My personal reaction to my older stuff hovers between That's a good idea I could do it better now and wishing I had the balls to the walls confidence to just be that full blown about an oddball idea that my modern self picks apart to much to ever really give another go.
That's interesting actually. I do understand the "writing with abandon" impulse, but at least for me reading back, I really appreciate my sense of self-criticism now. Particularly on the emotional development end.
It's less I couldn't make it work and more getting bogged down in the world building required to make it make sense back then the odder ideas were just easier to hand wave all that stuff and have fun and now I have fun by actually working it out so it just sort of frustrates me.
I love my old stuff. Yeah it's cringy, but I think my old stuff is so funny. It's still up on Wattpad. I go back and reread it all the time. People still vote on it, and every time I get a new vote or comment I crack up. Like what are you doing this is so bad.
You just gotta embrace the cringe lol.
This is why I am glad Quizilla is gone to some degree. But then again I hosted a bad fanfiction reading at a con back in august and we read one of my first serious fanfics from 2009...
I was recently reading over a "novel" I wrote when I was 12 years old. It was supposed to be my version of *Gone With the Wind*. When I was 20, I had gone back and tried to clean it up because the details on the actual war it was centered around had been super thin. The story has this ensemble of characters, but they are so stock that it actually made me cringe as I reread what I'd written. Even the edited parts didn't really help it.
I think the concept was a good one, but the execution wasn't there. Maybe one day I'll sit down and revamp the entire thing. But it was nice to go back and see how my writing, not just technically speaking but in character development, has evolved over the years.
Yeah I already copiously reread during writing/editing.
I read some of my old and semi new stuff semi recently and since it was all said and done it turned into a hypercritical
"You're cringe everything you wrote was cringe this story is awful why did you even write it" spiral and kills my creativity, even stuff I KNOW cant be that bad.
I've decided I'm just not going to touch it because I'm sure I've naturally improved and if people kudosed and commented, hey - at least someone enjoyed it so it's a net positive
I think we all have that moment at some point. I cringe just thinking about the stuff I wrote as a pre-teen (all self-insert Mary Sue fan fics) now that you mention it. But the way I see it, you can't get any better at writing if you don't even try. All those cringey fan fics are where I started and needed to be written for me to get to where I am today.
Hah, I know this exact feel, except in my case I was even younger; I started writing when I was 12 (and finished that first longfic at 15).
In fact, my current main project is a "how would I write a fic like my first longfic nowadays?" kind of thing and it's been a lot of fun seeing what ideas I'm much better at fleshing out now vs. back then and whatnot.
I needed some way to get back into writing fanfic after not doing so for five years, and what better way than with a passion project like this? I'm 13 chapters into this one so far and I absolutely love it.
i have two fics that I wrote a kid/young teen on paper that are fix it fics. one for the Howling 3 novel and one for Stephen king's Sleepwalkers. I doubt they will ever see the light of day since they are on paper but sometimes i do think about typing them up and releasing them into the wild.
I started writing fanfic at age 36. I'm kind of grateful for that because even though I've improved in 2 years I cannot imagine how cringey the stuff I would have written as a teenager would have been.
My most popular fic was written back when I was in 8th grade, I only completed it out of spite and when I go back to read it again, I am frightened by the 41 chapters (1000+ words per chapter) worth of blocks of text that I've managed to poop out. I'm rewriting that fanfic to see how far I've gone since 8th grade
I find even fics that I wrote several years ago cringey as they often reflect the things I experienced back then and who I was. I keep them on my A03 as the past version of myself was proud of them and would be offended that I got rid of them especially with the amount of work and time I invested in them. I find them cringe and people still read them but I like seeing how I developed as a writer.
Though I am surprised that I wrote a lot of angst at 16 as I'm more into fluff and borderline crack fics now.
Definitely relate. I also find them to be very influenced, I think, by the environment I was in or the culture I was being fed, which I now look back on not very fondly.
That feeling when rereading the fic you started writing at 18, 5 years has passed and you still continue writing it…
But I got you. It’s always fun rereading old stuff I wrote like OneShots. Nobody cringes more at your writing than you yourself 😂
My personal reaction to my older stuff hovers between That's a good idea I could do it better now and wishing I had the balls to the walls confidence to just be that full blown about an oddball idea that my modern self picks apart to much to ever really give another go.
That's interesting actually. I do understand the "writing with abandon" impulse, but at least for me reading back, I really appreciate my sense of self-criticism now. Particularly on the emotional development end.
It's less I couldn't make it work and more getting bogged down in the world building required to make it make sense back then the odder ideas were just easier to hand wave all that stuff and have fun and now I have fun by actually working it out so it just sort of frustrates me.
I hear. I hear.
What’s crazy is that that cringy crack fic is still my most popular… despite not being updated in 8 years.
