Looking Back on Older Stories
Writing is a journey.
No, I'm not trying to sound deep and mystical. It's a realization I've come to while posting "The Bet" on my LiveJournal.
"The Bet" has always been one of my favorite stories. However, when posting chapters 11 and 12, I felt myself cringing. I felt embarrassed. Was the scene too corny or too cheesy?
It's just the feeling that if I were writing this today, I'd write it differently. My view of Sam has changed a bit; my understanding of the character is deeper. Maybe I wouldn't have written him so naive or young. I'm not sure. Either way, it was strange, rereading those chapters as I was posting. As if I was gazing through a time portal at my younger self, marveling. Was that me? We're only talking a year and a half, folks; I started the story in October 2011 and finished it in January 2012.
Yet somehow, in that time, my writing has gotten richer and deeper. My style has changed. And I no longer feel the same need to write "The Bet". I've got no desire to do a story about picking women up in bars and the funny things that can happen in the process, or to write a "coming-of-age" story for Sam. I've done that already. I enjoyed it at the time, but I've got other stories on the brain now, other challenges and goals.
"The Bet" was an important milestone on my writing road, a marker in my development as a writer. And I'm darn proud of it.
A story is like a moment in time. Once it's complete, I don't like to tinker with it. And I think that's good. Movement and change are important, in writing as in all aspects of life. Dwelling on the past is never productive.
So I hope, dear readers, you're enjoying my "moments in time". I have many more stories to post, both old and new, before I sleep.
No, I'm not trying to sound deep and mystical. It's a realization I've come to while posting "The Bet" on my LiveJournal.
"The Bet" has always been one of my favorite stories. However, when posting chapters 11 and 12, I felt myself cringing. I felt embarrassed. Was the scene too corny or too cheesy?
It's just the feeling that if I were writing this today, I'd write it differently. My view of Sam has changed a bit; my understanding of the character is deeper. Maybe I wouldn't have written him so naive or young. I'm not sure. Either way, it was strange, rereading those chapters as I was posting. As if I was gazing through a time portal at my younger self, marveling. Was that me? We're only talking a year and a half, folks; I started the story in October 2011 and finished it in January 2012.
Yet somehow, in that time, my writing has gotten richer and deeper. My style has changed. And I no longer feel the same need to write "The Bet". I've got no desire to do a story about picking women up in bars and the funny things that can happen in the process, or to write a "coming-of-age" story for Sam. I've done that already. I enjoyed it at the time, but I've got other stories on the brain now, other challenges and goals.
"The Bet" was an important milestone on my writing road, a marker in my development as a writer. And I'm darn proud of it.
A story is like a moment in time. Once it's complete, I don't like to tinker with it. And I think that's good. Movement and change are important, in writing as in all aspects of life. Dwelling on the past is never productive.
So I hope, dear readers, you're enjoying my "moments in time". I have many more stories to post, both old and new, before I sleep.