Reading on screen is not easy. I got about halfway through the HoS manuscript, which is as much as I can handle tonight. It is extremely weird to read it. It’s like reading something someone else wrote, that I’ve read many, many times. Do other writers on my flist find that happening?
There’s a section in the middle that does seem like something I wrote, but I cannot for the life of me tell if the voice changes in there or if it’s just that that several-chapter stretch changed less than other huge swathes of text, so it’s literally more familiar to me (this book has been majorly rewritten 3 times; this,
I would like very much to be well tomorrow, please.
miles to Isengard: 31
It’s like reading something someone else wrote, that I’ve read many, many times. Do other writers on my flist find that happening?
…….. um! Yes, actually! I don’t think I get it quite so strongly as you’re describing here, but yeah, I get it.
And aww, poor ailing Kit. Take care of yourself!
Usually when I have the “wow, I wrote this?” reaction, I feel like it’s completely new in a good way. And I am quite pleased with how talented I am. So the answer to the question is yes and no.
Can I whimper? My writing style involves usually five drafts at least, and on the best day of my life, ever, working twenty hours, eyes on fire, I can write 5K.
I suspect if this were fiction, I should plot your demise or quit in disgust, but neither is practical, so you will have to settle for a spot on The List. ;-)
I usually find that if I reread anything I wrote once it’s in print, I hate it with a passion. It’s one reason why I try to avoid doing readings, though I’m not pathological about it.
Sometimes I find a little bit that I love unreasonably, however. Like that snappy comment of Lucifer’s I stumbled over this morning when revising a bit near it that I suddenly needed to fix.
Plus she has time to spend with her family, go to movies, ponder the merits of various long-term regular exercise programs, organize trans-Atlantic book smuggling rings, and to share it all her adventures with us so we can all be jealous of her. Except the mucus–I don’t care how good she is at that, I refuse to be jealous of her mucus production!!!
Blasted overachievers!! Grr!!!
I tend to write fast first drafts and then spend a little while gutting them, so I hear you there.
And also, sometimes when I’m rereading something I wrote, I totally forget about plot twists and such. It doesn’t seem like I should forget, but then, I can’t remember much about high school ten years ago, and that was three years of my life (which was spent sober and drug free) so I really shouldn’t be surprised.
But I still am.
I’ll go you one further. I’ve re-read things I’ve written about experiences I have had and remembered neither the writing, nor the event, except in feeling that it’s something I read once, somewhere.
Now that’s kind of impressive.
You may whimper. :) *laughs* Er. Sorry. I’ll just be quiet now, ok? :)
Also, I love your icon. :)
*g* Accept your giftedness. We will forgive you.
And thank you.
Oh, and that icon was made for me by after I admired hers. Somehow, I think Master Marley would approve.
I have a different problem: I rarely re-read anything more than once (willingly), so by the time a book of mine gets into print I’ve gone over it so many times that I am deathly tired of it.
This is really annoying, because I write the sort of books I’d like to read. Maybe in a decade or so the memories will have faded enough that I can come to them fresh.