How does it feel reading an old novel you wrote long ago?

[MakBow]

As the question says, how does it feel reading an old novel you wrote when you were still practicing, maybe abandoned because it sucked or the old version of a rewrite?

I was currently reading the old version of Level Up – To Break All Limits I Have on Royal Road and reading it...I want to wipe that sh#t of the face of the earth and scatter its remains across the solar system.

It huuuurts! It really huuuuuurts to not delete it, but at the same time, it's a good reference for me.

I also read my very first web novel posted on...Webnovel and honestly, it's even worse. I can't get past the first chapter without seeing how awful I was at writng, for freak sake the prologue has no enter pressed, no one lines, just one long paragraph!

WHat the F##K is WRONG WITH MEEEEEE!

...

I'm calm
(I know its a shameless plug, screw you ?)

 

[Wamba2K]

One time I read an old fantasy story I wrote in high school. It was mostly cringe, but there was this sex scene that surprised me with how well written it was. High school me clearly had priorities...

 

[Assurbanipal_II]

As the question says, how does it feel reading an old novel you wrote when you were still practicing, maybe abandoned because it sucked or the old version of a rewrite?

I was currently reading the old version of Level Up – To Break All Limits I Have on Royal Road and reading it...I want to wipe that sh#t of the face of the earth and scatter its remains across the solar system.

It huuuurts! It really huuuuuurts to not delete it, but at the same time, it's a good reference for me.

I also read my very first web novel posted on...Webnovel and honestly, it's even worse. I can't get past the first chapter without seeing how awful I was at writng, for freak sake the prologue has no enter pressed, no one lines, just one long paragraph!

WHat the F##K is WRONG WITH MEEEEEE!

...

I'm calm
(I know its a shameless plug, screw you ?)

I only have two, which I am editing from time to time~. Compared to the edits before, the most recent one reads way better. So there was some definite improvement over the years.

 

[L1aei]

There was more fun in writing for me back then. I guess it might've been because I was young and creating my own stuff was still novel for me. So whenever I look at that crap, let alone read my old stuff? It's not something about the quality that I think about or how I improved since then. My problem is reflecting on what I lost.

That's my quirk: I write solely for fun. I'm a bored bastard and when I spot something interesting, I'm going to stop what I'm doing to check it out. And if it is enjoyable, you bet your sweet asses that I'll be occupied with my new activity.

Hope that gives you all a better idea of the person I am.

 

[Xanderx]

I honestly ask myself wtf I was thinking writing such monstrosity, it’s that bad that I can’t even read for a minute without cringing , or banging my head on a table. ?? It’s that bad!!

 

[Racosharko]

There is value, even tho I was less experienced, there are things in it that I love, that's why I wrote it.

 

[MakBow]

There is value, even tho I was less experienced, there are things in it that I love, that's why I wrote it.

I know there's value, it's just, AHHHHHHH

 

[Worthy39]

Well, I have an old one from like, my first year of middleschool. My god, I was terrible back then. I cringed so hard reading it that I deleted it, even the concept wasn't worth trying to salvage.

 

[Juia_Darkcrest]

Hah, not a novel but a short story I wrote in grade 10 (27ish years ago).

I will just say, my world-building and style have improved dramatically since this time, even though I got an A on it.

 

[ysgoldt]

Awesome! the one I finished last year in March :) I am still editing it, but I'm really proud of it. Thinking of posting here :)

 

[Sylver]

Feels kind of cringe I wrote porn with plot stories, but when I started my dyslexia was still a major issue and I used my phone because I didn't have a computer before. So my first story reads like a horny dyslexic girl exploring fantasies that clearly indicate signs of repressed sexuality from a possibly strict upbringing

I love it though. It reminds me of how far I've improved I even managed around the dyslexia so now my writing isn't riddled with typos.

 

[Worthy39]

Feels kind of cringe I wrote porn with plot stories, but when I started my dyslexia was still a major issue and I used my phone because I didn't have a computer before. So my first story reads like a horny dyslexic girl exploring fantasies that clearly indicate signs of repressed sexuality from a possibly strict upbringing

I love it though. It reminds me of how far I've improved I even managed around the dyslexia so now my writing isn't riddled with typos.

Hm... link? Asking for a friend.

 

[L1aei]

Hm... link? Asking for a friend.

I'm the friend.

 

[writerwolf359]

I started my novel five years ago and only really started moving a bit over two years ago, so I get to experience the feeling of reading my old prose in the same book, lol. It's kind of surreal reading my early chapters as my style has evolved considerably over the course of writing it. My earlier chapters are far more wordy, too. I often cringe at how I'd write entire paragraphs to describe something I'd do in a single line now.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Don't know. The only novel from way back when that I finished ... well, one print copy was sent to an agent who rejected it. One was sent to a (now ex) girlfriend, who read it and gave it to another friend before the chain of custody fell apart.
The digital copy is on a 5.25" floppy disk for an OS and word processing program that no longer exists.

