cringe at things written
ideas of writing
wonder if what i write is any good
writing you thought was good
Do You Ever Cringe At......???
By pyewacket
@pyewacket (43903)
United States
May 5, 2008 4:12am CST
Okay do you ever cringe at something that maybe you have written in the past? It doesn't matter where you wrote it...It could be a discussion here at MyLot, it could be an article you wrote that was published, a story you wrote, anything.
At the time you thought you were writing something really profound and earthshaking....then you came across it days, months, maybe years later and thought...crap, how could I write such crap!!
I think this is more an agonizing symptom we "writers" get. Especially those who tend to be perfectionist like I am. At the the time I thought I was writing something to shake the world...who knows maybe months from now I'll come back to this discussion and "cringe" At the time what you wrote seemed so gallant, so noble, so intelligent, then you read it much later and it's like OUCH...I really sounded stupid.
Besides articles..I love writing fiction...my ideas at the time sound like something that has the makings of a bestselling, NY Times Bestselling list novel..then I go back to my ideas in writing and think...yikes who am I kidding...this story idea completely sucks.
Or gee..maybe it was the opposite...you came across something you wrote and scratch your head and wonder..did I really write that? It sounds so ...well...intelligent, profound....I happen to have kept some of my old college term papers and have reread them...I got "A"s for them all...and I'm like...how did I pull this off?
So is it just me? Am I the only one to cringe at something you may have written? Or are writing? Do you sometimes go back at things you've written and think it was sheer utter crap? Or your ideas for stories were crap?
6 people like this
17 responses
@Lakota12 (42600)
• United States
7 May 08
yup whenI started here I rank every night only reason I dont know as I stopped when they put me on the pain pills didnt want to mix the 2. now I just do it once in awhile and if I aint on here I am on the pphone talking to friends that no longer have a puter.
2 people like this
@sharkbiter (382)
• United States
6 May 08
I do this a lot and sometimes it even hinders me from writing. I have all kinds of ideas for stories and such, but by the time I think about putting them on paper, they don't sound right. I sometimes won't even respond to discussions because I can't seem to get the words out right or they sound stupid after I read them.
I have also went back to things I have written and said to myself, "WOW, I wrote that!" Then other times I can feel my face turning red from embarrassment over stupid things I write.
3 people like this
@sharkbiter (382)
• United States
7 May 08
That Sounds like a good idea, I'll have to try harder to do just that and quit thinking through things too much.
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
6 May 08
I'm a great fan of Julia Cameron's book The Artist's Way...she says sometimes the best way to get over that writers block kind of thing is to just start writing period whether it makes sense or not at the time
1 person likes this
@LittleMel (8742)
• Canada
6 May 08
for sure. I don't like reading my blog for the same reason.
I feel like being too open to strangers and then vulnerable to harm, which is mostly caused by bad experience when my identity is stolen (and it's still not cleared up yet)
discussions on mylot are even bolder, I sometimes wish nobody reads that - could be why I don't care about the amount of responses where as some people here would wonder why nobody responds to their discussions
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
6 May 08
I have blogs too, and need to add to them, but maybe cause they remind me too much like journals or diaries I don't really bother with them that much either--was never good at journaling anyway
2 people like this
@ElicBxn (63594)
• United States
5 May 08
On the whole, that happens to me all the time, in fact, I have a cut off time where I say everything I wrote before that was awful, and most of the stuff since then was pretty good.
I did have one story that just wasn't writing itself like my stories normally do. From beginning to end, so I was lettering/numbering scenes: A1,2,3; B1,2,3, etc. When I was finished with the story I hated a whole scene, so I yanked those pages out and rewrote that whole section, adding about 4 more scenes and rewriting the end.
The story is called "The Man from the Sky Affair" and is a Man from U.N.C.L.E./Dr. Who crossover.
It can be read here: http://www.fanfictionwriters.com/Fics/index.php?PHPSESSID=069f35475bb2b6ca9e2257b7c2e15bae
You should be able to find it by its title or under either UNCLE or Dr Who
2 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
5 May 08
I was trying to find your story but couldn't...do you have a more direct link to it?
I sometimes think we writers can be our own worse critics on what we write though, don't you?
2 people like this
@bellaofchaos (11538)
• United States
5 May 08
Yep I do this with everything I write. I'm very critical of myself and I tend to be very , very mean when I look over my poetry or my shorts or the novels I'm currently working on. So I have done it. I do think that we are all guilty of this too. LOL!!!!
3 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
6 May 08
Maybe us writers are just plain neurotic perfectionist..LOL We're never satisfied
2 people like this
@jerzgirl (9291)
• United States
6 May 08
Oh, absolutely. I used to write stories where I was the heroine saving my best friend from whatever danger I created. She doesn't know I did that even to this day. The writing wasn't for an assignment, but more so my 7th grade English teacher would read them and tell me if they were good (probably more asking for help without asking than anything, now that I'm able to look back and analyze). I think about how dorky I was and how needy I was and, yes, I cringe. I wish I could have gotten the help back then instead of waiting until I was an adult with a child. But, writing was probably my best outlet. When I divorced, I wrote again in my Creative Writing course and actually won a prize for poetry. I seem to write best during the dark periods of my life, but that time in Junior High - I can even now feel my face wrinkling and my shoulders hunching as I cringe.
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
6 May 08
It's funny in a way how you mention that your wrote/write your best during dark periods...a lot of people do as it's sort of cathartic to do so, almost like a therapy thing
1 person likes this
@AmbiePam (92517)
• United States
5 May 08
I have gone through some of my college papers and thought, wow, how did I come up with all that? Because the papers were good, and I can't remember having those capabilities. On the other hand, I have looked at past poems I've written, and even some discussions here and thought, was I in la la land when I wrote this?
2 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
5 May 08
I had the same reaction reading my old term papers...like I'm thinking to myself...gee, didn't know I could sound that intelligent..hehe
I have a few novels in the works..all on the back burner for now...at the time the ideas for the stories sounded fantastic, great, wonderful, but then I'm re-reading some of it and it's like, Huh?
1 person likes this
@BarBaraPrz (47279)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
5 May 08
Some stuff in old diaries are a bit difficult to read...
2 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
5 May 08
One of these days I plan to re-read my old journals...have a feeling they're not going to be pleasant especially the ones written of the turmoil my mother put me through...mmm...maybe I should just burn them..
2 people like this
@sumofalltears (3988)
• United States
6 May 08
The words that are written don't change. The time they were written for they were profound and meaningful. It is ourselves that change and our outlooks of different things change with maturity and experience. I think that somebody will find past writings profound because of that stage they are at in life.
Don't cringe just reflect on the ways you have matured and your outlooks have changed.
2 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
6 May 08
Yes it is we who change...I have this one novel I started...got really detailed in drawing out floorplans of the homes my main character lived in, etc, etc...I've changed that story so many times it's not funny...I started it so many years ago, in some ways I'm glad I didn't finish it ...since so many things have changed in the world, to have written and finished it years ago wouldn't have made sense now...so back to the drawing board..or writing board in this case
1 person likes this
@gemini_rose (16264)
•
5 May 08
Yes I know exactly what you mean, as I have this quite a lot. I think that it would happen to a lot of people, it is funny how we look at things differently everytime we read it. I am always having ideas for stories in my head, I think because of this reason that is why they stay in my head!! I think that they would be rubbish BEFORE I even get them on paper and re read them!!
2 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
5 May 08
I think we writers are our own worse critics at times....some of my short stories I re-read and think where did I get that idea from...it's great...then I read others and think yikes what garbage
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
6 May 08
I sure have pyewacket.I reread some old stories I wrote and thought how could i do thiis its garbage. then I read a different one and I thought did I write this this is really good and I do not remember writing it but myname is on it.I have even
thought of tryingto get it published. as for some of my
first discussions I cringe at them too as they did not draw much responses at all. now i have one that i thought was so good
on a line from my paper but after i had already posted it
there was another discussion on the same darned item and
I had not seen that one in time lol
2 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
6 May 08
I sometimes get annoyed that one of my short stories hasn't been published yet...I think it's a great one...LOL...it has the Civil War as the background to it and I did a lot of research for it...I showed the story to one person and he said he couldn't finish reading it...not because it was bad, but because the one battle scene I describe was too gory and realistic..like Huh? Battles aren't exactly a tiptoe through the tulips...I'm in the process of adding to it btw--uh, more gore..LOL..He kind of wondered how I could be so descriptive as I've never been involved in a war...like how do I know? I just did it out of my imagination and from having watched the movie Glory a million times
1 person likes this
@gxnfly (1147)
• China
5 May 08
Not really.I remember I started writing dairies when I started my high school life.I wrote about things happened around me and my own thoughts and feelings.I stopped writing in my third year of high school.I was heartbroken,because I was hurt by the one I thought I loved.I kept writing those miserable memories,then my elder sister suggest me stop writing.When I finished high school,I reread those dairies when I was packing things.Yes,I couldn't believe it was me who wrote those articles.So beautiful and innocent that I couldn't write things like that anymore.
Days ago,I was think about breaking up with my boyfriend.When I reread those emails I wrote to him in his inbox,I was moved ,my eyes was filled with tears.I had a pure heart which I don't have now when I wrote those letters .As time goes on,I seem to be more and more confused about life and love.I really like me when I was able to write those beautiful lines.
2 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
5 May 08
Yes that sometimes happens with me..It's like you're reading someone else's work and not your, right?
