There & (reluctantly) back again.

[Winni]

Greetings and salutations. I have just discovered this fantastic site and I had to become part of it, so here I am. My reasons for joining are three-fold. 1) To hopefully meet and greet fellow words-smiths in training. 2) To learn and expand my creative range and 3) because I desperately need your help.

So here is my conundrum. First a little back-story. Many years ago I fell into a dangerously deep depression I felt it coming and took steps to reduce its impact on my life by focusing my breaking mind on writing a novel. I hadn’t written since I had left school and I found the experience of writing the novel therapeutic and to this day I truly believe writing the novel did in fact cure me of my depression.

The novel in question was hand written in narrow ruled pads and ran into about forty chapters (don't worry I can cull many of them). Once I had completed writing (three years worth of blood, sweat & tears), I put the story away in a case and left it in the bottom of my wardrobe to be forgotten.
I did this because I didn’t want to return to a story that was so skin deep to me, there is a lot of pain in those pages; but I feel there is something salvageable in there. I want to go back and re-write the story again, but the pages are stacked as thick as a King James Bible - How in the hell do I attempt to deconstruct and rebuild this thing?

Thanks for your time

 

[allmywires]

Hiya Winni, and welcome

As a woman of many unfinished projects that I like to cut apart and redistribute like some kind of franken(stein's monster)-novel, I understand the need to not feel like you've wasted all those words. I can understand that it's probably a bit painful for you to go back to it, but if I were you I'd take it slow, page by page, reminding yourself why you created this world and its story and characters in the first place. One of the best things about rediscovering your own work is that you've lost the thick protective layer of being 'too close' to your work, so you can almost (almost!) approach it like a new reader would, so it gives you fresh eyes. Then hopefully the bits that work, the ones you don't want to lose, will stand out to you and you can put to one side. And the bits that don't work, well, that's what the shredder's for for those brave enough. (I personally have a folder where I keep all my cruddy stuff anyway, just in case one day by some miracle I decide I do need that sentence I wrote five years ago!

Best of luck and hope you find your travels about here useful!

(Also, standard disclaimer, I'm just as much of a novice as anyone here so feel free not to take heed of anything I say! Just my opinion).

 

[Jo Zebedee]

First, hi, welcome! I was like this with my first book and I ended up writing from scratch ... But all the ideas had fermented and exploded and it was a joy to write!

 

[The Judge]

Hello and Welcome to the Chrons! You've come to the right place (and the write place... Oh. I've done that joke recently...)

I think I'd be very careful about returning to the actual papers. You may find that the emotions which were overwhelming you when you wrote them are still so heavly on the page they overwhelm you again. On a very lesser plane, my niece once phoned me when I was in the middle of a scene -- I can't now read that scene without recalling that fact. Fortunately the conversation wasn't at all upsetting, but if it had been traumatic, it would, I think, cause me problems.

What I think I'd do, is start afresh. With the same story, if it's calling out to you so strongly, but in new words. If many years have gone by then you're likely to have improved as a writer in any event, so writing anew would probably be easier than trying to edit it.

Presumably you can recall the bare bones of the plot? Write down what you can recall, make yourself an outline, if you're a planner kind of person, then start writing. And keep coming here for help and inspiration!

 

[Brian G Turner]

Welcome to chronicles.

How in the hell do I attempt to deconstruct and rebuild this thing?

Well, typing them up on computer would probably be a good thing for starters (and remember to back up constantly!!!). That will make editing and rewriting much easier.

Or, if you're looking to rewrite only, read through your handwritten pages and see what inspires you to write. Be warned though: rewriting an older project can be especially hard work by comparison to starting with a fresh story!

 

[Stephen Palmer]

I agree with Brian - most of the time it's not beneficial to return to older work. Better to grasp the nettle and try something new. It could still be "influenced" by your original work.

 

[prizzley]

Hi and welcome. I've found returning to deeply felt writing painful and disappointing. But we're all different. You might decide to edit the original or, like Springs, rewrite the whole thing. Either way, good luck with it..

 

[AnyaKimlin]

With mine I read previous drafts but start over writing from scratch. Find it is quickest & easiest. I was in the same position with my very first draft of a story. It took up seventy Pukka Pads.

 

[Winni]

Wow!!! Thank you all so much for your encouraging words of wisdom. I will definitely take your advice into consideration.

 

[Tywin]

Yay, editing!

Nothing like re-looking something you wrote years ago and cringing at all the changes you will now see that need to be made.

The only thing better (better as in "more painful") is submitting it for others to critique.

Ah, the joy of writing!

Seriously though, you've run the marathon and gotten the whole novel out. You know you can do it, now it just needs a transfer onto a computer and maybe a little polish.

 

[HareBrain]

Just my opinion: I would read it through, twice. If it still excites you the second time (it's almost bound to on the first -- don't trust it!) then it's probably worth working on. Since you've only got handwritten copy, you're in the fortunate position of not being subject to the temptation to copy-and-paste bits of years-old work. I would then type it up from scratch, not even looking at the old copy as you do so. When you're done, you can read the old one through again and include the bits you really thought were better the first time around -- but there probably won't be as many of those as you'd think.

Having said that, it might not be a good idea, and not just because of the difficult feelings associated with it (though that certainly should be a consideration). It was written by a different you, and though you might enjoy (if that's the right word) re-reading it, you might find it difficult to rewrite it: it'd be like trying to rewrite another author's novel. I speak from bitter experience on that point.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

It's quite common for a writer's first attempt at a novel to be autobiographical, either deliberately or without the author realising it. Bearing in mind the emotional distance between a first write and a return to that first write, the challenges would be large, to say the least.