delphipsmith: (classic quill)
delphipsmith ([personal profile] delphipsmith) wrote2015-11-07 05:19 pm
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Here's a question

Every so often I go on a binge of re-reading my own fics. And almost every time, I end up thinking the same thing: "These are pretty good. But...did I really write these??" In other words, it feels like I'm reading someone else's work. It's a little unnerving. I can't quite figure it out.

So, for those of you who write fanfic, do you go back and re-read your own old stories? How often? Is there a particular concatenation of circumstances that causes you to do so? How does it make you feel when you do? How do you find that you react to them -- do they feel like your own work or someone else's?

Now, for those of you who also write original fic: same questions.

[identity profile] ennyousai.livejournal.com 2015-11-09 03:40 am (UTC)(link)
NO OH GOD NO NEVER IT IS THE WORST IT MAKES ME CRINGE NO NO NO.

...but seriously, I hate doing that. The only thing I will see are the typos that crept in, or the sentence that could've been tighter. Then I start obsessively editing. Then I can't stop. Then I just want to delete it forever.

I'd really like to delete a lot of my fic, but I hate it when fanfic authors do that, so I just pretend my fic does not exist. And we live happily ever after.