"Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best." --Henry van Dyke
Sometimes, just for kicks, I go back and open up a very dusty computer file titled OLDER WORKS. It contains nearly four-hundred (mostly) unfinished stories, some of which I haven't touched since 2004. Some of them have close to fifty pages--a choice few almost reached one-hundred (that would've been a huge accomplishment for me back then). But most are under twenty pages long.
Hell, there's quite a few of them that didn't even reach five pages.
Anyway, when I find myself in need of a confidence boost, I brush the dust off that folder and sit back to read some of my old work. And, let me tell you--it really sucks.
It really, REALLY sucks.
One that I opened recently is a story I wrote--and finished, surprisingly--back in 2005 called FORBIDDEN LOVE. (Lol! There are actually two other documents in that folder with variations on that title--A FORBIDDEN LOVE and FORBIDDEN LOVERS. Wow, I was soooo creative back in the sixth grade.)
It was a borderline rip-off of Disney's Aladdin. Basically, this princess is annoyed/upset because her father keeps her locked in the palace. She sneaks out and meets/helps a wounded man who turns out to be a very prolific thief. But he's also a "nice guy," and pretty "funny," so she continues to sneak out to see him. They fall in "love" through a series of wacky hi-jinks, only to find out soon after that the princess's father has already chosen a man for her to marry. So then, she faces the choice of whether to run off with her criminal lover or stay and marry the man her father chose for her. (That's pretty much where it leaves Disneyland, as she actually does stay and marry her betrothed, only to murder him later.)
Now, this is one that almost made it to one-hundred pages, (fell short at ninety) so I was pretty proud of it at the time. Looking back at it now, I almost want to laugh.
It's soooo bad!
And even though it's all around cringe-worthy, it still put a huge smile on my face. Why? Because that was the best I could do six years ago and I know I've done a lot of skill-sharpening since then.
But let me put my money where my mouth is. Despite the extreme embarrassment this is probably going to cause me, I'm going to let you guys see the first paragraph of FORBIDDEN LOVE, then I'll rewrite it. Let's see how it goes, shall we?
Original:
I sat in my room at my window, staring out at my father's kingdom. The marketplace outside the palace walls was alive with the sounds of happy citizens. A sigh passed over my lips--I had never been allowed passed the palace walls. Father was terrified--I suppose--that something would happen to me if I were to leave the palace. I was not certain why he would want to keep me under such guard. He had other children--I was one of three daughters and four sons. Perhaps it was because I was his first-born, or that I looked so much like Mother.
Oh, that's gag-me-with-a-spoon bad. (I can't believe I'm putting this crap on the internet. I must've lost my mind.) Well...time for the rewrite. Alright, guys. Here goes nothing.
Rewrite:
Faint laughter from the marketplace below tickled my eardrums. I clutched the windowsill in my bedchamber and leaned out a bit further, ready to chance a fatal fall, if only to hear another second of the village's merriment. For me, the market was a glorious mystery--something exciting and colorful, yet somehow home to untold dangers all at the same time. Or at least that was what Father would have me believe. I wouldn't know for sure--I'd never been outside the palace walls. Of his seven children, I was the only one kept under lock and key. Perhaps it was because I was his first-born. Perhaps it was my striking resemblance to Mother. Or maybe he believed I couldn't take care of myself. But whatever it was, I couldn't--no, I wouldn't put up with it much longer.
Not my best, but definitely a step or two up from the original, am I right?
I certainly think so :)
I've seen people say things like, "I really wish I could write as well as so-and-so" and "I don't think I'll ever be as good as so-and-so."
Once, on deviantART, I met a kid who'd opened an account to post the stories he'd been writing. Now, he hadn't been writing very long--a couple of months, I guess--but after only a few weeks on dA, he told me how upset he was because his "writing wasn't as good as everyone else." I tried to explain that most of those people had been writing for a long time, and that with some time and practice, he could be just as good. But not a month later, he made a post of his journal and explained that he didn't want to write anymore and deactivated his account soon after that. It's too bad, really. If he hadn't given up, maybe one day he would've been looking back at those stories and smiling, the same way I do with my really early stuff.
What I'm saying with all this is, don't expect instant greatness. I've been at this for almost ten years and I know I've still got a lot more growing and evolving to do as a writer. And certainly don't give up on writing because you're "not as good" as someone else. Just keep practicing and you won't do anything but get better.
Do you ever reread your older works for kicks?
HAPPY WRITING, LOVELIES!
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar