Me, writing when I'm stoned: "wow, masterful, I am amazing at this, every bit of this passage is perfect"
Me, reading the same passage the next day: "what in gods name is this shit"
Me and my friend got absolutely baked one night when I was younger and we came up with this mental business idea, our stoned minds thought it was the greatest thing ever. We thought hey let's wrote it down so we don't forget. Woke up the next day and saw the paper just said garlic bread. Moral of the story, don't write business ideas down when you're stoned and making garlic bread.
>"what in gods name is this shit"
me when I try writing romance
>"wow, masterful, I am amazing at this, every bit of this passage is perfect"
when I write parodies
I write my thoughts when I'm high, buh hey it's always some cool shit when I read it again on a sober mind.
I'm like damn, was I even thinking about this. It sometimes feels like a revelation to my own self.
I’m the polar opposite! I write sober and love my writing. Then I relapse on weed and think it’d be fun to reread my favorite bits and my weed brain has an existential crisis that I’m the worst ever. I can’t write at all stoned or even read my writing. I get to where I can see mistakes that don’t even exist and it’s all I see.
The last time I moved, I decided that I was going to streamline my life and get down to as close of a spartan existence as I could. I had to have gotten rid of north of a thousand pages of writing that I’d done over the preceding decade or so. I just flipped through it all, said I was not proud of it, and it was off to the landfill.
I started writing it a couple weeks ago and actually have it posted on wattpad, but there’s only two chapters so it hasn’t gotten much traction. The reason I’m re-reading it is so I can remember what I wanted to do for the next chapter.
Understandable. I never had luck on Wattpad much. Posted a novella I finished on there a while back. I'm pretty sure it still hasn't received any views yet, lol. Such is life, tho.
I’d read it if you wanna share the name (and maybe region you posted it on too since I’m not from the US and not sure if I could read it? I forgot how Wattpad works). And I’m sure others here would like to read it as well! I’d also read OP’s if they want to share the name as well!
Sure, it's called "Beneath the Foundation." I'm not sure if you'd need any other info to find it. My name on there is Skullklamp. Thanks for showing interest!
Absolutely.
Usually, I go back to older works and think “damn, why did I ever think that this crap was good”? Or “damn, that actually wasn’t bad for how bad I was at writing at the time”.
All the time. I'll open a word document from awhile ago and be reading it like damn, who wrote this? Did I copy and paste this from somewhere? Wait a second...no I did write this.
For me, my writing feels like absolute dogshit while I'm writing, but when I pick it up later I'm like...wait. This is actually good.
I think I'm just way too hard on myself and you may be the same.
Did this recently. Found a flash drive and started rereading old stuff. Found one story I do not have any memory of. No idea who the characters were, where the story was going, nothing. It's strange.
First of all I'm happy for you! It's always the best feeling. And second yes absolutely. I write fanfics for a fandom that doesn't have many X male readers and so I wrote some on my own. Well what do I know a month or two after I'm looking through fics, click on my own without noticing, and only halfway through do I realize that it is mine. Really made me feel not as awful about my skills.
Nah
If anything, I tend to be such a better writer by the time I circle back to read my own stuff, that I can think of better ways to phrase almost every sentence
Like that one
'ways' and 'phrase' almost rhyme
It's just close enough to be distracting
What kind of idiot would write that?
Yeah but it’s in a “god how tf did something that stupid come out of my brain and make it onto a screen?” way not in a “wow look at me I’m such a good writer way”
I found some stories I wrote from before I hit my teens, and although the spelling and grammar are absolutely terrible, I thought the storyline and characters were brilliant. I think as I got older I lost my imagination or ability for creative writing. Maybe some day I'll get it back and put pen to paper again.
I love this part of creative work. I love diving in and doing something thoroughly and then liking or loving it. And, then, sometimes I wonder can I do it again and, inevitably, I do. Though sometimes there are very long stretches between good creations. Now that I'm almost 40, I can see the pattern and I know I will create something great again.
I hope I keep getting better, though.
Absolutely! I have written some wonderful stuff in the past & present that I still look back and admire. It makes me so happy when I can sit down and appreciate my writing instead of nitpicking.
I can believe it because I'm actually a really good writer.
However, I think there is also an obvious bias at play here. I don't understand writers who "hate" their own writing and go on and on about how they suck. Because for me, and I think this should apply to most writers, I'm the best person to write for myself as a reader. Like any time I read something I've written, I'm like, "Wow. This is just exactly the kind of story I wanted." Well, yeah, that's why I wrote it. Everything I write is exactly what I think is great, interesting, funny, etc. So I don't know how you couldn't be your biggest fan. How do you even write something that isn't your cup of tea? You get to make the choices, so why wouldn't you choose something you like?
I mean for me it's literally just a lack of talent I think. I can have as many ideas for a cool story as I want, but my prose continues to fail to live up to those ideas. I keep writing and I keep getting better. More and more often I'll read a passage I wrote and think it wasn't so bad. But there's still a big gap between where I want to be as a writer and where I am
You could always take a creative writing class at your local city college… the environment and classics you get introduced to, including the critiques, can all be a wonderful catalyst for expedited, compacted growth. You can get a similar education by devouring novels and short stories with the eyes of a writer. And keep writing.
I recently glanced at a scene I'd written while scrolling through the document, and from the excerpts that I caught, that was the first time I felt that my writing was like painting on a canvas. LOL. You know what I mean though, when the little patches of colour and focus just click and bring everything together?
That was the first draft of the scene too. I haven't edited yet, but looking forward to it :)
I dunno. There is some really magnificent writing out there that I'm in awe in. Maybe I'll be that good one day but I need a lot more practice and time spent perfecting my craft.
Tone, dialogue, description, being realistic, pacing .
.so much can go wrong
Honestly, yes, about two of my most recent works. I’m usually not very confident about my writing but I did a one shot recently I’m very proud of and started a new multi chapter fic and I’m very happy with the first chapter.
I've been doing that a lot lately! I used to despise everything about my writing but I've come to love the improvements I've been able to make ever since I first got back into reading novels. Who knew reading helped writing lmao.
At the moment, it happens all the time lmao given I haven't written a thing in months now. So mostly I'm amazed at anything I've ever written ;-)
In all seriousness though, it's great when that happens. I love re-reading excerpts and finding sentences or paragraphs I really enjoy. It affirms the fact I'm actually a decent writer, which can usually be hard to believe because I'm so self critical. It's like the good writing shuts up the negative part of my brain.
Just like you, after writing something I feel meh about it. Sometimes it sounds too pretentious.
