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On the writing journey
Apr. 14th, 2017 04:40 pmOne of the most frequent criticisms I received in fandom revolved around my word usage. This is typically in reference to the older stories (Sang et Ivoire and Harbingers of Beatrice), but I know it extends to my larger Spuffy bibliography. The criticism is absolutely warranted. While I have been in love with writing all my life, exposure to criticism is something I only began to receive when I dived into the world of fanfiction.
This also is one of the reasons I am such a huge proponent of fanfiction.
In my case, I was a shy virgin teenager who loved to write but hated being read. I especially hated being read when I included a romance in my stories, as I was ashamed of myself for being romantic. I suppose this is a good place to mention I was raised Church of Christ, a congregation that would be happy if unmarried people believed that holding hands resulted in pregnancy. I've always been a romantic, which made my transition into romance writing rather inevitable. And where it took me several years to be comfortable with my best friend reading my love scenes, the anonymity of the internet stripped my reservations aside.
I had always written; fanfiction was my first time being read.
I wrote in a different fandom for a few years before I discovered Buffy. In that first fandom, I was intentionally secretive about my age. I found it (and fanfic itself) when I was 14, which is also around the same time I wrote my first sex scene. I thought if people knew I was 14 that I wouldn't be taken seriously as a writer, and I was VERY serious about my writing. I was 17 when I made the transition from that fandom into Buffy, and while my misgivings about age weren't as strong as they had been, I definitely wanted to sound like a seasoned writer.
So I used a thesaurus.
As I mentioned, I've received a lot of feedback about the first few Buffy stories I wrote about the word usage and general readability. I became aware of the problem the more I wrote and, given what I've recently edited of Strawberry Fields, eventually learned to trust my instincts and not reach for a thesaurus every time I had a word in mind. I also stopped relying so much on overly complex sentences stuffed full of multi-syllabic words. In other words, I grew as a writer. That's what fandom gave me.
Now that I'm back in the fandom mood, I've decided to undertake a rather, umm, ambitious project.
I want to edit every one of my old works.
This is not to erase the original versions. I couldn't do that even if I wanted to, and I don't want to. Painful as reviewing these stories may be, they are an example of where I was during certain parts of my writing journey. But I'm thinking of the long-term -- these are stories I am mostly very proud of. I'd like them to be readable at least and a few of them aren't.
I know this because I am a prolog + two chapters into editing Harbingers of Beatrice and there is a disturbing amount of prose in there that I, the author, do not understand.
That's a problem. I'm more than 12 years removed from that story as its author, but you'd think I'd at least know what I meant.
In many cases, I don't.
So for the time being, I've added this disclaimer to Sang et Ivoire on Elysian Fields:
I started writing it in 2002, when I was 17 years old. I finished it shortly before my high school graduation.
One of the most common critiques I receive for this work (and other fics that were written around this era) is the misuse of words. It is an absolutely fair criticism. I did misuse a lot of freaking words. Also? I was overly verbose and a bit too purple prosey. I also didn't have a beta reader on this story, as it was my first in Buffy fandom. So what you see when you read this particular story is a 17-18 year old trying to sound older than she is. Like a lot of young writers, I thought people wouldn't take me seriously as an author if they knew I was still in high school, so I tried to hide it. And yes, in some cases, I just didn't know better, but try telling that to a teenager.
As a professional editor, I completely understand if improper word usage throws you out of the story. It certainly would me. But I hope a little context will make those errors, egregious as they may be, a little more bearable.
Thanks!
- Holly
My end goal is this: to edit the entire backlist of Spuffy work and update the stories on Elysian Fields. Other archives I'm not going to bother with. I'm also keeping the HTML files as they exist on my website so I have a record of how the stories initially read. However, I plan to remove them from the website itself and replace them with .mobi, .epub, and PDF copies of the revised versions to download.
This will likely take me the rest of the year, probably longer, to complete since I'm also working on original works and NEW Spuffy work, but I think it's worth it.
So anyone currently reading Harbingers of Beatrice -- the first two chapters have been edited. I am aiming to edit a chapter a day, but that's also a lofty goal. We'll see what happens.
I started with Harbingers, rather than Sang et Ivoire, because I know Sang will be the hottest of the hot messes. I think that one might be tackled last because if I do it and Harbingers back to back I'll likely just go rock myself in a corner.
In other news, and as a follow-up to yesterday's post, I am going to start weening myself off LJ, but for the time am just cross-posting. I have mixed feelings about the TOS thing. All stories/chapters/anything I might write will be posted exclusively on DW, Elysian Fields, and AO3 (once my membership request is approved). I understand the new TOS won't really affect me (aside from LJ deleting my account for writing sex scenes or going on a political rant, which is entirely possible), but the new TOS will absolutely affect the LGBTQ community in Russia. I believe when we look at things like this simply through the scope of how it affects the self, we're not being good stewards of our neighbors. Even with a narcissistic manchild in office, I feel very privileged to live in a country where I can call him a narcissistic manchild without fear of being fined or imprisoned. If we don't speak for people who do not have the same luxury, then no one will.
