Have you ever rewritten your first story?

[Netardapope]

I know that I'm younger than most people on this forum, and I've likely finished less books than anyone here, but I get this feeling of nostalgia for one of my older worlds. My first story to be exact. I know it's an unfinished pile of garbage but there's always that knowledge that it's MY special pile of garbage. And I've toyed around with the idea of ressurecting it, if only for the giggles.

Of course, with the fleeting nature of ideas, it's very possible ( and highly likely) that this thought will just get bogged down by another series of WIP ideas. That being said, I find myself thinking about my first story from time to time.

So I was wondering, have any of you actually gotten around to rewriting one of your earlier or even first works? Did you fall in love with it again? Have you played with the idea of doing so? I'd love to know.

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[Svrtnsse]

I've done this. Technically, it was my second story, but it's close enough as makes no difference. It was probably easier for me though. The story was less than 2,000 words so it wasn't much to rewrite.

What it was, was good fun.

It was also extremely encouraging to see just how much my writing had changed over the course of the five years that had passed between the two stories (yes, I took up writing quite recently).

If you want to have a peek, the original story can be found here: Tuuli - Polar elf | Odd Lands Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia

...and the new version here: Tuuli ? s v r t n s s e

 

[Netardapope]

I've done this. Technically, it was my second story, but it's close enough as makes no difference. It was probably easier for me though. The story was less than 2,000 words so it wasn't much to rewrite.

What it was, was good fun.

It was also extremely encouraging to see just how much my writing had changed over the course of the five years that had passed between the two stories (yes, I took up writing quite recently).

If you want to have a peek, the original story can be found here: Tuuli - Polar elf | Odd Lands Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia

...and the new version here: Tuuli ? s v r t n s s e

I'll gladly check it out [emoji1]

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[Svrtnsse]

Actually, I forgot to mention. The story has some rather gruesome imager in it. - I don't think it's something that will bother your average reader of grimdark, but for someone who knows they may be a bit squeamish it may be worth checking the trigger warning.

Spoiler: Trigger Warning

Both stories include the same scene of ritual violence and childbirth.

 

[Netardapope]

I've done this. Technically, it was my second story, but it's close enough as makes no difference. It was probably easier for me though. The story was less than 2,000 words so it wasn't much to rewrite.

What it was, was good fun.

It was also extremely encouraging to see just how much my writing had changed over the course of the five years that had passed between the two stories (yes, I took up writing quite recently).

If you want to have a peek, the original story can be found here: Tuuli - Polar elf | Odd Lands Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia

...and the new version here: Tuuli ? s v r t n s s e

Very neat story, you did a great job portraying the wonders of birth in a fantasy culture. Maybe it's just the names, but it reminds me of Finnish mythology. The Kalevala comes to mind.

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[DragonOfTheAerie]

I know that I'm younger than most people on this forum, and I've likely finished less books than anyone here, but I get this feeling of nostalgia for one of my older worlds. My first story to be exact. I know it's an unfinished pile of garbage but there's always that knowledge that it's MY special pile of garbage. And I've toyed around with the idea of ressurecting it, if only for the giggles.

Of course, with the fleeting nature of ideas, it's very possible ( and highly likely) that this thought will just get bogged down by another series of WIP ideas. That being said, I find myself thinking about my first story from time to time.

So I was wondering, have any of you actually gotten around to rewriting one of your earlier or even first works? Did you fall in love with it again? Have you played with the idea of doing so? I'd love to know.

Sent from my SM-J700M using Tapatalk

Well...I'm kind of still working on my first serious story. Im taking a long break from it, but I do plan to return when I am older. It's been only 4 years since the first draft, but I was 12 then, I've changed a lot. The story has changed a lot. But its core still allures me.

I fear losing my connection with it. I fear coming back later and discovering I no longer care about it. It's an honestly terrifying idea to think about. But I do still love the story, and I don't think the characters will ever go away.

 

[Svrtnsse]

Very neat story, you did a great job portraying the wonders of birth in a fantasy culture. Maybe it's just the names, but it reminds me of Finnish mythology. The Kalevala comes to mind.

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I'm glad you like it, and the names are indeed Finnish. Partly I like the look ad sound of Finnish names and words, and partly I figured it would add a little to the atmosphere.

 

[Netardapope]

Well...I'm kind of still working on my first serious story. Im taking a long break from it, but I do plan to return when I am older. It's been only 4 years since the first draft, but I was 12 then, I've changed a lot. The story has changed a lot. But its core still allures me.

I fear losing my connection with it. I fear coming back later and discovering I no longer care about it. It's an honestly terrifying idea to think about. But I do still love the story, and I don't think the characters will ever go away.

I get the same feeling. I started writing seriously when I was 15 and finished my first draft at 16 years of age. It's been a year since then and I'm working on the first draft of the sequel. Yet still, a part of me feels like I might lose the core of the story, and that could end up turning it into a better story in the future, or at least changing it in an entertaining way.