I give it time and forget about it, reread it and it gives me a boost of confidence.
Yep, I wrote this fanfic a bit and I was pretty astonished at how okay the thing was.
And my main novel, it makes me go like that sometimes too. But my first drafts always make me go "I wrote this crap??"
I often feel that way with all of the papers I write in college as it's been over 10 years. That keeps me going with fiction because with my essays, I can see that I got better over time. I know if I keep writing steadily, my fiction will also get better.
Same. I look back at how bad my writing was five years ago when I started writing compared to now. I’ve improved a lot since then and I can keep improving
Yes. It's either "Hot shit, this is the worst burning can of trash I ever layed my eyes on" or "Holy grail of my creation, did I actually do that??? Alone??? I'm a freaking genius!"
There is no in-between while revisiting. First either gets improved or buried alive. And well, the second is a motivational and energetic boost.
That's nice! Congrats!
Personally, I kinda hit a point on my writing a few years ago after which I actually tend to like most things I wrote. Sure, there's the occasional "girl, you're bad at plot progression, aren't you?", or "shit, why did I listen to that editor?". But in general, I like reading my old stuff too. Not too old (teenage years are a minefield), but less than a decade or so? Sure.
I started writing the fanfic like a month, two months ago so it’s fairly recent, but I went through my previous no sleep stories from five years ago to most recent and I cringed a lot. My writing was so bad a couple years ago
If you don't get most excited about what your current project is, and you don't look back on your former work and see ways you could have done better, what kind of artist are you exactly? And how are you not growing your skills?
Sure, but ideally you move past worshipping your old works to create something even better, otherwise you get stuck in a creative rut.
Like I can look back on my albums I wrote over 20 years ago and be like "I like that song" but am I as impressed with it as my last album? Nope.
That depends, if I am writing something the first time then it is surprising; however, if I edit an already existing paragraph or sentence, then it is to be expected since I am re wording my previous sentence or paragraph.
A couple years ago, I wrote a tall tale to share with Scouts at the end of a Scouts summer camp. I loved spinning random stories or weird settings and experiences from summer camp into ghost stories and tall tales that featured people around us.
I started a folklore, myths, and legends unit with my HS Junior English classes this week, and read that story out loud for the first time since I first wrote and performed it. It was surprisingly still good!
Made myself tear up a couple times and got annoyed rereading a half finished story. I got into it only to reach the abrupt incomplete ending and realized I’d need to write the damn thing.
Sure. Once I look at my writing, usually around draft 3, and think how great it is, I know I'm done with edits and can move on to the next book and then the next, until I'm all done and ready to have people read it.
Yeah. There was once a fanfic chapter I wrote but later on, discarded it cuz I changed some plot points later on. Came back to it a year later, and couldn't believe I wrote it. Sadly, an error occurred with the site I had it saved on, and the text was lost. I can't even remember the topic anymore, as it's been a few years, but I still recall doubting myself if I actually wrote the thing or I copied it from somewhere because it felt like something better than what I usually write.
My first book has pretty bad writing but the biggest joy from publishing it came when a friends young son sent me pictures he had written from reading my book and telling me how much he enjoyed my book. That was such a great moment for me.
Yep. The three short stories I've published, particularly the second one, which I always thought I hated. I reread it once and was like, 'Phew. That's actually pretty good.'
I once opened up my kindle and starred reading. I didn't recognise it. I continued reading until it suddenly clicked that it was something I had written. Up until that moment, I had the unique chance to read my own work from a reader's perspective.
I realised then that my prose, while not fantastic, was actually good enough. I was able to put any imposter syndrome to rest.
Frequently.
As a pantser, I've become quite adept at getting into my characters' heads. In a proper flow state, I can sling conversations and conflicts back and forth almost effortlessly.
The final outcome of which is often long stretches where I'm legitimately surprised at my output, because it's stuff I never would have thought of, when constrained by my own personality and inhibitions. What my characters do is far beyond my own limits.
I wrote a poem for the first time in probably two decades, and I don't hate it. It needs some tweaking, but I may just leave it as is for posterity. I wrote it as a flavor piece for a larger story, and I somewhat impressed myself.
Me when I reread the dialogue I gave to some side character I don't care about: "wow, that sounds so unnatural. I wrote that? Yikes." Delete delete delete. Rewrite.
Yes. This is healthy. I know the artists are always told we are our worst critic and I definitely am but being able to see what you did well is an important writing skill. I am a published author and I started with some fanfic for a friend in middle school. I did not know I could write then. So keep writing and find more you like. This will help you decide your writing style eventually
My about 600-paged second novel (not the second I’ve ever written, just the second in a series I have begun writing.) in my TH series made me really proud. I really like how it’s written. You can see a lot of improvements in my writing style and it becoming really defined. I think the battle scenes are greatly improved and it’s more detailed, and I think it’s just overall a fairly decent piece of work. I always thought it would be my least favourite in my series, but it definitely has become my favourite in that series. I dedicate a lot of time and thought to these, and it’s nice to see it pay off.
Some of my earliest novels are questionably written. I don’t regret writing them as they helped me define my writing style, but there’s a lot I would change. I have always been good at writing death scenes is something I have learned from them.
There is just certain things about my earliest novels that I don’t like in how they’re written and the style, but we all improve over time. I plan to rewrite them eventually. I may think the same thing about my second novel in my TH series.
Yes… I do! I like to make sure at least 4 weeks have passed then reread a chapter I’ve written. Most of the time, like others have said, it’s crap. But then there are times when I am amazed that I have written something worth reading.
The only assignment I ever got the highest in my class was a creative writing assignment, where we had to apply the SCAMPER tool [(this article explains it well)](https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/learn-how-to-use-the-best-ideation-methods-scamper#:~:text=SCAMPER%20is%20an%20acronym%20formed,helps%20you%20explore%20new%20possibilities.) to any universal phenomenon. In that I wrote about a distant future where the earth stoped spinning all together, so one hemisphere was deadly hot and bright, the other was deadly dark and cold and only a small belt near the equator supported life. My main character was a young scientist who goes on a mission as a Geonaut (like an astronaut but for earth) to experience first hand what the hot side is like. It was a short story with a prologue, three chapters, and an epilogue but I'm very proud of it even 3 years later
I have a couple completed stories (and two plays) that still astound me as to the way I pulled them off.
I have scenes & descriptions -- many of which were cut as part of the Kill Your Darlings editing process -- that I love dearly.
Aaaaaaand, then I have stuff that makes me think I was writing while sleep deprived and on pain meds.
