Thread: I wrote 400 pages - type them up or forget?

Hello
About 4 years ago I started writing a diary when I started travelling (my first year in switzerland) I started by writing every day
without thinking about writing style. Then I decided to make it interesting to others and attempted to make it also slightly fictional

It was with pen and paper and it ended up being 400 pages long. It was quite personal to me (one of the reasons I don't think it is that good) I only showed one other person (my mum hahaa) she said it was great, but she would, its my mum )

Then I forgot about it till recently. I am currently in a situation where I do not have a day job and will not be working for the next year. I was thinking about typing these 400 pages up. But when I took it out of the cupboard and tried reading some of it, I can tell
that the story is not that clear or exciting and that I would have to change it a lot... hmmm i am really stuck would love some advice ....

If it was you and you had 400 pages of something would you type it up in word and try to make it better? And when something is so personal to you (there is a part in it that is very private - a bad situation i found myself in at the time) do you hesitate to share it with others?

Also I was thinking if I did do it and wrote it in word -- should i make 3 or 5 copies of it with lulu.com for my parents and a couple of close friends and a copy for me? Does anyone know total cost of this : 400 page novel in hardback only 5 copies?
Have looked at lulu.com but got confused about the prices

many many thanks !

Only you can know - We haven't read it. If you have nothing better to do, typing id up will make you a better typist and make you familiar with the whole diary again - The problem you may encounter is disentangling the real from the imagined, and in doing that you may be able to rejig and improve on the story as it is now.

Type and edit as you go. If you have a creative head on you.

I say if you have the time (and it sounds like you do), type it up. You never know what you'll get out of it. Even if, as a whole, it's not something you'll be able to use, odds are in your favor that there will be parts of it that will be usable. They say there are no great writers, only great rewriters. I have never successfully edited anything novel-length in less than a year, and even then, I usually feel that it still needs work. Once again, if you've got the time, go for it.

I, for one, have a 400 page novel that's never going to see the light of day, and at least a dozen short stories that fall into the same category. None of these pieces are things I'm just going to forget about though. There are passages and ideas and scenes in them that can (and already have been) recycled into something new.

As for hesitating when things are very personal, please forgive me for throwing a cliche at you: Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I can see where it would be at least a little daunting to share things you're not proud of, but it's very likely that others can relate to it in some way. I would almost have to argue that any writer that puts pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) shares a little of him or herself through whatever they're writing, whether it's memoir, nonfiction, poetry, or prose. To try to pretend otherwise is to be a hypocrite.

I can't tell you anything about Lulu, however, but if you want to share your work with some family and friends, there are cheaper ways to do it for just five copies. All it will cost is printer ink, paper, and a few three-ring binders from a dollar store.

Originally Posted by Tiamat10

I can't tell you anything about Lulu, however, but if you want to share your work with some family and friends, there are cheaper ways to do it for just five copies. All it will cost is printer ink, paper, and a few three-ring binders from a dollar store.

In my experience, paperbacks from Lulu generally cost about 7 dollars per book (varies based on size/dimensions), plus another 5 or so shipping for the whole order. Not sure how hardcovers differ, but it's easy enough to set it all up and see what it will cost before you order it. It's definitely a relatively cheap way to get books that look MUCH nicer than three ring binders.

Also pay attention or do a google search and you should find some rather large coupons to use when you order from Lulu. They always have some deal or special, it seems.

I stand corrected.

I would definitely type it on up. My experience with translating handwritten to typed writing is that I'll often end up using the handwritten as more of an outline and really expand on it as I go along. YMMV, but if nothing else it will, as mentioned, improve your typing skills.

If you're feeling drawn to your writing from that time period then it may be your subconscious saying it is time to whip that story into something you can be proud of. All the other good reasons listed by the other respondents still apply.

I would say, go for it. If you have the time, make the most of it. I sense that you want to pick this project up again. At least attempt it. You don't know where it will take you and it may even surprise you. You will probably find that you edit as you go along rather than typing exactly what you've originally written. It could be a great experience to make this your project for the next year but you have to want to do it and your heart must be in it. As for the very personal situation you mention, you don't have to use it. Or you could change it slightly or simply remove the parts you don't want to include. It really does depend on where you want to take this.

If you have nothing else to do, you should expect yourself to finish tping that up in a couple weeks' time. Hell, make it a week, of a few days. Type it straight, edit nothing (perhaps make marks in the book as you go) then go back and take a fresh look and start writing.

You can do it, and its not going to take as long as you think it will. Plus: All work is easy work. Repeat it, ten times a day.

thank you all so much that really helps

If you have the time and the desire, go for it! Editing and changing things around can be done as you type it up, or after. It sounds like you want to pick this project back up. I'd say do it and have fun with it!

Gisele9 - Even if you have the time, I recommend against you typing it up yourself. If you can afford it, hire someone, a student maybe, to type it into your computer.

What you do not want to do with hand written personal material several years old, and I speak from experience, is edit as you type, and there is no way on Earth to avoid rewriting the whole thing as you go. Trust me, I know. If someone else types it into your computer, you will have a clean, unedited, copy to keep and you can use that to make other copies for editing. Make clear to the typist that the material is not to be edited in any way. Instruct the typist not to correct grammar or spelling. Your writing needs to go into the computer exactly as it is on the page.

I've kept many hundreds of pages of journal in the field and the only typed pages I trust now are those I had someone else type for me.

A few print-on-demand copies would make nice gifts for family and friends.

i'd say go for it. it's hard to imagine that in 400 pages there wouldn't be anything good, or at least with the potential to be good. and you'll never know unless you try.

i definitely would try to leave in the 'bad situation' if possible. most roman-a-clefs (fictional work based on real life experience(s)) thrive on those things. up to you though.

good luck!

Gisele9 - If you do it yourself, you'll be sorry down the road. I would give anything to have back the original, unedited notes I made in the field 50 years ago. They are gone. I have the copies I made, but the original words are buried under my own editing and the original pages are lost. Preserve those original pages until you can afford to have another person type them up. Meantime scan them and have copies made.