5 Things I Learned From My Old Writing

I'm sorry. I couldn't help the "buzzfeed" title in the header. It came to me and I couldn't say no.

And now you're going to check #5, aren't you?

Anywho, I was reading through some of The Rise of the Prisoner the other day and it inspired this post.

I wanted to share a few things that I've learned after reading through a lot of my old work, especially The Reylance Trilogy, as they're my oldest usable books and have a lot more cringy things in them. And I hope you're able to glean a few helpful things as you read the things I've picked up.

~#1: It's not as profound as you think~

I swear I thought I was sooo profound as I wrote tRotP. Like, every time anyone had a conversation, they were trying to make it this big, philosophical deal. And now, every single line of that profoundness is going to be removed because it doesn't work. 

All that time. Wasted.

While it is really cool to write super profound sounding things, and I wouldn't say that it's necessarily a bad thing to do, I maybe wish I didn't spend soooooo much time with "mind-blowing" sentences and maybe focused more on building the story. Because that's kind of more important.

And besides, the most profound things I've ever read in books are the super simple lines in dialogue or description that the author probably spent approximately 0.5 seconds thinking about. So I probably shouldn't sweat it. Instead, I should just write the story.

~#2: First drafts will always, always, stink~

Always. 

There have been many times where I've thought that this will be the time where my first draft will only take one or two passes to make it perfect.

HA!

And while my ability to write better first drafts has improved a lot, to the point where I don't think I'll have to cut everything, they're still bare-bones. They'll still need a lot of work, even if I don't have to rewrite everything. And that's 100% okay. 

~#3: None of this will stay, but all of it will matter~

For the books in The Reylance Trilogy, I think about 99.9% of what I wrote in the first draft is ancient history. And, in the case of The Dawn of a Hero, even stuff I wrote in the second and third drafts (or even the sixth draft) barely made the cut. 

But all of it matters. Even to this day, in draft seven of tDoaH, the very basic, watered-down plot is exactly the same as the first draft. But everything surrounding it has changed. I've honored it's beginnings by making it better. 

I've taken out characters that weren't adding much to the story, but left in the one thing that they were known for by giving it to someone else. I've removed scenes, but allowed some of the emotion that it gave to flood into a better scene. 

All of the details I've taken out have left their mark. That realization has helped me as I've taken out lots of things I really loved. That, even though they won't be explicitly stated, they will still be seen by me. I'll still know they were there. And I love them for it. 

~#4: There's maybe hope for this story?~

It's really easy to read through a draft and think "Oh, there's no way this is usable! It's so poorly written!" and think that means you shouldn't even bother with it. 

But, it's because you're able to go through and think of all the things you can change that it is usable. You know what needs to stay or go. You know what things you can add to make it better. We're actually very intuitive readers when it comes down to it. And our criticism of our work can actually be used to make it better if we point it in the right direction.

So I think maybe the key is to start writing these changes and ideas down. That time you read a line and scoffed at how silly it sounded? Make a note of it. That scene where you thought "you know what would make this better?" MAKE A NOTE OF IT!!! That time where you're like, "it would make more sense if X character had this trait"? Write it down!!

When you start to go back through, you'll already know what you need to fix and, more often than not, you'll know how to fix it. 

There's hope for your story. You just have to take what you think are barriers for your story's success and turn them into a list of things to fix. 

~#5: No matter what anyone says, shipping is always fun~

Yes, I agree. Stories shouldn't always be focused on romance. But let's all agree that it is sooooo much fun to squeal over the adorable couples. 

And maybe it's not even just the romantic ones. It's fun to ship friendships. It's fun to ship family relationships. It's fun to ship non-family families. 

In all of the turmoil and stress that our characters go through to grow, it is such a peace-bringing gift to see them happy or safe, even if it's just for a moment. Even though they may be going through the worst of the worst at the moment, they can still smile because their favorite person is in the room or feel safe because they know that other person cares about them. 

Nothing makes me melt more than when a look of relief floods a character's face when "that person" walks in. 

I love that. 

I love the opportunity to see my people at peace. Because I seek peace. I pursue it. And I love giving it when I can.

So yeah, I'm a shipper. I ship peace. 

Well there you have it! Five things that sprung to mind as I was reading through my old drafts! I hope you were able to pick something up and enjoy it!

On to y'all! What's something you've learned over the years? How has it affected your writing, or how do you hope it'll change your writing in the future? Let me know down below!!