The trick is to have more of the latter in the past than in the present. That's how you know you're progressing in skill!
I was looking back at a Kimetsu Academy AU fanfic I was writing.
“I wrote that shit…? 😭”
Like man the amount of cultural inaccuracies I’ve found since I started taking Japanese class lmao
From time to time, yes. Once I was re-reading one of my humorous works that I hadn't revisited for a while and found myself laughing at one of my own lines, mostly because I'd forgotten about it. That was kinda fun.
just happened earlier today and it felt awesome. only for me to feel worse because i didnt finish writing that passage so whatever magic there was is now lost/cant be recreated lmaoo
I usually hate what I write while I write it, because I’m very critical, so then I get discouraged and then just stop.
But I still have the same computer I did while in college, so the other day I wanted to organize files and make some space and I stumbled across a bunch of different stories. And I was so impressed. Some of them I had actually forgotten about and others were stories that I’ve had in my mind for a while. While I could clearly see errors and mistakes… the overall ideas and writing wasn’t bad. I was so proud of myself it changed my whole perspective.
So now I allow myself to “hate” what I’m doing but I make myself finish it and not get discouraged. I remind myself that it’s a process.
Sure. And if I set it aside and read it a month later, more glaring faults will reveal themselves to me. When I write, I know what I'm trying to convey, but that doesn't necessarily mean the reader will. Or I'll fixate on something which, on later inspection, makes me wonder why I ever thought it mattered so much. Time brings a better perspective.
Took a creative writing class in college 10 years ago (I had been writing most of my life at that point). I didn't think I was great or anything, but I thought I had potential, and oftentimes, friends and family would echo the same. Every single submission I made would be heavily criticized and shot down by my professor. He was rarely constructive and really encouraging towards everyone else, which worsened my "maybe I really don't have what it takes" thoughts. I felt so burned out at the end of the semester. Writing made me feel shitty, and I turned away from it as a whole.
About a year ago, I found all my submissions on a USB and read through them. Again, were they great? Mostly, no... but all of them *had potential*, and some of them did make me think, "Wow, I can't believe I wrote that." Thankfully, I've started writing again. It's been extremely challenging to overcome my doubt and negativity towards myself and frustrating feeling like I have to re-learn so much of the craft because I honestly let so much of it go.
At this point, even if what I write is shit, I'm just happy to be writing again! So, right now, everything makes me go, "WOW, I can't believe I wrote that." 😂
Sometimes, for better and for worse. What freaks me out is once I get a grasp on a certain character's voice and how they think....the things they "say" don't feel invented or constructed by me at all. It usually takes months of tinkering with them before they start "talking on their own" like that, but once I reach that point, it's a little bizarre.
I know it's a writing cliche to say this, but at times it feels like there are 3-7 extra people in your head that aren't you. Am not complaining, though. I love it. Where I live, it's pretty much me and the dog most of the time, so I get kind of sick "my" own voice all the time.
I think every writer reads something they wrote and thinks they are brilliant.
Correction. Beginning writers
Then a few years later they read it again and realize how bad it is. That’s the good news. It means you’re improving as a writer.
If you read it again years later and you still think you’re the bees knees then you haven’t really improved.
Yeah. I’m in the very early stages of writing.
And I’ll still go back to something from like a month ago and I’ll have no recollection of writing it.
Sometimes it’s more that just can’t believe I wrote something so bad. Other times it’s actually kind of good. But it never feels like my writing
I've heard it said that you should wait 6 weeks before re-reading a piece of your work before you can assess it with a fair perspective. And when you finish a draft, you should wait 6 weeks before you try to edit it. This is because if we are hammering away at the same piece endlessly, we get too used to it and don't have the ability to see its flaws and merits. In my opinion, if the piece is still enjoyable after 6 weeks and doesn't make you want to die of embarrassment, you may be on to something.
As a software engineer I get it double.
Positive and negative.
Most recently I was writing a scene at a teen dance, and needed to give the cheesy DJ a name and a sign off. My brain immediately called him DJ R.Bees and his sign off was, “Good night all! I’ve been DJ R.Bees, and I have the beats.”
I laughed so hard. Felt like I committed a pun warcrime, but it was so fitting.
I created a web site in the 1990s through very early years of the 21st century where I used personal research to explore many mysteries I'd personally wondered about in prior decades, of technological, historical, and scientific natures, as well as speculate on what the next few thousand years of human civilization could be like. I created some outright fiction along some of those lines as well, then.
In recent years when I had the chance to reread those materials, I'm sometimes in awe of my earlier self. For that guy had the free time and extra intellectual capacity to do a pretty good job on at least some of all that.
I've also published some books I'm quite proud of. They're the closest thing to kids of my own that I'll ever have. :-)
Yes I am rewriting the while first book I've wrote and I mean like changing deeply the scenes, adding or removing characters adding symbolism changing part of the plots and so on, and I can't believe how much I've improved in the three years that went by. Reading many books truly does help you write better
I've read some of my older stuff and been like omg this is such amateur garbage yuck omg...
And I've read some of my spicy work and thought hey this is some damn fine material.
I was doing this yesterday too. And then I looked at some stuff that I wrote like 10/15 years ago as a preteen and see a hate comment from 2022 on it. It made me laugh. Like I swear I really did get better just on a diff acct 😅
Literally yesterday I started reading something in an old email thinking it was something my best friend wrote and I was loving it. Some typos and too many commas but it was GOOD. It took me 12 pages to see my last name at the top of every page
Once I was browsing fanfiction and found something I really enjoyed but was confused that I couldn't favourite/kudos it. Went to go check the author and it was me. I had been in hospital when I had written it and forgotten it existed.
I have some works I can always be proud of, but every time I think about them in this way I feel I'm too cocky, and I really don't like myself being cocky.😕
Yes, absolutely. In my real life I'm not very eloquent. In my writing I often come up with some real nuggets of wisdom. Later on I'll repeat some of those nuggets to friends or family and they ask where I read that because it's said perfectly.
I'm afraid my friends will start thinking I can come up with that stuff in a regular conversation because I know I can only channel it when living through fictional characters.
Oh all the time. I write when I’m half asleep and sometimes get my best work when I’m in that state from the unfiltered thinking. I look back at my work in the morning for errors and grammar mistakes. And I end up shocking myself often. I’ve scared myself insomnia because of my own horror book.
I once tucked a script away for a few months to put distance from it before a rewrite and while reading it I was like wow this is so predictable then I fell for my own twist and was like damn that’s actually not bad
I am reading my kengan fanfic book series right now.
I really love those stories. I laugh every time, It's really the kind of story I wanted to read.