Either way, it's hard to tell which it will be.

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[Svrtnsse]

Well...I'm kind of still working on my first serious story. Im taking a long break from it, but I do plan to return when I am older. It's been only 4 years since the first draft, but I was 12 then, I've changed a lot. The story has changed a lot. But its core still allures me.

I fear losing my connection with it. I fear coming back later and discovering I no longer care about it. It's an honestly terrifying idea to think about. But I do still love the story, and I don't think the characters will ever go away.

It could happen, but it could not, and if it does happen, you can still reestablish the connection later - or create an entirely new one. The story may change, but the idea and the characters will remain. They'll grow and change, most likely, but the base concept will still be there.

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

It could happen, but it could not, and if it does happen, you can still reestablish the connection later - or create an entirely new one. The story may change, but the idea and the characters will remain. They'll grow and change, most likely, but the base concept will still be there.

That's what gives me hope--the knowledge that the characters I have created will never go away. I will always be able to return to my world and ideas.

 

[spectre]

Some of the ideas from my first world evolved into ideas in my WIP, unfortunately a big portion of that world was like AES Sedai of Robert Jordan and the story revolved around my version of AES Sedai so I wouldn't pick it back up.

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[Penpilot]

I've always maintained that if I felt the desire, I'd go back and rewrite my first novel. Just recently, I started a short story that may or may not be set in the same story universe. But I haven't decided yet.

If you want to go back, I'd say go for it, but at the same time, make sure you're not just beating a dead horse. Make sure you actually have something to add to it. What that something is, well, I'll let you determine what that is.

 

[evolution_rex]

My first 'story' was something I wrote when I was about 5-7 years old. I was a big fan of the Harry Potter movies and even though I barely read at the time I wanted to make my own fantasy story. So I got out a notebook and wrote tiny paragraphs each page along with some pictures, and I wrote myself a little story (I don't know what ever happened to it, so I assume my parents boxed it away somewhere or it just got thrown away. At the time I was not sentimental about the things I drew and wrote).

The story went something like this; There was an evil wizard who controlled a kingdom and he had two slave brothers who did his betting. These slave boys became slaves after their parents were killed by the evil wizard's army. Anyway, the wizard trusted them enough to put them on a secret mission to collect three dragon eggs across the kingdom. The eggs would be used in a magic ritual/potion that would result in total control of the world. They were to find an egg from The Dragon of Fire, The Dragon of the Sea, and The Dragon of The Forest. So he gave them weapons and they set forth on an adventure. The dragon of fire was your typical dragon and lived in a desert and was the king of a city full of people made of lava, the dragon of the sea was giant shark that ruled over an underwater city, and the Dragon of the Forest was Tyrannosaurus-like and lived in the forest in solitude. The dragons, as they learned, weren't bad guys, but they had to use trickery to steal their eggs (the only that I remember specifically was that they threw water on the fire dragon, which turned it into stone). When they got back to the evil wizard and gave him the eggs, he immediately began doing this ritual, and that's when one of the boys shoots him in the head with an arrow as to avenge his parents, to prevent world destruction, and to allow him to give the eggs back to the dragons. The kingdom was so thankful that they made the boy who killed him the new king.

I'd like to adapt it into something serious one day. It's the story that had me going 'I wanna be an author.' I've thought up ways I can reinterpret it, but I have so many ideas for stories in general that it's just sort of been stowed away like the rest of them.

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

My first 'story' was something I wrote when I was about 5-7 years old. I was a big fan of the Harry Potter movies and even though I barely read at the time I wanted to make my own fantasy story. So I got out a notebook and wrote tiny paragraphs each page along with some pictures, and I wrote myself a little story (I don't know what ever happened to it, so I assume my parents boxed it away somewhere or it just got thrown away. At the time I was not sentimental about the things I drew and wrote).

The story went something like this; There was an evil wizard who controlled a kingdom and he had two slave brothers who did his betting. These slave boys became slaves after their parents were killed by the evil wizard's army. Anyway, the wizard trusted them enough to put them on a secret mission to collect three dragon eggs across the kingdom. The eggs would be used in a magic ritual/potion that would result in total control of the world. They were to find an egg from The Dragon of Fire, The Dragon of the Sea, and The Dragon of The Forest. So he gave them weapons and they set forth on an adventure. The dragon of fire was your typical dragon and lived in a desert and was the king of a city full of people made of lava, the dragon of the sea was giant shark that ruled over an underwater city, and the Dragon of the Forest was Tyrannosaurus-like and lived in the forest in solitude. The dragons, as they learned, weren't bad guys, but they had to use trickery to steal their eggs (the only that I remember specifically was that they threw water on the fire dragon, which turned it into stone). When they got back to the evil wizard and gave him the eggs, he immediately began doing this ritual, and that's when one of the boys shoots him in the head with an arrow as to avenge his parents, to prevent world destruction, and to allow him to give the eggs back to the dragons. The kingdom was so thankful that they made the boy who killed him the new king.

