I decided, in my infinite wisdom, that I was going to spend the first three months of 2009 writing nothing new. I was going to simply revise some of my older pieces that have been sitting gathering virtual dust on my hard drive. And to be fair, apart from a very brief flash piece, I have so far succeeded.
The only problem is the bunch of stories I provisionally chose to revise, and more precisely, the one I have got myself tangled up with now.
I wrote it in 1997, and at the time I thought it was pretty damn good. Now, it's little more than all right. The point at its heart is a good one, but it's very hard for me to jump back into a mindset I had at twenty-one, and I'm beginning to wonder if going back so far and trying to redraft what is effectively someone else's story, was a good plan at all.
I'm another writer these days - hopefully a much better one - and I approach subjects, plots, and ideas differently.
I'll see it through, because I'm stubborn that way, but I wonder if there are some stories that will never shine, no matter how much polish you apply.
5 comments:
Heh, you've only got 10 years to worry about. I have stuff going back to the 80s (written on an Amstrad!) that makes no sense at all...
Brian, I'm sure you're right about being another writer these days, and being a better one. Keep knocking out the new stuff.
Cheers,
Rob
There are some stories we should never READ again never mind revise, but the better writer you are now should know what is salvageable and what is not.
Ian, I've got stuff kickin' about from the 80s as well, but I dare not go back to any of that stuff!
Steven - I'm silly enough to think that everythin' I've ever written is salvageable... You tellin' me different?
;o)
I get this way, too, when I look back at earlier work with the intention of revising. I can't always get the voice, the mindset, the direction. Almost better, I think, to take the same idea and rewrite versus revise.
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