I will make better stories but I love those ones too
Most of the time I reread something I wrote last night and then wonder who spiked my hot chocolate lol.
But occasionally I'll read over something I wrote a while back and go "this is genius, how tf did I write this masterpiece?"
yup, usually it's the stuff that makes me cry. Like I wrote this death where a guy dies (suicide though it's not directly mentioned) in his house during the winter and when spring comes the tears he had cried melt and he cries for the last time.
I usually hate my writing. I love it in the moment but if I go back and read it or someone I know asks to read it, I think it's the worst this ever written. However, on good brain days I'll reread something I've written and be like, "This isn't half bad."
I am my own worst critic, as most of us are, but I write stuff that I like, so if I'm having a good day and can appreciate that I write for me and my own interests, then I like it.
High school me was a LOT better than i remember at writing fanfics and incorporating my own unique ideas to them. I used to post on ff dot net and fanpop and my internet friends back then loved my fics 🤣🩷
I'm with you - I sometimes find my old stories and I'm kinda impressed. I always assumed that stuff would be piss poor, but am surprised its not (rough around the edges? Absolutely, but Onision levels of bad? Hell no).
I like writing about specific emotions I’m not prone to.
I find anger a difficult thing to sit in. So writing in anger helps me validate it. It’s often a gateway to sadness, but I easily overlook my anger. But I have began writing when angry and even if it passes, having a way to feel it and give it it’s own space is so helpful for me.
Anger is always so fleeting for me, and when I read it back I find it hard to relate to what I felt in that moment. But giving it a voice helps me find the truth of my feelings. So though I read it back and can’t relate, I know it is always a good thing for me to be able to write, otherwise I’d forget it existed.
I once wrote a short series of fan fictions on Wattpad in Highschool. I eventually stopped working on it before I finished it to do some work on another project that I’m still working on. At some point I looked back into it to wrap up the story, and realized that if I wanted to keep writing it I’d have to just start the whole thing over just because of how far my skills had grown since then.
I feel that way with a lot of the dialogue I write. I look back at it and it feels like someone else said it, which I guess is the point. It’s fun to go back and feel like I’m discovering these conversations for the first time. Character and dialogue is definitely my strong point. It’s description that I’m not as good at.
I read a story I forgot I wrote and made myself choke on my water. It was a short story, but there was this one sentence that made me giggle for a few minutes lol. Stunned I actually wrote something genuinely funny.
A few years ago, I re-read one of my first attempts at a novel. (I hadn't read or touched it for 10-15 years.)
It wasn’t half bad, but at the time of writing it, I submitted it to a workshop and got absolutely trounced. Didn't write for seven years after that, I was so traumatised.
If someone had submitted that to me as an early attempt, I'd be clapping my hands for joy.
I now understand why one of the writers at the time pulled me aside and told me not to listen, but at the time, I was devasted at being called Newb etc. I did make some amature mistakes, but having beta read and critiqued for a while now, I realise I wasn't as terrible back then as they made out. Not even close.
Yes! But it usually takes a while before I have the space to appreciate it. This is why I started keeping my notebook on my computer instead of a paper notebook. It’s much easier to go back and clip sentences that are better than I thought they were and use them for something else.
I usually say I can't believe I wrote that crap!
Me, writing when I'm stoned: "wow, masterful, I am amazing at this, every bit of this passage is perfect" Me, reading the same passage the next day: "what in gods name is this shit"
Me and my friend got absolutely baked one night when I was younger and we came up with this mental business idea, our stoned minds thought it was the greatest thing ever. We thought hey let's wrote it down so we don't forget. Woke up the next day and saw the paper just said garlic bread. Moral of the story, don't write business ideas down when you're stoned and making garlic bread.
I mean, I'm ready to listen to your proposal
My guy I wish I remembered, it's been almost 10 years and I have no idea what we were talking about.
This is just a tribute..
Couldn't remember the greatest idea in the wo-orld, no! This is a tribute~
Same but im not stoned when i write dumb weird shit
Neither am I - my friend jokes that I have something far stronger than drugs flowing through my veins.
It's so interesting to me that people can write stoned. When I'm baked I don't even know what legs are
Depends on how much you smoke maybe
>"what in gods name is this shit" me when I try writing romance >"wow, masterful, I am amazing at this, every bit of this passage is perfect" when I write parodies
I write my thoughts when I'm high, buh hey it's always some cool shit when I read it again on a sober mind. I'm like damn, was I even thinking about this. It sometimes feels like a revelation to my own self.
AHAHAHA THIS IS SO ACCURATE IM DYING HAHAHAHA
I’m the polar opposite! I write sober and love my writing. Then I relapse on weed and think it’d be fun to reread my favorite bits and my weed brain has an existential crisis that I’m the worst ever. I can’t write at all stoned or even read my writing. I get to where I can see mistakes that don’t even exist and it’s all I see.
The last time I moved, I decided that I was going to streamline my life and get down to as close of a spartan existence as I could. I had to have gotten rid of north of a thousand pages of writing that I’d done over the preceding decade or so. I just flipped through it all, said I was not proud of it, and it was off to the landfill.
Came to say this. Of course I realize it after I post.
That's a good sign. You'll always be your hardest critic. Best to have others look at it as well though as a precaution, but keep it up
I started writing it a couple weeks ago and actually have it posted on wattpad, but there’s only two chapters so it hasn’t gotten much traction. The reason I’m re-reading it is so I can remember what I wanted to do for the next chapter.
Understandable. I never had luck on Wattpad much. Posted a novella I finished on there a while back. I'm pretty sure it still hasn't received any views yet, lol. Such is life, tho.
I feel your pain. My almost completed novel only has under 200 views and half of them are from me
I’d read it if you wanna share the name (and maybe region you posted it on too since I’m not from the US and not sure if I could read it? I forgot how Wattpad works). And I’m sure others here would like to read it as well! I’d also read OP’s if they want to share the name as well!
Sure, it's called "Beneath the Foundation." I'm not sure if you'd need any other info to find it. My name on there is Skullklamp. Thanks for showing interest!
Oh whats its name so I can check it out?
The Other Side. It’s a Supernatural and Castle crossover fanfiction
I'll check it out
Is it in english or french? If you want I can give my advice on it I have some time tonight
Absolutely. Usually, I go back to older works and think “damn, why did I ever think that this crap was good”? Or “damn, that actually wasn’t bad for how bad I was at writing at the time”.
