Find your next favourite story now
Login

How Much of Your Own Work Do You REALLY Like?

last reply
28 replies
7.8k views
0 watchers
0 likes
Lurker
0 likes
I guess, like many of us here, I have quite a portfolio of accumulated works. I am not vain enough to imagine that everything I write is brilliant or even of any particular literary merit. However, I have written pieces that I am proud of, that I enjoyed writing and that please me still after some mental, emotional and chronological distance between composition and contemplation.

There are pieces, too, that annoy and disappoint, but which I 'let stand' as a reminder to myself that even after all this time I can (and do) still get it wrong.

I do have my favourites, items I have written that please me as stories/poems, for various reasons: plot, character/s, emotional impact, humour or whatever. In all honesty, of my entire body of work, they are few in number. That's not to say I dislike the other stuff, far from it. It's more like having favourite children from my brood of items: I prefer some to others!

I would have listed the works I like that I've submitted to SS, but I'm sure someone would have seen it as an attempt to promote myself (something I have unfairly been accused of elsewehere) or stroke my ego or somesuch thing, so I'll refrain.

I will be interested to read what you guys have to say about your work.
0 likes
Well, i love most of my works just wish I have the passion to finish them, how ever there are some that i don't really like, but i write anyways so people dont start asking why haven't i been writing more. I dislike almost all of my poems, because i never really liked poems, but when I write a poem it seems like eithervI forced it, or it was going smoothly until someone disturbed me and the beautiful thought is lost. Upon contrary belif, once that thought is gone, it wont come back again,

Now the complete horrendous stuff, I don't even bother with it anymore. I tear it apart and recycle the elements of the story i liked. And in the end i have to wait and see if others like it as well. And so far they say they do, so i must be doing something right? Idk.
Lurker
0 likes
I tend to not show much of my stuff as I write for therapy, not to display.

A lot of what I write is venting, getting rid of the things that anger and annoy me in a safe and non-destructive manner. It was a method I was taught many years ago and, most of the time, it works well. It does maean that most of my writing is quite nasty and hard to read and not fit for publication anyway.
Active Ink Slinger
0 likes
I try to write with feeling, but as many know I do not express what I want. I do have some things I am very proud of and to this day if I read them I cry. there are feelings I had to express and had to share . Some of my words are terrible and after I read them again I think why or why did I not tell it different. hehe
I hope that some get the meaning I am trying so hard to express and share will come out and some will understand me better. .
most of my words are true to a point. I am dreaming or a memory that will not leave me or be put away.
So all in all I am still searching my mind for that one piece that I need to express. it is there, I cant find the words not just yet....
Forum Facilitator
0 likes
Quote by authorised1960
I guess, like many of us here, I have quite a portfolio of accumulated works. I am not vain enough to imagine that everything I write is brilliant or even of any particular literary merit. However, I have written pieces that I am proud of, that I enjoyed writing and that please me still after some mental, emotional and chronological distance between composition and contemplation.

There are pieces, too, that annoy and disappoint, but which I 'let stand' as a reminder to myself that even after all this time I can (and do) still get it wrong.

I do have my favourites, items I have written that please me as stories/poems, for various reasons: plot, character/s, emotional impact, humour or whatever. In all honesty, of my entire body of work, they are few in number. That's not to say I dislike the other stuff, far from it. It's more like having favourite children from my brood of items: I prefer some to others!

I would have listed the works I like that I've submitted to SS, but I'm sure someone would have seen it as an attempt to promote myself (something I have unfairly been accused of elsewehere) or stroke my ego or somesuch thing, so I'll refrain.

I will be interested to read what you guys have to say about your work.


I will tell you which ones of yours I liked.. "Disintegration of the Heart".. "1914".. "Funny".. "Writing, Empathy and the Author"..