I have journals myself...think one day I'll go back to reading them myself and see how and what I was feeling at the time..should be a real revelation to me
1 person likes this
@creative_genius (992)
•
5 May 08
I rarely cringe at things I have written, but I do get annoyed at typos. One poem I wrote as a teen makes me cringe but I never let myself remember it. I am fortunate as despite it being published noone has found it or mentioned it to me!
2 people like this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
5 May 08
Oh typos can be hysterical at times. I sometimes wish I had kept my old, old short stories I wrote back in high school, just to discover where I was "at" at the time and how I thought back then
1 person likes this
@xParanoiax (6987)
• United States
6 May 08
It happens to me alot lol.
Thankfully most of my real "crap" stories stay as ideas in my head, jotted down in my notebook to be inspiration for better stories later.
I had more of a problem when my self confidence sucked though...my better stories I thought were crap, I didn't think I could write worth a d@mn.
But then I got an editor and her thoughts changed everything for me.
But I'll often go back after a book is finished and half a dozen people have read it, and I'll be wincing seeing all the things I coulda done differently or fixed. Which is why I try not to go back and read my projects after I'm done lol.
It's better just to have fond memories in my head. If it's good enough for other people, it'll just have to be enough for me lol.
But while I'm writing, I try to let that over-criticism remain..because I figure it prompts me to do my best.
And so far too good, but gosh it's so umcomfortable isn't it? lol.
I don't think it's just a handful of us, I think we all get like that. We love to hope the best for ourselves, but when we actually do our best, we often feel like we coulda done better.
In a way this is good for us, 'cause we don't get too big for our britches (which could destroy writing, I've seen this happen to several very awesome and talented writers).
1 person likes this
@xParanoiax (6987)
• United States
7 May 08
I do that too, edit as I write it. I don't know...it seems like the more time spent the better it is, and I think all artists have different time-rates they spend on their works. I don't tend to take very long unless its a particularly challenging project -- like my recent one is for me -- which I always like the challenging ones, because I feel like it gives me more opportunities to learn more than things I can create easily, you know?
I kinda switch back and forth to writing things by hand and typing =) but Tolkien was brilliant...I think the time it took him and how great his books were in the end (not to mention the length of them, which are awesomely long)..is an example of that.
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
8 May 08
I'm thinking of another author who wrote really long novels..James Mitchner..wonder how long it took him to write his novels?
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
6 May 08
I think in general all artists, not just writers are their own worse critics. I've never been the type to write a first draft of anything straight out which most writers do, but constantly edit, edit, edit as I go along--yikes no wonder it can take me a long time to write. I think that was the author JRR Tolkien's method too. I remember reading he would rip to shreads the last page he wrote and start again from that point...no wonder it took him eleven years to write Lord of the Rings..LOL--oh and he wrote by hand too.
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
6 May 08
Nope, it's not just you, Pye. I do the same thing in both extremes. I'm afraid I cringe more often than I smile with pride...lol. One thing I've done several times is write something then show it to someone close to me, usually a family member, then as they're reading it or I'm reading it to them I cringe and suddenly feel embarrassed. Then if they tell me it's really good - and if they thought it sucked they'd tell me...lol - it feels so strange, like I'm both embarrassed and quite pleased with myself, kind of like my cats are most of the time.
I also love to write fiction, in fact I think I've had several hundred novels completely written in my head but sometimes when I start to put it into writing I hit a huge roadblock at first. It doesn't flow onto the screen like it does in my mind. I'm pretty good at plot lines and dialog but I'm not as good at descriptions of the landscape or furnishings, etc. Any tips?
Annie
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
6 May 08
When my mother was alive I often showed her my short stories, but she wasn't exactly a great critic..all she ever say "Oh, that's nice." Uh, could we be a bit more specific? But then she was never much of a reader to begin with..in fact, kind of hated reading.
Hmmm...tips huh? LOL. Are you good at drawing? I've been painting and drawing since yay high and also studied scenic design in college...so for me it often helps for me to do drawings of something...I'll draw out the facades of the homes of my characters...floorplans...yes, get real fussy with it...one novel that is based on a fictional version of my family history I even cooked up a genealogy of my characters
@bongkarpasang (1377)
• Indonesia
7 May 08
You are not alone, pyewacket. There were some writings I ever made back then and later when I read them after months or even years later, I wished I had never made the writings.
The problem might not be big if the writing wasn’t published or spread, but it would be an “ouch!” if a lot of people had ever read the writings, despite their good comments, I still wish I could turn back time and never wrote the writings.
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
8 May 08
It's funny in a way...at the time we write whatever it is, we think it's brilliant...then as you say many months, or years later it's like, how could I have written that?
@bongkarpasang (1377)
• Indonesia
8 May 08
A friend back then told me that there was still some positive thing behind our cringe. He said that it meant that we have become smarter than we were at the time we wrote the articles. He might be right somehow. Probably months or years after then, we have reached certain higher level of writing skills or deeper thought, and that's when we look back and can judge our previous level's skill? 
1 person likes this