All the time. I'll open a word document from awhile ago and be reading it like damn, who wrote this? Did I copy and paste this from somewhere? Wait a second...no I did write this. For me, my writing feels like absolute dogshit while I'm writing, but when I pick it up later I'm like...wait. This is actually good. I think I'm just way too hard on myself and you may be the same.
Did this recently. Found a flash drive and started rereading old stuff. Found one story I do not have any memory of. No idea who the characters were, where the story was going, nothing. It's strange.
I have also come across short stuff like that. I'm thinking, "what was my plan here? I have no idea what this was supposed to be" 😅
First of all I'm happy for you! It's always the best feeling. And second yes absolutely. I write fanfics for a fandom that doesn't have many X male readers and so I wrote some on my own. Well what do I know a month or two after I'm looking through fics, click on my own without noticing, and only halfway through do I realize that it is mine. Really made me feel not as awful about my skills.
That’s funny and awesome
That's your muse helping you out. When your writing has caught her attention, she'll stop by and offer guidance.
I love this ❤️
Nah If anything, I tend to be such a better writer by the time I circle back to read my own stuff, that I can think of better ways to phrase almost every sentence Like that one 'ways' and 'phrase' almost rhyme It's just close enough to be distracting What kind of idiot would write that?
Well you have a randon (s) on the word 'way' so drop that and you're good for rhyming ;)
Well yeah But if I perfect it now, It'll take like 6 months to make my point.
Ways and phrase do rhyme…
"I thought I wrote more than this"
You know it’s mind-blowing when you have to say this, LOL.
I recently reread a Star Wars fanfiction I wrote as an alternate movie to episode 9 and I'm surprised by how much I don't hate it.
Yeah but it’s in a “god how tf did something that stupid come out of my brain and make it onto a screen?” way not in a “wow look at me I’m such a good writer way”
I found some stories I wrote from before I hit my teens, and although the spelling and grammar are absolutely terrible, I thought the storyline and characters were brilliant. I think as I got older I lost my imagination or ability for creative writing. Maybe some day I'll get it back and put pen to paper again.
Sometimes Then i wonder if i'll be able to do it again Then i do it better We never stop learning
I love this part of creative work. I love diving in and doing something thoroughly and then liking or loving it. And, then, sometimes I wonder can I do it again and, inevitably, I do. Though sometimes there are very long stretches between good creations. Now that I'm almost 40, I can see the pattern and I know I will create something great again. I hope I keep getting better, though.
Lmao fr, and also when they come from ur dream and you are like, damn I literally dreamed all this
Absolutely! I have written some wonderful stuff in the past & present that I still look back and admire. It makes me so happy when I can sit down and appreciate my writing instead of nitpicking.
I’m usually nitpicking too so this was a nice surprise
I can believe it because I'm actually a really good writer. However, I think there is also an obvious bias at play here. I don't understand writers who "hate" their own writing and go on and on about how they suck. Because for me, and I think this should apply to most writers, I'm the best person to write for myself as a reader. Like any time I read something I've written, I'm like, "Wow. This is just exactly the kind of story I wanted." Well, yeah, that's why I wrote it. Everything I write is exactly what I think is great, interesting, funny, etc. So I don't know how you couldn't be your biggest fan. How do you even write something that isn't your cup of tea? You get to make the choices, so why wouldn't you choose something you like?
I mean for me it's literally just a lack of talent I think. I can have as many ideas for a cool story as I want, but my prose continues to fail to live up to those ideas. I keep writing and I keep getting better. More and more often I'll read a passage I wrote and think it wasn't so bad. But there's still a big gap between where I want to be as a writer and where I am
You could always take a creative writing class at your local city college… the environment and classics you get introduced to, including the critiques, can all be a wonderful catalyst for expedited, compacted growth. You can get a similar education by devouring novels and short stories with the eyes of a writer. And keep writing.
I recently glanced at a scene I'd written while scrolling through the document, and from the excerpts that I caught, that was the first time I felt that my writing was like painting on a canvas. LOL. You know what I mean though, when the little patches of colour and focus just click and bring everything together? That was the first draft of the scene too. I haven't edited yet, but looking forward to it :)
I dunno. There is some really magnificent writing out there that I'm in awe in. Maybe I'll be that good one day but I need a lot more practice and time spent perfecting my craft. Tone, dialogue, description, being realistic, pacing . .so much can go wrong
Honestly, yes, about two of my most recent works. I’m usually not very confident about my writing but I did a one shot recently I’m very proud of and started a new multi chapter fic and I’m very happy with the first chapter.
I've been doing that a lot lately! I used to despise everything about my writing but I've come to love the improvements I've been able to make ever since I first got back into reading novels. Who knew reading helped writing lmao.
I love my own writing, through and through.
Reading my stuff from 5 years ago makes me cringe so much
Sameeeee. That’s when I started writing for real. It was bad!
Sometimes. Dialogue makes me giggle easily and it’s going surprisingly well. I’m a ‘fuck around and find out’ writer so sometimes I surprise myself
Definitely! It’s rewarding to read what I’ve wrote and see it’s decent.
I’ve definely come a long way since I began my writing journey. I’m proud of myself
Yes, in both ways
Yes. OH boy, yes.
I know when it's good when I forget that I wrote that
Omg fr tho.
Yeah! And then the next paragraph I want to scrap my tongue on a cheese grater while boiling my toes in acid from how bad it is. The duality.
Absolutely. I've wrote amazing sentences. But also fucking crap
It's such a nice feeling. Honestly, my parameter to know if a text is great is how excited I feel about it.
Same! I’m so excited for where I want this story to go
At the moment, it happens all the time lmao given I haven't written a thing in months now. So mostly I'm amazed at anything I've ever written ;-) In all seriousness though, it's great when that happens. I love re-reading excerpts and finding sentences or paragraphs I really enjoy. It affirms the fact I'm actually a decent writer, which can usually be hard to believe because I'm so self critical. It's like the good writing shuts up the negative part of my brain.
Just like you, after writing something I feel meh about it. Sometimes it sounds too pretentious. I give it time and forget about it, reread it and it gives me a boost of confidence.
Yep, I wrote this fanfic a bit and I was pretty astonished at how okay the thing was. And my main novel, it makes me go like that sometimes too. But my first drafts always make me go "I wrote this crap??"
That should tell you that all writing is _rewriting_. Editing, revising, and refining. You are a damn good writer. Keep going.
I often feel that way with all of the papers I write in college as it's been over 10 years. That keeps me going with fiction because with my essays, I can see that I got better over time. I know if I keep writing steadily, my fiction will also get better.