As for myself, at any one time I usually have 3-4 pieces in various stages of completion.. other times I will wake up at 2am in the morning and finsish a piece in one setting.. and I also have pieces I am fond of that have never been posted..

but of those I have posted I do like.. "One Bite".. "Ancient".. "Finding You".. "Untouchable".. "The Question".. that's not to say there aren't others, but my arm is tired from patting myself on the back.. lol...
Active Ink Slinger
0 likes
Well it is as they say, 'You are your own best and worst critique". And this could not be more true then for those of us who create art. We look at our own work as either a piece of excellence or as a piece of garbage, there is very little middle ground for us to perceive our own creations in a way that is unbiased. For me personally the way I see my own work is often either decent, or good; some works I'm not entirely proud of though. I think a healthy way to review or look at our own work is by asking ourselves this one simple question: "How might I be able to improve my next piece from this one?" But all that being said I like all my works, the good ones and the bad, they are to me the stones I have walked on my journey, some of them milestones of greater importance then the others but to look back on them and see how far I have come along is how I know I am making progress in my art. smile
Active Ink Slinger
0 likes
I have to say, this is an interesting thread. I enjoyed reading everyone's answers.
I have not posted a story I did not like. I have worked on a couple of dozen things that never panned out, but I would not post them. Maybe someday I might think of a way to make them worthwhile.
I am super critical of my own writing. I keep changing it again and again trying to get it just right, but at some point I have to stop when I'm not making helpful changes. It is common for me to do 5-10 rewrites of a piece before I submit it.
Even then I still notice every single little bit that I feel is not just right. A word grouping, phasing, or word choice that I feel could be better. Organizing the story's flow and pace, especially in my Sci-Fi stories.
I often find it difficult to go back and read some of my work because I see the possible potential I did not quite reach.
I think my stories are good and a few very good, but I have not written the story yet that everything fell into place. A story that people read and go WOW. I may never, but I think I can if I keep getting better.
The people on Stories Space have made me such a much better writer with their advise and examples. I look at my earliest few stories compared to what I do now, and I can only thank all my friends for their help and support.
You can't get there from here, because when you get there you're still here and here is now there.
Lurker
0 likes
Quote by rolandlytle
It is common for me to do 5-10 rewrites of a piece before I submit it.


If I may say so, Roland, I think there lays your problem.

There is being self-critical, which is good; there is being hyper-critical, which is okay, then there is striving for pure perfection, which is unrealistic. Pretty-much every author ever publish will admit to finding fault in the published work.

It's the nature of this beast we call writing: we are never gonna be 100% satisfied with everything we produce. Personally (I would not presume to speak for anybody else) I try to find a happy medium between what I wanted to produce and what I actually produce. If there is a close correlation between the two then I'll accept that.

Sometimes - but rarely - one just has to admit that, no matter how many times you rework a piece, it just isn't going to come together and admit defeat.
Active Ink Slinger
0 likes
Quote by AvrgBlkGrl
I'm never satisfied. I always see room for improvement each and every time I do a read.
I have to sometimes make myself let it go.


I am so glad I am not the only one that feels that way.
I have always felt screwed up because I never seem to be able to overlook problems I see, but have not figured out how to fix, despite how minor those problems may be.

I am not alone.
You can't get there from here, because when you get there you're still here and here is now there.
Lurker
0 likes
Quote by rolandlytle
Quote by AvrgBlkGrl
I'm never satisfied. I always see room for improvement each and every time I do a read.
I have to sometimes make myself let it go.


I am so glad I am not the only one that feels that way.
I have always felt screwed up because I never seem to be able to overlook problems I see, but have not figured out how to fix, despite how minor those problems may be.

I am not alone.


The skill is being able to accept what is good and to also accept what you're not always 100% happy with. You could drive yourself nuts trying to get every single word right. The truth is that it will never happen
Forum Facilitator
0 likes
Quote by rolandlytle
I have to say, this is an interesting thread. I enjoyed reading everyone's answers.
I have not posted a story I did not like. I have worked on a couple of dozen things that never panned out, but I would not post them. Maybe someday I might think of a way to make them worthwhile.
I am super critical of my own writing. I keep changing it again and again trying to get it just right, but at some point I have to stop when I'm not making helpful changes. It is common for me to do 5-10 rewrites of a piece before I submit it.
Even then I still notice every single little bit that I feel is not just right. A word grouping, phasing, or word choice that I feel could be better. Organizing the story's flow and pace, especially in my Sci-Fi stories.
I often find it difficult to go back and read some of my work because I see the possible potential I did not quite reach.
I think my stories are good and a few very good, but I have not written the story yet that everything fell into place. A story that people read and go WOW. I may never, but I think I can if I keep getting better.
The people on Stories Space have made me such a much better writer with their advise and examples. I look at my earliest few stories compared to what I do now, and I can only thank all my friends for their help and support.


