Thread: Years ago I wrote a really bad novel!!!

So when I was twenty three, after a dark period in my life that affected me strongly, I wrote about that experience. (I was an Au Pair in a mountain village in Switzerland with no where to go at night so I wrote many pages per night!)

Fast forward 8 years, I am now a mother, have moved, changed jobs, so many changes.. Well I was recently clearing out things and I came accross my Novel...

IT IS BAD!! it is SOOOO personal. I am sad because i thought I had a novel written somewhere in storage, and now I find that its just a rambling account of a year in my life, that isn't creatively written at all, it's just written, if you know what I mean. lol.

So, should I just chuck it away? It was funny to read and it's so personal. It is 454 pages long.

Any thoughts appreciated. i did think about editing it (would be a huge amount of work and would probably have to change it completely)

If you think it's salvageable, edit it. But whatever you do, don't chuck it! I've thrown away most of my writing, or forgotten it places when moving, or deleted it...and I really wish I still had it. Past works can serve as inspiration to future ones, or at the very least can give you insight into where and who you were at one point.

I think of my old writing like a photo album, and I never throw anything away, no matter how terrible. If anything, the more terrible the better. If nothing else I can look back and see how I've improved, which makes me happy, cause the process was so gradual that generally I didn't even notice it happening, but it's there.

Any thing can be salvageable. Has anyone seen the movie Annie Hall? The first Woody Allen movie with his signature style? Well before that young Wood Allen did parody movies, and Annie Hall was another drastic parody. The signature girl Annie Hall, Woody Allen wanted it to have a serial killer subplot, with him thinking that Annie Hall was a serial killer. He short that whole movie with that script and that idea in mind. The producers saw it, and thought it was horrible! So what they did was they cut that thing to hell, and cut all of the serial killer parts out. And what resulted was the first of many really signature good Woody Allen movies.

And on the same coin, everyone of us has written regrettable things. I wrote a book, for nanowrimo and got it published, well self published. Now my shame is physical and bound. I can open it and physically see the cliches I clung to, the character rip offs, and all of the numerous typos. At that time I never re-read my work. And everyday I fear that it will be found, my boyfriend likes my current writing, and wants to read EVERYTHING I have written. I have no idea how deep I will dig of a hole to crawl into when he gets his hands on it. I would never live it down, he already teases me for reading in that genre all those years ago, but writing in it?! The shame, the shame!

But if it is personal about your life, it probably isn't that bad and can be saved. I find I am more comfortable with the pieces where I write about myself. I guess the trick is to cut down a lot, because what is and was significant to you at that time. A little bit of information about something to better explain your state, sometimes it really isn't necessary for the reader to understand. I try to cut things down by sixty percent and that way I get through to some of the stuff I don't think sucks as much.

So it's pretty much a diary. I wouldn't throw it out, oneday you'll be able to show your kids parts of it.

If you want to resurrect it, don't edit it. Start again and re write it, using your current one as reference if your memory isn't up to the task.

Gra

Oh, don't toss it away, you might regret it. About four years ago I found a portion of a story I had written while married to my ex-husband. It was half way decent but filled with the bitterness of my bad marriage, so I threw it out. Now I wish I had kept it, not that it was anything I would finish working on, but because I wrote my heart out during one of the most difficult times in my life. It would be nice to read it again and have it as a point of reference.

Originally Posted by chimchimski

Oh, don't toss it away, you might regret it. About four years ago I found a portion of a story I had written while married to my ex-husband. It was half way decent but filled with the bitterness of my bad marriage, so I threw it out. Now I wish I had kept it, not that it was anything I would finish working on, but because I wrote my heart out during one of the most difficult times in my life. It would be nice to read it again and have it as a point of reference.

That's a good point. Once I started on a story and then after a while I doubted myself so I stopped. And then years later I found it, and I started reading it again, and when I got to the point where it stopped I was like, "Aww? No more?" Then I remembered I stopped writing it and why, and I wished that I continued while I still had the momentum. Today I can't finish the story because I am in a completely different place now, but it really wasn't all that bad.