Great Googly Moogly, it's a mime, it's an idea, it's....IWSG TIME!
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| IWSG |
QUESTION! OF! THE! MONTH!
Have you ever pulled out a really old story and reworked it? Did it work out?
I swear on a stack of floppy disks (click on link it if you're too young to know what a floppy disk is) that this prompt was made for me, because on my writing blog (link up above there), I've been talking about exactly that for the past five months or so.
I have just finished the first draft of a very old (like 2008) and very bad longish story that I spent since mid summer '16 re-writing/re-working/gutting/demolishing/rebuilding, etc. etc. etc. Originally, this story featured almost every writing violation known to man & womankind. A veritable pile of mediocrity this was.
But, as they say for every pile of steaming mediocrity, a seedling of redemption is sprouting from deep within to brighten the day. In short order, I took that pile of mediocrity, separated it forthwith, put one plot line to the side, gutted the other, and some several months later, came up with a 55k+ workable manuscript, of which I am very proud of.
In regards to the other plotline, long story made very short, I started working on a brand new story using that very bad plotline as a skeletal outline, which by the summer, I should have yet another viable manuscript to play with.
In summary, pulling out a very old story to work on has been very beneficial to my creative juices. Mostly because what I've learned in the past several years I can now apply and make any kind of dreck smell positively buoyant.
(c) 2017 BOOKS BY G.B. MILLER. All Rights Reserved.
My friend Ken Jackson (deceased author and newspaper editor) told me once to set my manuscripts aside for three months and if I went back to them and still liked them then go on. If I don't still like them, then let go because I am the person to please. However most of mine have been buried years not months.
ReplyDeleteVery good advice to heed. I too have some that have been buried for....years.
DeleteIt gave you two stories - double bonus!
ReplyDeleteSadly I remember floppy disks...
Absolutely.
DeleteAnd I remember the huge monstrosities that first came out back in the day.
Yeah, when I saw this month's IWSG theme over at someone else's blog, I knew IMMEDIATELY who would have no trouble discoursing on this topic!
ReplyDeleteMy dear Debra, you know me all too well. :D
DeleteI am not too old to know what a floppy disc is. In fact, I have a stack of those myself on which can be found some truly terrible writing. Fortunately, I no longer have no way to look at their contents...
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad that you found the experience beneficial!
Thanks.
DeleteIf you're truly curious about those stories, a quality hard drive can be had for less than $20, which is why I still use floppies for my writing, as well as multiple flashes for backups.
I never throw stuff away so on occasion I have reworked old tales and I generally find it comes off pretty well.
ReplyDeleteI still got plenty of old stuff that are still workable. It's just the matter of trying to identify a plop line in order to work on them again.
ReplyDeleteI so admire those of you who can write multiple 55,000+ word tomes! Congrats on rescuing your old story from mediocrity, George. I'm way older than you, so do remember floppy discs for the office computer back in the corporate workaholic days.
ReplyDeleteThanks. It ain't easy sometimes, but I do enjoy it.
DeleteI remember both sizes of floppies, mostly from school and from home, and in school we used to use cassettes to load programs.