This also is one of the reasons I am such a huge proponent of fanfiction.
In my case, I was a shy virgin teenager who loved to write but hated being read. I especially hated being read when I included a romance in my stories, as I was ashamed of myself for being romantic. I suppose this is a good place to mention I was raised Church of Christ, a congregation that would be happy if unmarried people believed that holding hands resulted in pregnancy. I've always been a romantic, which made my transition into romance writing rather inevitable. And where it took me several years to be comfortable with my best friend reading my love scenes, the anonymity of the internet stripped my reservations aside.
I had always written; fanfiction was my first time being read.
I wrote in a different fandom for a few years before I discovered Buffy. In that first fandom, I was intentionally secretive about my age. I found it (and fanfic itself) when I was 14, which is also around the same time I wrote my first sex scene. I thought if people knew I was 14 that I wouldn't be taken seriously as a writer, and I was VERY serious about my writing. I was 17 when I made the transition from that fandom into Buffy, and while my misgivings about age weren't as strong as they had been, I definitely wanted to sound like a seasoned writer.
So I used a thesaurus.
As I mentioned, I've received a lot of feedback about the first few Buffy stories I wrote about the word usage and general readability. I became aware of the problem the more I wrote and, given what I've recently edited of Strawberry Fields, eventually learned to trust my instincts and not reach for a thesaurus every time I had a word in mind. I also stopped relying so much on overly complex sentences stuffed full of multi-syllabic words. In other words, I grew as a writer. That's what fandom gave me.
Now that I'm back in the fandom mood, I've decided to undertake a rather, umm, ambitious project.
I want to edit every one of my old works.
This is not to erase the original versions. I couldn't do that even if I wanted to, and I don't want to. Painful as reviewing these stories may be, they are an example of where I was during certain parts of my writing journey. But I'm thinking of the long-term -- these are stories I am mostly very proud of. I'd like them to be readable at least and a few of them aren't.
I know this because I am a prolog + two chapters into editing Harbingers of Beatrice and there is a disturbing amount of prose in there that I, the author, do not understand.
That's a problem. I'm more than 12 years removed from that story as its author, but you'd think I'd at least know what I meant.
In many cases, I don't.
So for the time being, I've added this disclaimer to Sang et Ivoire on Elysian Fields:
I started writing it in 2002, when I was 17 years old. I finished it shortly before my high school graduation.
One of the most common critiques I receive for this work (and other fics that were written around this era) is the misuse of words. It is an absolutely fair criticism. I did misuse a lot of freaking words. Also? I was overly verbose and a bit too purple prosey. I also didn't have a beta reader on this story, as it was my first in Buffy fandom. So what you see when you read this particular story is a 17-18 year old trying to sound older than she is. Like a lot of young writers, I thought people wouldn't take me seriously as an author if they knew I was still in high school, so I tried to hide it. And yes, in some cases, I just didn't know better, but try telling that to a teenager.
As a professional editor, I completely understand if improper word usage throws you out of the story. It certainly would me. But I hope a little context will make those errors, egregious as they may be, a little more bearable.
Thanks!
- Holly
My end goal is this: to edit the entire backlist of Spuffy work and update the stories on Elysian Fields. Other archives I'm not going to bother with. I'm also keeping the HTML files as they exist on my website so I have a record of how the stories initially read. However, I plan to remove them from the website itself and replace them with .mobi, .epub, and PDF copies of the revised versions to download.
This will likely take me the rest of the year, probably longer, to complete since I'm also working on original works and NEW Spuffy work, but I think it's worth it.
So anyone currently reading Harbingers of Beatrice -- the first two chapters have been edited. I am aiming to edit a chapter a day, but that's also a lofty goal. We'll see what happens.
I started with Harbingers, rather than Sang et Ivoire, because I know Sang will be the hottest of the hot messes. I think that one might be tackled last because if I do it and Harbingers back to back I'll likely just go rock myself in a corner.
In other news, and as a follow-up to yesterday's post, I am going to start weening myself off LJ, but for the time am just cross-posting. I have mixed feelings about the TOS thing. All stories/chapters/anything I might write will be posted exclusively on DW, Elysian Fields, and AO3 (once my membership request is approved). I understand the new TOS won't really affect me (aside from LJ deleting my account for writing sex scenes or going on a political rant, which is entirely possible), but the new TOS will absolutely affect the LGBTQ community in Russia. I believe when we look at things like this simply through the scope of how it affects the self, we're not being good stewards of our neighbors. Even with a narcissistic manchild in office, I feel very privileged to live in a country where I can call him a narcissistic manchild without fear of being fined or imprisoned. If we don't speak for people who do not have the same luxury, then no one will.
