Oh good grief--I wrote THAT?!
Jun. 8th, 2020 09:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vanillafluffyI've come across a historical document--or maybe I mean a hysterical document, although it wasn't intended as such--my very first novella, all 44 hand-written pages of it, scribbled in early 1986.
so far, I've made it through the first 15 pages, cringing all the way. It's the stereotypical 'borrowed from life' first novel and it's dreadfully self-important, dropping names and trying to be worldly. So far, my heroine has been called away from an evening of smoking pot by her best friend, who's had a body deposited in his living room. They've moved the body and now they're sitting around smoking some more and discussing how to track down the killer. (I was a hedonistic 25 when I wrote it, and while I've certainly read worse, it doesn't hold up well at all.)
So far, the only bit that I like is a section where the friend is bringing the body downstairs (to put it into the trunk of the vic's car) and they're almost discovered by some people from a nearby apartment. That's a decent bit of suspense, with the other couple arguing as our protagonists hold their breath. It remains to be seen whether anything else in the tale holds up to that.
Rereading it has a train-wreck fascination, but I don't think it's worth trying to rewrite it-. I dimly recall that there's a car chase later, but although I recall clearly who done it, I can't tell you how it wraps up. I had other plans for those characters, but I'm pretty sure that that ship has sailed.
It's just interesting--I don't think I have much of anything else surviving from my pre-internet days, thanks to The Move--although in my various boxes, who knows?--35 years ago? Lordy, that's a long time! And I should hope that I've improved significantly!
There's always room for improvement--I've been saying for the last decade or so that the best thing I ever wrote is the next thing I'm going to write--but at least now I can usually spot the awkward bits and smooth them over.
I just got through rereading "The Family Vault" by Charlotte MacLeod--golly, I miss her! This was the Nook edition, and there's a forward by Margaret Maron, another writer I've enjoyed over the years and she commented that she'd been utterly cowed after reading TFV for the first time, because it was so smoothly written. And yet, she's an excellent writer herself-- so it's reassuring to know that even professional writers have spasms of self-disparagement after reading other's work!
Love to all. Live long and prosper!*
* I have a node of memory reminding me at I attempted Star Trek TOS fan-fic back when I was 7...probably just as well that didn't survive!
...
so far, I've made it through the first 15 pages, cringing all the way. It's the stereotypical 'borrowed from life' first novel and it's dreadfully self-important, dropping names and trying to be worldly. So far, my heroine has been called away from an evening of smoking pot by her best friend, who's had a body deposited in his living room. They've moved the body and now they're sitting around smoking some more and discussing how to track down the killer. (I was a hedonistic 25 when I wrote it, and while I've certainly read worse, it doesn't hold up well at all.)
So far, the only bit that I like is a section where the friend is bringing the body downstairs (to put it into the trunk of the vic's car) and they're almost discovered by some people from a nearby apartment. That's a decent bit of suspense, with the other couple arguing as our protagonists hold their breath. It remains to be seen whether anything else in the tale holds up to that.
Rereading it has a train-wreck fascination, but I don't think it's worth trying to rewrite it-. I dimly recall that there's a car chase later, but although I recall clearly who done it, I can't tell you how it wraps up. I had other plans for those characters, but I'm pretty sure that that ship has sailed.
It's just interesting--I don't think I have much of anything else surviving from my pre-internet days, thanks to The Move--although in my various boxes, who knows?--35 years ago? Lordy, that's a long time! And I should hope that I've improved significantly!
There's always room for improvement--I've been saying for the last decade or so that the best thing I ever wrote is the next thing I'm going to write--but at least now I can usually spot the awkward bits and smooth them over.
I just got through rereading "The Family Vault" by Charlotte MacLeod--golly, I miss her! This was the Nook edition, and there's a forward by Margaret Maron, another writer I've enjoyed over the years and she commented that she'd been utterly cowed after reading TFV for the first time, because it was so smoothly written. And yet, she's an excellent writer herself-- so it's reassuring to know that even professional writers have spasms of self-disparagement after reading other's work!
Love to all. Live long and prosper!*
* I have a node of memory reminding me at I attempted Star Trek TOS fan-fic back when I was 7...probably just as well that didn't survive!
...