The only other one I finished was for NaNoWriMo about, oh, ten years ago. Not sure if they keep any sort of archives or if it's saved anywhere I still have access to but I think it was on a hard drive lost when a former employer locked everyone out of the network, leaving me unable to bypass the encryption on a flash drive without hiring an expert hacker.

The other two are here, with one volume (Diamond in the Rough) and one arc (the first major arc of Strange Awakening) completed last year... not that far back...

 

[CinnaSloth]

You want old me stories? Ah. okay..

Feel free to skip.

Spoiler

I laid, frozen in bed, in awe that she’d come to visit me so unexpectedly at home. To see something so beautiful; To know that she existed not only on this planet, but currently in my life as I lived now, was something I couldn’t fathom. Knowing she had gone away, disappearing from my world for years; Even a decade had passed without her whispering her sweet nothings into my ear. The sound of her voice left me in tears. I couldn’t believe she was back, but somewhere, writhing into my skull, I knew once we spent this one, wonderful, lustful night of passionate screams together, by morning, she’d be gone. Just passing through. Lost to the heavens once more. Somewhere else entirely.
But as I lay still, looking over my shoulder at her eyes while she blinked, moving her lips to speak every other moment, and her light palms swaying as she called to me, forced… enchanted me.. to stare across every inch of her beauty. Whenever she’d sing, the memories of the past would come flooding back, calling me, reminding me of the day I had first set eyes on her, the first time I’d seen her grace, her power, that piercing gaze of her scornful eye, yet that angelic smile that said, ‘hello’, and the curve of her stride. Everything about her shouted to stay away, but ushered me to know even more about her. I couldn’t help, but stare that day, and I watched her light up, blushing, grinning from ear to ear as she breathed. She was back.
I opened the latch of my window, letting her in, taking her hand, letting the light touch of her body press against mine. I reached out to her, and felt myself tense. I felt the tears run down my face, my nervousness, my anxiety, what I wouldn’t do to see her face each day, and every night. She caressed my cheek, running her touch down my neck, over my lips, and over my clothes. I shivered, feeling my muscles ache as the cold began to set in, but as long as she was here in my arms, in my room, on my bed, I didn’t care. I just didn’t care, she was with me, and I wished for her to stay.
To see something so beautiful, even the glimpse of a passion that burned so brightly. I called her name, and she whispered mine, only to shout it minutes later as the walls around us rattled, and shook. My room had brightened from its gloomy existence, all-the-while knowing it wouldn’t last. I stared, and watched at her above me. The sight of her swaying, and feel of her heavy embraces around me. My head began to burn, but still, she continued to steal my breaths away. I grew dizzy, and though I wished to stay awake.. I’d already been lulled to bed after only a few meager hours together. How I wished for more. Two more.. One more.. A second. Stay with me.. Just stay.
When I woke, she was gone, just as I’d thought.. Upset, tired, sick to my stomach, my bed.. filthy; Again, I felt lost. Distracted by the visions of majesty, and bewilderment, I closed my window, and gathered my sheets, only to place new ones upon my bed. I changed my pillow case, and showered.
It was as if it were all a dream, but as I stared back outside. I saw the wind, and destruction that followed each time she’d come to visit.
Fire, trees, homes, and the land folded upon itself. Such power, and strength, grace, and chaos.. Rain, and lightning, thunder, and hail.. tornadoes, typhoons, floods, and mudslides. As much as I knew her ferocity knew no bounds, neither had my infatuations with her. I just loved thunderstorms..

It needed structure, and less... "Blocky paragraphs" as readers have told me with my current works.
This was me years ago in middle school, copy/ paste, no current edits, or recent fixes. I don't think I fully understood the basics of proper grammar, and just did what I thought should be done; And still continue in that way. I also used the thesaurus A LOT back then, which I guess in turn, has helped me in the long run.

 

[Envylope]

I cringe so hard that I make an audible reaction in real life. Like an involuntary, "ah!" Same thing happens when I think about cringe things I did.

 

[Eldoria]

As the question says, how does it feel reading an old novel you wrote when you were still practicing, maybe abandoned because it sucked or the old version of a rewrite?

Let's rewrite and make it better!

 

[Rachel_Leia_Cole]

It’s pretty cringe, not gonna lie. Though my first novel came from an idea I began over 20 years ago when I was a teen. Most teens feel everything deeply and so there was big emotions and big action. I’m a lot more subtle in my writing now. But there were still some decent ideas in all that drama. Still cringe though.

 

[AstreiaNyx]

I decided against that. Last time I did, I erased an entire novel on SH