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Post by dem bones on Aug 29, 2008 16:24:53 GMT
Some time ago, a friend told me of their mission to locate every single copy of the first small press publication they edited - and wipe it off the face of the earth! "It was really, REALLY embarrassingly bad!", etc. After hastily scribbling down the title of said magazine on a fag packet for future reference/ addition to impossible lengthy "wants list" (not out of spite, for once: more because I love the person's work and know them to be their own harshest critic), I got to thinking that all authors, musicians and artists must have similar skeletons in their wardrobe, early (or perhaps even, recent!) they wish had never seen publication. Works that haunt them to this very day! So, don't be shy, boys and girls. Tell us all about it ..... |
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Post by benedictjjones on Aug 29, 2008 16:41:03 GMT
^with one story published i'm okay at the minute but give it ten years and i might have to buy that copy of OEG back off you!!
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Post by sean on Aug 29, 2008 19:11:24 GMT
Hell, every single word that sees publication! Zero self-confidence... its a good job subbing stories can be done mostly by e-mail, I'd never convince myself anything was good enough for as long as it would take to print 'em and physically post 'em...
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Post by benedictjjones on Aug 29, 2008 22:55:44 GMT
^i actually much prefer the post, it seems much more real and 'serious' than email.
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Post by lobolover on Aug 30, 2008 20:59:20 GMT
Well,not published,but put on an online site-at horrendous quantities -realy early works im having deleted now.
Horrible.And not in a good way.
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Post by Jaqhama on Sept 11, 2008 18:19:23 GMT
Nothing yet, but give me time.  I do know that my Bikernet stories lack a good deal of correct sentence structure...but few of the readers ever noticed. As time went by I paid more attention to comma's and semi colons and all that stuff. My partner Lin has done an editing course, so that now helps a lot. I went to a public school in Portsmouth back in the 70's, so you can imagine that literature wasn't high on the list of classes being taught. I learnt more about written english from REH Conan stories and George G. Gilman westerns than I did from the english classes at school. |
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Post by mattofthespurs on Sept 18, 2008 9:38:33 GMT
I do have one story floating around out there that, on reflection, could have done with a bit more of a polish.
The idea is still pretty neat but the execution is poor.
I believe it's still available on Amazon.
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alansjf
Devils Coach Horse
Posts: 107
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Post by alansjf on Sept 19, 2008 9:09:16 GMT
Hell, every single word that sees publication! Zero self-confidence... its a good job subbing stories can be done mostly by e-mail, I'd never convince myself anything was good enough for as long as it would take to print 'em and physically post 'em... Ah yes, I've been there ... While I'm writing something, I'm invincible - the trouble starts as soon as I go back and read what I've written. Then it's the complete opposite, and the delete button is suddenly my new best friend. When I do manage to resist that temptation and decide to persevere, I'll eventually reach a point where I feel ok enough to actually submit, but once it's gone I wonder what on earth I was thinking. No one's going to publish that! It's only a matter of time before the next rejection email/letter arrives ... I am always genuinely surprised when I get an acceptance, but I still hate rereading anything of mine that actually sees print. All I can see is everything that's wrong with it. |
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Sept 19, 2008 9:25:02 GMT
Yes, I'm with Sean there. And I agree completely AlJ that in the middle of writing something I begin to smirk with the conviction that James Joyce would ask me for tips.
Its that fateful reread. The smirk melts to be replaced by the genuine horror that an individual could be so misguided. Self belief crumbles, depression enters the room wearing a bow tie.
Why does my brain never recognise that its used the same word three times in one paragraph? Isn't there a section that deals with cliche?
I've found this is much worse with novels. Don't know why...
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Post by dem bones on Sept 23, 2008 7:28:43 GMT
I just stopped attempting when I came to the realisation that (a) I hated doing it and (b) when I tried and thought I'd done OK, I'd see the finished article in print and my writing looked like it had been infected by some literary equivalent of leprosy. The stuff I like now is contributing some spadework: Making sense of the Peter Haining bibliography, identifying the phantom books that had come to be accepted in certain quarters - it was great fun contributing in some small way to that! Everything else, though .....
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Post by David A. Riley on Sept 23, 2008 7:53:07 GMT
I missed this thread when I was away on holiday, drinking cheap wine and beer in Bulgaria.
I sympathise wholeheartedly with the sentiments in this thread. I always hate first reading through whatever I have published. Perhaps it's because at this stage it is virtually set in stone and it's too late for any more revision - just when I can spot scores of things I wish I could change.
David
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Post by jkdunham on Sept 23, 2008 18:43:01 GMT
I really can't have any regrets given where my efforts eventually saw print. It was a pleasure and a privilege. That said, Dem pretty much sums up how I feel about my writing these days i.e. 'hate it' and 'leprosy'.
Forever grateful to Mr Black and his books for showing me that I'm a reader not a writer.
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Post by carolinec on Sept 23, 2008 18:47:41 GMT
Forever grateful to Mr Black and his books for showing me that I'm a reader not a writer. Steve, you're kidding! You write the most amazing stuff. "Power" in BBoH1 for example is one of the most .. erm, powerful (for want of a better word) and gut-churning pieces I've read. I really hope to see more of you and JKD in print some day soon. ;D |
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Post by Dr Terror on Sept 23, 2008 22:41:31 GMT
Steve, if you'd come out with that last week I would have made time to stop off in Derby at the weekend and given you a slap!
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Post by jkdunham on Sept 24, 2008 12:56:55 GMT
Steve, if you'd come out with that last week I would have made time to stop off in Derby at the weekend and given you a slap! " RETIRED AUTHOR HAPPY SLAPPED BY BLACK MAGIC EDITORFailed horror hack, John Kenneth Dunham, 82, was the victim last night of an apparently motiveless attack by Charles Black, respected editor of the critically acclaimed Black Book of Horridness anthologies. Dunham, who now makes a living selling body parts (not all of which are believed to be his own), told our reporter; "Frankly, I expected more from Charles. I thought he'd at least give me a good kicking." Interviewed by police regarding his motives in the dungeon of his Mortbury home, Mr Black explained; "Have you read that story, 'Spare Rib'?" All charges have now been dropped." |
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