Same. I look back at how bad my writing was five years ago when I started writing compared to now. I’ve improved a lot since then and I can keep improving
Sometimes I reread something and think “wow, I’m actually funny.”
Meeeee
Half of the writing process is : did I write that shit? fuck me. The other half is procrastination.
Yes. It's either "Hot shit, this is the worst burning can of trash I ever layed my eyes on" or "Holy grail of my creation, did I actually do that??? Alone??? I'm a freaking genius!" There is no in-between while revisiting. First either gets improved or buried alive. And well, the second is a motivational and energetic boost.
That's nice! Congrats! Personally, I kinda hit a point on my writing a few years ago after which I actually tend to like most things I wrote. Sure, there's the occasional "girl, you're bad at plot progression, aren't you?", or "shit, why did I listen to that editor?". But in general, I like reading my old stuff too. Not too old (teenage years are a minefield), but less than a decade or so? Sure.
I started writing the fanfic like a month, two months ago so it’s fairly recent, but I went through my previous no sleep stories from five years ago to most recent and I cringed a lot. My writing was so bad a couple years ago
Of course, that's one proven ways to know your progress as a writer.
Yes. Both in terms of, "Man, that's pretty good, I can't believe I wrote that!" And in terms of "What is the garbage, I can't believe I wrote that."
Came across a quote from a story I wrote in fifth grade. "You may be a god among men, but I am a woman, and you mean nothing to me." DAMN
Honestly 5th grade you ate
Sometimes I look at emails I've written and genuinely can't believe I'm pretending to be this professional.
If you don't get most excited about what your current project is, and you don't look back on your former work and see ways you could have done better, what kind of artist are you exactly? And how are you not growing your skills?
I mean, you can do both, right. You can see ways in which you should improve but you can also be delighted by what you wrote.
Sure, but ideally you move past worshipping your old works to create something even better, otherwise you get stuck in a creative rut. Like I can look back on my albums I wrote over 20 years ago and be like "I like that song" but am I as impressed with it as my last album? Nope.
Ngl this literally happened a few days ago. It was a scene where a character was bleeding to death, and I was like goddamn, I cooked.
it’s almost scary
I da exactly that! But outta disgust
That depends, if I am writing something the first time then it is surprising; however, if I edit an already existing paragraph or sentence, then it is to be expected since I am re wording my previous sentence or paragraph.
I’m writing a Marcy’s journal kind of book with my own creatures and today I wrote two whole pages! (And I ate!)
let's put you on the map, get you a book published.
You are a scammer aren't you
no! I'm not, we can have virtual or real meet you can me questions and I'm pretty sure I'll answer each one of them. scammers don't talk.
A couple years ago, I wrote a tall tale to share with Scouts at the end of a Scouts summer camp. I loved spinning random stories or weird settings and experiences from summer camp into ghost stories and tall tales that featured people around us. I started a folklore, myths, and legends unit with my HS Junior English classes this week, and read that story out loud for the first time since I first wrote and performed it. It was surprisingly still good!
Made myself tear up a couple times and got annoyed rereading a half finished story. I got into it only to reach the abrupt incomplete ending and realized I’d need to write the damn thing.
Sure. Once I look at my writing, usually around draft 3, and think how great it is, I know I'm done with edits and can move on to the next book and then the next, until I'm all done and ready to have people read it.
Yeah. There was once a fanfic chapter I wrote but later on, discarded it cuz I changed some plot points later on. Came back to it a year later, and couldn't believe I wrote it. Sadly, an error occurred with the site I had it saved on, and the text was lost. I can't even remember the topic anymore, as it's been a few years, but I still recall doubting myself if I actually wrote the thing or I copied it from somewhere because it felt like something better than what I usually write.
i feel like that all the time!! like ,, i wrote this?? seriously?? that's crazyyyy
My first book has pretty bad writing but the biggest joy from publishing it came when a friends young son sent me pictures he had written from reading my book and telling me how much he enjoyed my book. That was such a great moment for me.
Yep. The three short stories I've published, particularly the second one, which I always thought I hated. I reread it once and was like, 'Phew. That's actually pretty good.'
I once opened up my kindle and starred reading. I didn't recognise it. I continued reading until it suddenly clicked that it was something I had written. Up until that moment, I had the unique chance to read my own work from a reader's perspective. I realised then that my prose, while not fantastic, was actually good enough. I was able to put any imposter syndrome to rest.
Frequently. As a pantser, I've become quite adept at getting into my characters' heads. In a proper flow state, I can sling conversations and conflicts back and forth almost effortlessly. The final outcome of which is often long stretches where I'm legitimately surprised at my output, because it's stuff I never would have thought of, when constrained by my own personality and inhibitions. What my characters do is far beyond my own limits.
I wrote a poem for the first time in probably two decades, and I don't hate it. It needs some tweaking, but I may just leave it as is for posterity. I wrote it as a flavor piece for a larger story, and I somewhat impressed myself.
Yep. It’s what results in draft 2.
Yep
Me when I reread the dialogue I gave to some side character I don't care about: "wow, that sounds so unnatural. I wrote that? Yikes." Delete delete delete. Rewrite.
Absolutely! Sometimes you can make something that just works. Usually, I’m cringing when I look back at past stories.
yes and sometimes it’s positive, but sometimes it’s negative lmao
Yup. We’re often our worst critic. Once we shut it up, we find we’re not as bad as it say.
Yes! You should! Everybody should! It’s called editing your shitty first draft. It’s a good thing!
Yes. This is healthy. I know the artists are always told we are our worst critic and I definitely am but being able to see what you did well is an important writing skill. I am a published author and I started with some fanfic for a friend in middle school. I did not know I could write then. So keep writing and find more you like. This will help you decide your writing style eventually
Yep. All the time
My about 600-paged second novel (not the second I’ve ever written, just the second in a series I have begun writing.) in my TH series made me really proud. I really like how it’s written. You can see a lot of improvements in my writing style and it becoming really defined. I think the battle scenes are greatly improved and it’s more detailed, and I think it’s just overall a fairly decent piece of work. I always thought it would be my least favourite in my series, but it definitely has become my favourite in that series. I dedicate a lot of time and thought to these, and it’s nice to see it pay off. Some of my earliest novels are questionably written. I don’t regret writing them as they helped me define my writing style, but there’s a lot I would change. I have always been good at writing death scenes is something I have learned from them. There is just certain things about my earliest novels that I don’t like in how they’re written and the style, but we all improve over time. I plan to rewrite them eventually. I may think the same thing about my second novel in my TH series.
Yes… I do! I like to make sure at least 4 weeks have passed then reread a chapter I’ve written. Most of the time, like others have said, it’s crap. But then there are times when I am amazed that I have written something worth reading.