There isn't any right or wrong way to develop our skills as a writer. Each of us has our own style and our work product reflects that style. Of course we adapt and evolve as our career allows and maybe even change entirely if that's what it takes. In the end, it's equal amounts of dissatisfaction and perseverance that gives our work its identity. Some of us sketch things out in pencil before we paint. Others just paint.
Active Ink Slinger
0 likes
Being new here, and someone who has not frequently shared my writing (and gone through years and years where I did no creative writing), I am really enjoying what I am doing and what I am writing. I tend to be particularly fond of a specific turn of phrase within a work, and find myself thinking of it over and over -- rather than feeling strongly about an entire piece. I doubt that I will ever create a piece that will thrill me entirely, beginning to end, but there is a certain elation about putting a piece out there, liking it well enough myself, and not being fearful of what others will say.
Active Ink Slinger
0 likes
When I started to write again, I didn't care. I wrote to get things of my chest and out of my system. I usually didn't even have a clue aboutr what I was going to write, it sort of just happened. I usually would not look at it twice, I just submitted what flowed out of my fingers. Only once did I edit in those days and that was, because a moderator pointed out to me, that it was really bad, and showed me, how to make it good. I wasn't looking for scores either. Even if there was only one person to read it, that would have been ok. I had shared it then, and that was the purpose. Gradually, as I wrote more, I started to enjoy the fact, that people liked what I wrote, and I started to look at my work a little differently. Looking back, I can say, that I like almost everything I wrote. Of course there are some, I like more than others. Ramble, My Poetry, Clicketyclick clicketyclack, Encore!, Eight Hearts, Tiny and Slow Motion are the ones I like best.
If life seems jolly rotten
there's something you've forgotten
and that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing

from Monty Python's "Life of Brian"
Active Ink Slinger
0 likes
I wouldn't put it out there If I wasn't happy with it tbh..I'm good with it but hope to get better at it, I am still a novice really.

My current one I am working on about Paulus, German sausages, measles and the zombie br'er rabbit hell bent on revenge after contracting German measles and choking on a German sausage. is imo the makings of a master piece..If I don't get an RR for it I shall eat my hat
Lurker
0 likes
I have to say that since I started this thread and the amount of work I have produced - and mostly seen published here - I have far more of my own work that I genuinely like a lot, especially some of my micro-fiction entries: 1914, Out, Tea For Two, The Moment, Second Amendment and others. I am very pleased and proud to have produced those works as micro-fiction was a genre that was largely new to me.

I am also more happy to 'do a Larry': pat myself on the back Well, why not, huh?
Active Ink Slinger
0 likes
Quote by Kiera
I wouldn't put it out there If I wasn't happy with it tbh..I'm good with it but hope to get better at it, I am still a novice really.

My current one I am working on about Paulus, German sausages, measles and the zombie br'er rabbit hell bent on revenge after contracting German measles and choking on a German sausage. is imo the makings of a master piece..If I don't get an RR for it I shall eat my hat
Can't wait to read it
If life seems jolly rotten
there's something you've forgotten
and that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing

from Monty Python's "Life of Brian"
0 likes
I'm a poor judge of my own work - stuff I really like tends to do quite badly whereas work I don't especially like does better. Bizarre but true
Active Ink Slinger
0 likes
Depends on what writing at the time and usually after I have re-read it later is when I find the ones I like
You can always come back, but you can’t come back all the way.
- Bob Dylan
Active Ink Slinger
0 likes
I won't post anything I don't like. I haven't written much just been immersed in the world of writing all my life. Like being caught in a whirl pool and not noticing anything besides going round and round.