I'd like to adapt it into something serious one day. It's the story that had me going 'I wanna be an author.' I've thought up ways I can reinterpret it, but I have so many ideas for stories in general that it's just sort of been stowed away like the rest of them.

your ideas were a lot better at 7 years old than mine at 7 years old, lol...

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

I think there is something to this topic. Most people's first stories don't deserve to see the light of day. But there has to be something special about them. Because they're the stories that made us realize we had to be writers. They're the stories that we cared enough about to take from beginning to end back when we didn't know what we were doing or maybe even that we would become writers. There's something special about that.

 

[Chessie]

The first novel I ever wrote was an absolute crock of poopdom. It took me about 6 months; started when I was 16 and turned 17 in the process. I was a sheltered child, so needless to say my idea of the world was dramatically laughable. I asked my mother to burn it at some point so it's lost in the chronicles of time and thank goodness for that. It was a historical romance set in Renaissance Italy (still one of my favorite time periods) and was about a young lady forced into marriage and her struggles with what that brought. I did a ton of research on it so, in a way, it was historically accurate but let's not even go into the actual plot points or lack thereof. *shudders* I will never be rewriting that one.

The first story I ever wrote though was in the 3rd grade about a pizza delivery man serial killer. Yeah...so....ahem.

 

[Netardapope]

Some of the ideas from my first world evolved into ideas in my WIP, unfortunately a big portion of that world was like AES Sedai of Robert Jordan and the story revolved around my version of AES Sedai so I wouldn't pick it back up.

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I feel that sometimes. I get scared my world might be too similar to that of other works, so I get discouraged. But that's nothing that a massive session of editing can't do.

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[Netardapope]

My first 'story' was something I wrote when I was about 5-7 years old. I was a big fan of the Harry Potter movies and even though I barely read at the time I wanted to make my own fantasy story. So I got out a notebook and wrote tiny paragraphs each page along with some pictures, and I wrote myself a little story (I don't know what ever happened to it, so I assume my parents boxed it away somewhere or it just got thrown away. At the time I was not sentimental about the things I drew and wrote).

The story went something like this; There was an evil wizard who controlled a kingdom and he had two slave brothers who did his betting. These slave boys became slaves after their parents were killed by the evil wizard's army. Anyway, the wizard trusted them enough to put them on a secret mission to collect three dragon eggs across the kingdom. The eggs would be used in a magic ritual/potion that would result in total control of the world. They were to find an egg from The Dragon of Fire, The Dragon of the Sea, and The Dragon of The Forest. So he gave them weapons and they set forth on an adventure. The dragon of fire was your typical dragon and lived in a desert and was the king of a city full of people made of lava, the dragon of the sea was giant shark that ruled over an underwater city, and the Dragon of the Forest was Tyrannosaurus-like and lived in the forest in solitude. The dragons, as they learned, weren't bad guys, but they had to use trickery to steal their eggs (the only that I remember specifically was that they threw water on the fire dragon, which turned it into stone). When they got back to the evil wizard and gave him the eggs, he immediately began doing this ritual, and that's when one of the boys shoots him in the head with an arrow as to avenge his parents, to prevent world destruction, and to allow him to give the eggs back to the dragons. The kingdom was so thankful that they made the boy who killed him the new king.

I'd like to adapt it into something serious one day. It's the story that had me going 'I wanna be an author.' I've thought up ways I can reinterpret it, but I have so many ideas for stories in general that it's just sort of been stowed away like the rest of them.

That's actually...a pretty surprising story for a 7 year old. Did not go in the direction I expected. I'd read it if adapted to a serious work!

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[Netardapope]

I think there is something to this topic. Most people's first stories don't deserve to see the light of day. But there has to be something special about them. Because they're the stories that made us realize we had to be writers. They're the stories that we cared enough about to take from beginning to end back when we didn't know what we were doing or maybe even that we would become writers. There's something special about that.

Exactly. My first story was utter garbage but the characters are still alive in my mind, if under a more negative light. Yet still, I get a sense of longing for them. They made me fall in love with storytelling.

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[Netardapope]

The first novel I ever wrote was an absolute crock of poopdom. It took me about 6 months; started when I was 16 and turned 17 in the process. I was a sheltered child, so needless to say my idea of the world was dramatically laughable. I asked my mother to burn it at some point so it's lost in the chronicles of time and thank goodness for that. It was a historical romance set in Renaissance Italy (still one of my favorite time periods) and was about a young lady forced into marriage and her struggles with what that brought. I did a ton of research on it so, in a way, it was historically accurate but let's not even go into the actual plot points or lack thereof. *shudders* I will never be rewriting that one.

The first story I ever wrote though was in the 3rd grade about a pizza delivery man serial killer. Yeah...so....ahem.

You must have been a very interesting 3rd grader [emoji23] [emoji23] [emoji23] [emoji23]

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