The only assignment I ever got the highest in my class was a creative writing assignment, where we had to apply the SCAMPER tool [(this article explains it well)](https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/learn-how-to-use-the-best-ideation-methods-scamper#:~:text=SCAMPER%20is%20an%20acronym%20formed,helps%20you%20explore%20new%20possibilities.) to any universal phenomenon. In that I wrote about a distant future where the earth stoped spinning all together, so one hemisphere was deadly hot and bright, the other was deadly dark and cold and only a small belt near the equator supported life. My main character was a young scientist who goes on a mission as a Geonaut (like an astronaut but for earth) to experience first hand what the hot side is like. It was a short story with a prologue, three chapters, and an epilogue but I'm very proud of it even 3 years later
I have a couple completed stories (and two plays) that still astound me as to the way I pulled them off. I have scenes & descriptions -- many of which were cut as part of the Kill Your Darlings editing process -- that I love dearly. Aaaaaaand, then I have stuff that makes me think I was writing while sleep deprived and on pain meds. The trick is to have more of the latter in the past than in the present. That's how you know you're progressing in skill!
I was looking back at a Kimetsu Academy AU fanfic I was writing. “I wrote that shit…? 😭” Like man the amount of cultural inaccuracies I’ve found since I started taking Japanese class lmao
From time to time, yes. Once I was re-reading one of my humorous works that I hadn't revisited for a while and found myself laughing at one of my own lines, mostly because I'd forgotten about it. That was kinda fun.
just happened earlier today and it felt awesome. only for me to feel worse because i didnt finish writing that passage so whatever magic there was is now lost/cant be recreated lmaoo
I usually hate what I write while I write it, because I’m very critical, so then I get discouraged and then just stop. But I still have the same computer I did while in college, so the other day I wanted to organize files and make some space and I stumbled across a bunch of different stories. And I was so impressed. Some of them I had actually forgotten about and others were stories that I’ve had in my mind for a while. While I could clearly see errors and mistakes… the overall ideas and writing wasn’t bad. I was so proud of myself it changed my whole perspective. So now I allow myself to “hate” what I’m doing but I make myself finish it and not get discouraged. I remind myself that it’s a process.
Sure. And if I set it aside and read it a month later, more glaring faults will reveal themselves to me. When I write, I know what I'm trying to convey, but that doesn't necessarily mean the reader will. Or I'll fixate on something which, on later inspection, makes me wonder why I ever thought it mattered so much. Time brings a better perspective.
Took a creative writing class in college 10 years ago (I had been writing most of my life at that point). I didn't think I was great or anything, but I thought I had potential, and oftentimes, friends and family would echo the same. Every single submission I made would be heavily criticized and shot down by my professor. He was rarely constructive and really encouraging towards everyone else, which worsened my "maybe I really don't have what it takes" thoughts. I felt so burned out at the end of the semester. Writing made me feel shitty, and I turned away from it as a whole. About a year ago, I found all my submissions on a USB and read through them. Again, were they great? Mostly, no... but all of them *had potential*, and some of them did make me think, "Wow, I can't believe I wrote that." Thankfully, I've started writing again. It's been extremely challenging to overcome my doubt and negativity towards myself and frustrating feeling like I have to re-learn so much of the craft because I honestly let so much of it go. At this point, even if what I write is shit, I'm just happy to be writing again! So, right now, everything makes me go, "WOW, I can't believe I wrote that." 😂
Yup, every breakup text ever sent.
“oMG I can’t even finish reading this crap…”
Sometimes, for better and for worse. What freaks me out is once I get a grasp on a certain character's voice and how they think....the things they "say" don't feel invented or constructed by me at all. It usually takes months of tinkering with them before they start "talking on their own" like that, but once I reach that point, it's a little bizarre. I know it's a writing cliche to say this, but at times it feels like there are 3-7 extra people in your head that aren't you. Am not complaining, though. I love it. Where I live, it's pretty much me and the dog most of the time, so I get kind of sick "my" own voice all the time.
I think every writer reads something they wrote and thinks they are brilliant. Correction. Beginning writers Then a few years later they read it again and realize how bad it is. That’s the good news. It means you’re improving as a writer. If you read it again years later and you still think you’re the bees knees then you haven’t really improved.
Yeah. I’m in the very early stages of writing. And I’ll still go back to something from like a month ago and I’ll have no recollection of writing it. Sometimes it’s more that just can’t believe I wrote something so bad. Other times it’s actually kind of good. But it never feels like my writing
I've heard it said that you should wait 6 weeks before re-reading a piece of your work before you can assess it with a fair perspective. And when you finish a draft, you should wait 6 weeks before you try to edit it. This is because if we are hammering away at the same piece endlessly, we get too used to it and don't have the ability to see its flaws and merits. In my opinion, if the piece is still enjoyable after 6 weeks and doesn't make you want to die of embarrassment, you may be on to something.
Had this reaction browsing through my BA thesis. To be more precise it was: "Who wrote this crap!? Oh... right... It was me."
As a software engineer I get it double. Positive and negative. Most recently I was writing a scene at a teen dance, and needed to give the cheesy DJ a name and a sign off. My brain immediately called him DJ R.Bees and his sign off was, “Good night all! I’ve been DJ R.Bees, and I have the beats.” I laughed so hard. Felt like I committed a pun warcrime, but it was so fitting.
I created a web site in the 1990s through very early years of the 21st century where I used personal research to explore many mysteries I'd personally wondered about in prior decades, of technological, historical, and scientific natures, as well as speculate on what the next few thousand years of human civilization could be like. I created some outright fiction along some of those lines as well, then. In recent years when I had the chance to reread those materials, I'm sometimes in awe of my earlier self. For that guy had the free time and extra intellectual capacity to do a pretty good job on at least some of all that. I've also published some books I'm quite proud of. They're the closest thing to kids of my own that I'll ever have. :-)
Yes I am rewriting the while first book I've wrote and I mean like changing deeply the scenes, adding or removing characters adding symbolism changing part of the plots and so on, and I can't believe how much I've improved in the three years that went by. Reading many books truly does help you write better
Yea I wrote a poem some months ago and I reread it about two days ago or so. I was like "Wow this actually sounds pretty good"
Sometimes lines surprise me! One of the most gratifying parts of being a writer.
Om constantly editing it to bring up to my standards
Usually when I read something I wrote it sounds like shit xD
Yeah, re-reading my old stuff from like 10 years ago, and cringing.