I do rewrites, more now than ever. But I do just let the story flow out and that is it. This especially true of my poetry. I will sometimes rework a poem to death and that usually means trash it.

I like this thread. I think one learns more from the feed back of peers who are both readers and writers is extremely valuable. SS also has a very healthy climate for open criticism without it being a personal attack and that makes for a great safe zone to sort of float a new idea or style to see what happens.jLryabGUVx6Q9rvw
May your parchment be smooth, your ink never blot, and your writing never block.
Lurker
0 likes
I like what I write, sometimes I love it. The ones that are most special to me are the very personal ones.
Chasing Dragons
0 likes
If one doesn't like one's own work then how can one expect others to like it?
If I write something that I subsequently don't like, it gets deleted.
However, liking it myself doesn't mean that others will. Everyone has different tastes and points of view.

If anyone wishes to find the beginning of this epic saga, here it is:
https://www.storiesspace.com/stories/drama/the-nurses.aspx

However, since this story is now available in paperback, only the first few chapters remain. Buy at:

https://www.vbay.info/thenurses

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." George Santayana

Lurker
0 likes
Usually, I like what I write. However, there are times when I wish I would have said it different. I'm probably viewed as a poet. In reality, I prefer writing stories. Usually of the dark kind or just silly ones. I love to write in collaborations also.
0 likes
I like everything I've completed. Unfortunately, I post before finishing it. I need a two-week waiting period.
Lurker
0 likes
All of it.
Active Ink Slinger
0 likes
On this site I have only sort to have posted pieces I personally like. Elsewhere there is one poem that was accepted that I have never been happy with. I have toyed with deleting it but haven't, as peeps seem to read it from time to time and the comments they leave are, in general, favourable.


Has anyone else noticed that sometimes a piece of work you thought was really good gets a poor reception yet a piece you classed as average goes bananas?


I have learnt their is no accounting for taste. Write, publish and leave the rest to providence.
Crazy old ape
0 likes
I generally am quite pleased with it at the time I post it. However, I am hideously self-critical and tend to tear my old stories to shreds when I re-read them. Doesn't mean I don't like them. More like I wish I had spent more time obsessing over them. If I did that, though, I wouldn't have close to 50 stories between the two sites I am on.

A mighty warrior meets an unusual challenger. The Last Challenge of Jadek Prynn.

Forum Facilitator
0 likes
For the most part, the quality of my work depends on the subject matter, my emotional state, and the urgency I feel to post something. I have found that my work is much better if it flows naturally in its own time rather than doing it because it's been a while since I last posted.
Kaiju-adjacent
0 likes
Quote by rolandlytle

I am super critical of my own writing. I keep changing it again and again trying to get it just right, but at some point I have to stop when I'm not making helpful changes. It is common for me to do 5-10 rewrites of a piece before I submit it.


I do this too and I don't think it's a bad thing. As others have said here, though, everyone's experience is different. In general, I think rewriting helps, though after awhile I've found that stories kind of "harden," it's been tooo long since I wrote it and it resists rewriting.

I'd say I'm very happy with about a third of my stories, I think a third are okay, and a third I don't like. I don't know if this lines up with objective reality - lots of my own stuff I've hated and others have liked. I don't know that I'm that good a judge of my own work.

If I pull a story, reread it and decide it's absolute crap, I'll delete it. That's happened a few times.

Teeth of the Sky - Myths and Monsters competition, first place

Fire and Ice - A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words competition, first place

Monster - Survivor competition, first place

Primus Omnium
0 likes
Judging my own work if not easy for me. And you can't really 'trust' the kind folks who have collected around you to support you. But you do notice if not a lot of the 'big guns' read your work, never have, and never will. It does give you an idea that your work is on the cusp of 'okay' and 'not okay'.

But I still have pieces that bring me to tears when I happen to read them once again. That's good enough for me.

It's all about the pleasure of creation and the pleasure one gives to others in the end. And that pleasure has never left me to this point.