Kartos]

Mar 6, 2009 23:37:05 GMT @coral said:

In fact, if you are able to clean up The Strange Crucifiction to something approximating English, we will publish it in a future issue of TTMC, with Caroline's permission of course.

Im honestly surprised. One that anyone here actualy read it . I know im a whore for feedback, but no one gave it to me before, thats why it took longer to find out about me starting "errors" which I consider typing practuse by now. Basicly, I was trying to make something, but I apeared to have relied to much on my impresions, without leaving any in the "works" themselves. That and alot of it being stupid atempts at an LPH pastiche at times-but worse.)

I know I got better now.Its just I REALY dont want to type it in here to prove my point.

But I DO know I got beter. One thing though, this may sound like too much, but I wonder if youve looked over my "Dinner with Dr. Kurtz" story, because I did it as a tale in honour of the original by John A. Cone , "My escape from suicide" ("A Musical reformation" 1900, Abbey press) which I read a few months ago. I just need to know if it stands on its own legs.

Last thing, I am shocked that the people at my "high" school had taste, because they gave me second place and a clock in the school contest for Crucifixtion. Coming from people who never heard of M.R.James or Lovecraft or The Turn of the Screw, you dont get reassured much (yes, those were teachers, literary teachers and the school librarian :

And I ran a spell check online. That help?