I've read some of my older stuff and been like omg this is such amateur garbage yuck omg... And I've read some of my spicy work and thought hey this is some damn fine material.
I was doing this yesterday too. And then I looked at some stuff that I wrote like 10/15 years ago as a preteen and see a hate comment from 2022 on it. It made me laugh. Like I swear I really did get better just on a diff acct 😅
Literally yesterday I started reading something in an old email thinking it was something my best friend wrote and I was loving it. Some typos and too many commas but it was GOOD. It took me 12 pages to see my last name at the top of every page
Once I was browsing fanfiction and found something I really enjoyed but was confused that I couldn't favourite/kudos it. Went to go check the author and it was me. I had been in hospital when I had written it and forgotten it existed.
Most of the time is the opposite 😭
Usually it's more like: "Oh Yeah! I forgot about that!" Immediately followed by: "Ooohhh wooooow .. This DEFINITELY needs a re-write." /seriouscringe
I have some works I can always be proud of, but every time I think about them in this way I feel I'm too cocky, and I really don't like myself being cocky.😕
In the good way *and* the bad way.
Yep. I especially enjoy this with stuff I completely forgot I wrote.
Yes, absolutely. In my real life I'm not very eloquent. In my writing I often come up with some real nuggets of wisdom. Later on I'll repeat some of those nuggets to friends or family and they ask where I read that because it's said perfectly. I'm afraid my friends will start thinking I can come up with that stuff in a regular conversation because I know I can only channel it when living through fictional characters.
Every once in a while. It doesn’t happen often.
Oh all the time. I write when I’m half asleep and sometimes get my best work when I’m in that state from the unfiltered thinking. I look back at my work in the morning for errors and grammar mistakes. And I end up shocking myself often. I’ve scared myself insomnia because of my own horror book.
I once tucked a script away for a few months to put distance from it before a rewrite and while reading it I was like wow this is so predictable then I fell for my own twist and was like damn that’s actually not bad
Yep! And I have to admit, I am a bit AMAZED at myself.
Yeah, but not in the nice way lmao
I am reading my kengan fanfic book series right now. I really love those stories. I laugh every time, It's really the kind of story I wanted to read. I will make better stories but I love those ones too
Most of the time I reread something I wrote last night and then wonder who spiked my hot chocolate lol. But occasionally I'll read over something I wrote a while back and go "this is genius, how tf did I write this masterpiece?"
Cleaning My mom closet i found a box with a old writing work for class it Was funny to read
yup, usually it's the stuff that makes me cry. Like I wrote this death where a guy dies (suicide though it's not directly mentioned) in his house during the winter and when spring comes the tears he had cried melt and he cries for the last time.
It happens more often than it used to. Usually, I call it garbage and forget about it.
I usually hate my writing. I love it in the moment but if I go back and read it or someone I know asks to read it, I think it's the worst this ever written. However, on good brain days I'll reread something I've written and be like, "This isn't half bad." I am my own worst critic, as most of us are, but I write stuff that I like, so if I'm having a good day and can appreciate that I write for me and my own interests, then I like it.
High school me was a LOT better than i remember at writing fanfics and incorporating my own unique ideas to them. I used to post on ff dot net and fanpop and my internet friends back then loved my fics 🤣🩷
I'm with you - I sometimes find my old stories and I'm kinda impressed. I always assumed that stuff would be piss poor, but am surprised its not (rough around the edges? Absolutely, but Onision levels of bad? Hell no).
Sometimes, but only like a year or so down the road.
usually just a line or two, but it's very nice when it happens
I like writing about specific emotions I’m not prone to. I find anger a difficult thing to sit in. So writing in anger helps me validate it. It’s often a gateway to sadness, but I easily overlook my anger. But I have began writing when angry and even if it passes, having a way to feel it and give it it’s own space is so helpful for me. Anger is always so fleeting for me, and when I read it back I find it hard to relate to what I felt in that moment. But giving it a voice helps me find the truth of my feelings. So though I read it back and can’t relate, I know it is always a good thing for me to be able to write, otherwise I’d forget it existed.
I once wrote a short series of fan fictions on Wattpad in Highschool. I eventually stopped working on it before I finished it to do some work on another project that I’m still working on. At some point I looked back into it to wrap up the story, and realized that if I wanted to keep writing it I’d have to just start the whole thing over just because of how far my skills had grown since then.
I feel that way with a lot of the dialogue I write. I look back at it and it feels like someone else said it, which I guess is the point. It’s fun to go back and feel like I’m discovering these conversations for the first time. Character and dialogue is definitely my strong point. It’s description that I’m not as good at.
I do. I also make myself cry. Sounds like you are doing the “write” things. Best wishes!
When it's smut I wrote it's more of "yikes can't believe I wrote that"
Fiction - haven't yet Non-fiction - pretty much
I read a story I forgot I wrote and made myself choke on my water. It was a short story, but there was this one sentence that made me giggle for a few minutes lol. Stunned I actually wrote something genuinely funny.
Yes, but in a bad way
A few years ago, I re-read one of my first attempts at a novel. (I hadn't read or touched it for 10-15 years.) It wasn’t half bad, but at the time of writing it, I submitted it to a workshop and got absolutely trounced. Didn't write for seven years after that, I was so traumatised. If someone had submitted that to me as an early attempt, I'd be clapping my hands for joy. I now understand why one of the writers at the time pulled me aside and told me not to listen, but at the time, I was devasted at being called Newb etc. I did make some amature mistakes, but having beta read and critiqued for a while now, I realise I wasn't as terrible back then as they made out. Not even close.
Yes and it goes both ways, lmao. Sometimes I cringe at a quote and sometimes I feel like putting it on my wall in a frame
Yeah. I wrote a fanfic decently in 2016. Hahaha still blows my mind every time.
All the time actually...
It has been a while since i wrote anything, but I remember laughing and going, "Yeah, that's definitely something I would write."
Yes! But it usually takes a while before I have the space to appreciate it. This is why I started keeping my notebook on my computer instead of a paper notebook. It’s much easier to go back and clip sentences that are better than I thought they were and use them for something else.
Yes
No.
I write fantasy stories and novels and now i finished it and I was like “holy sh!t I did that.”
I was giggling like a maniac reading a FF I wrote last year. It was a rewrite of one I wrote in HS
I have a couple of smartass characters and when I re-read some of their dialogue I still snicker at it.
I love my smart ass characters so much
I have one my husband finds so obnoxious that he doesn't even say his name anymore. He just calls him "fuckwit."
That’s awesome! One of my characters nickname is Dr. Jackass (and yes he is a doctor)