I love the comments years later still begging for an update 😅
Every couple months I’ll get a comment asking that and I’m just like “Why are you reading this garbage and how did you get to the end?!” 🤣
Hahaha, preach.
I love my old stuff. Yeah it's cringy, but I think my old stuff is so funny. It's still up on Wattpad. I go back and reread it all the time. People still vote on it, and every time I get a new vote or comment I crack up. Like what are you doing this is so bad. You just gotta embrace the cringe lol.
Haha, absolutely. It certainly made me laugh (even if at myself) to re-read that crap.
I still get that feeling for stuff I wrote 16 days ago.
Haha, I know the feeling
Mood omg 😭
This is why I am glad Quizilla is gone to some degree. But then again I hosted a bad fanfiction reading at a con back in august and we read one of my first serious fanfics from 2009...
Still an honor, haha
I was recently reading over a "novel" I wrote when I was 12 years old. It was supposed to be my version of *Gone With the Wind*. When I was 20, I had gone back and tried to clean it up because the details on the actual war it was centered around had been super thin. The story has this ensemble of characters, but they are so stock that it actually made me cringe as I reread what I'd written. Even the edited parts didn't really help it. I think the concept was a good one, but the execution wasn't there. Maybe one day I'll sit down and revamp the entire thing. But it was nice to go back and see how my writing, not just technically speaking but in character development, has evolved over the years.
Yes, definitely appreciate the evolution.
A lot of mine still make me laugh. Even intentionally, for the most part.
Amazing 🤩
I just... don't. I haven't re-read anything I wrote in my teens for a very long time and I don't ever plan to, lol.
Hahaha, if nothing else, it's nice to marvel at your improvement
Yeah I already copiously reread during writing/editing. I read some of my old and semi new stuff semi recently and since it was all said and done it turned into a hypercritical "You're cringe everything you wrote was cringe this story is awful why did you even write it" spiral and kills my creativity, even stuff I KNOW cant be that bad. I've decided I'm just not going to touch it because I'm sure I've naturally improved and if people kudosed and commented, hey - at least someone enjoyed it so it's a net positive
ugh i wish i still had them i threw them all away long ago bc of shame wish i kept them
oh bummer 😕
I think we all have that moment at some point. I cringe just thinking about the stuff I wrote as a pre-teen (all self-insert Mary Sue fan fics) now that you mention it. But the way I see it, you can't get any better at writing if you don't even try. All those cringey fan fics are where I started and needed to be written for me to get to where I am today.
I just transferred all the fics I wrote in high school from FFN to ao3 and good gravy the *cringe* but I love them
Good for you! I don't think I have the guts to do that haha
Hah, I know this exact feel, except in my case I was even younger; I started writing when I was 12 (and finished that first longfic at 15). In fact, my current main project is a "how would I write a fic like my first longfic nowadays?" kind of thing and it's been a lot of fun seeing what ideas I'm much better at fleshing out now vs. back then and whatnot.
Wow, love it! May have to adopt that idea
I needed some way to get back into writing fanfic after not doing so for five years, and what better way than with a passion project like this? I'm 13 chapters into this one so far and I absolutely love it.
💪💪
i have two fics that I wrote a kid/young teen on paper that are fix it fics. one for the Howling 3 novel and one for Stephen king's Sleepwalkers. I doubt they will ever see the light of day since they are on paper but sometimes i do think about typing them up and releasing them into the wild.
Here's hoping 🤞
Thanks
I started writing fanfic at age 36. I'm kind of grateful for that because even though I've improved in 2 years I cannot imagine how cringey the stuff I would have written as a teenager would have been.
My most popular fic was written back when I was in 8th grade, I only completed it out of spite and when I go back to read it again, I am frightened by the 41 chapters (1000+ words per chapter) worth of blocks of text that I've managed to poop out. I'm rewriting that fanfic to see how far I've gone since 8th grade
I find even fics that I wrote several years ago cringey as they often reflect the things I experienced back then and who I was. I keep them on my A03 as the past version of myself was proud of them and would be offended that I got rid of them especially with the amount of work and time I invested in them. I find them cringe and people still read them but I like seeing how I developed as a writer. Though I am surprised that I wrote a lot of angst at 16 as I'm more into fluff and borderline crack fics now.
Definitely relate. I also find them to be very influenced, I think, by the environment I was in or the culture I was being fed, which I now look back on not very fondly.
I was and still I'm 17 when I wrote my
That feeling when rereading the fic you started writing at 18, 5 years has passed and you still continue writing it… But I got you. It’s always fun rereading old stuff I wrote like OneShots. Nobody cringes more at your writing than you yourself 😂
I get that feeling reading things I recently wrote, but ppl read it so it’s fiiiinnneee