Another question for authors

I generally enjoy reading my old work, and indeed listening to the recordings I have made of them. The exceptions are some of the oldest ones (Weird & Good) which have a naivity whcih makes me cringe and those with too hackneyed plots (Cell Phone). Interestingly these are often the most popular with the reader. This just shows that I must have peculiar tastes.

Of course it's very frustrating when I find an error, but there's not much one can do about those in already published works, just correct it in my own copy.

I recall an incident of an error in a story published on Spanking Classics which made the scene not make sense but no-one noticed; clearly my reader understood what I'd intended, rather than what I'd actually written.

I recently re-read one of my earliest stories and decided that I liked it better than some of my later stuff.
What it lacked in style it more than made up in freshness of ideas and a certain joie de vivre in its writing.
However when all said and done they're only silly little spanking stories.

That's a pretty cynical statement - apart from genre, why are they any different to any other fiction that people pay good money for and spend valuable time reading ?

In fact, yours are better than some of the books I have ploughed my way through !

I sometimes reread my earlier stories. There are some I still like, others which I think could have been better, and still others which I think are not very good. There are some which I think I've outgrown - I may not have outgrown the subject matter, but I've outgrown them as a writer, if that makes any sense. There are even a few I barely remember writing - when I read those stories, I think "geez, that doesn't sound like me." Maybe I had a ghost writer, but don't remember him or her. Or, it could have been the drugs.

But there is one thing which is true about all of those earlier stories: I definitely do not feel like rewriting them, or revisiting the characters in any fashion. To misquote Popeye, "they yam what they yam." And that's how they're gonna stay.

The other thing I've noticed about my early stories is that they are almost all very traditional spanking stories, written in a very traditional fashion. Often well written (I hope), but not overly creative, with well worn ideas, and formulaic plots and formats. My characters were OK, but were often similar to characters in other stories I wrote during that time. (not too long ago, I had a comment from someone who had read two of my early stories. Even though the plots and settings were completely different, he asked if the two stories were related to one another, since the main female and male characters - a husband and wife - had the same name in both stories. I replied that the two stories were written years apart, and I hadn't even realized I had repeated the characters names. When I went back to look at the two stories, the characters not only shared the same name, but many of the same traits, even though they were in two completely different stories). So, overall, I think many of those earlier stories were kind of repetitive.

More than anything else, this realization caused 2 things to happen as I write my more recent stories: (1) I take more chances with style, format, setting, humor, and generally trying new and different ways to express myself in the spanking fiction milieu (yes, I said milieu), (2) I write far fewer stories, because taking more chances with style, format, setting, humor etc. etc. is hard to do, and requires more effort and, perhaps, more talent, than I consistently own, (3) I lose count of things I list, and (4) I have a great, and greater, appreciation for the creativity of other authors who take these types of chances in THEIR current stories - so much so, that I place those attributes above most other things in the spanking stories I read.

So, I think I've grown as a writer, though I'm not sure I'm any better at it than I was when I started; I just know I am different from that time. And my change as a writer has made me grow as a reader as well - grow more selective, at any rate. I'm not sure if that's an improvement either, since I don't want to be a snobbish reader.

But that's what interests me now - who knows what will happen next week, next month, or next year?


NJR, you really need to join the inner inner, inner circle. Members in good standing can have their stories chopped up into pieces at random places (or, at every 1000 words, whichever the author prefers) to create serials, all free of charge (and more importantly, free of work) to the author. Yes, if you join the inner inner inner, inner circle, even you can write serials.

And, as a bonus, whenever someone else joins, we get to add an extra "inner" to the name of the circle.

This might seem odd because I've never posted here in the library, but I've written a few hundred thousand words of spanking stories now, so I'll throw in my 2 cents.

I was surprised by how much worse my first stories were. I was going to post them here until I read them and realized I couldn't post them without editing them first. The characters still had a charm but the prose is awful and the telling is clumsy. In contrast, I re-read something from a couple of years ago and was surprised by some aspects of the execution.

I can see steady improvement now, though I've been writing a lot of noncommittal shorts rather than investing to crafting a tale with subtle and developed characters. I think that's a good thing, because I'm more inclined to scratch the writing itch these days. Even in a short, I try to improve or play with an aspect of storytelling, because it's much more fulfilling for me that way.

You certainly are generous. Are you sure you're not really cs in disguise?

I re-read periodically my older stories, mainly those written under influence ("Of Dinosaurs and Round Bottoms" for example) to understand how the heck I was able to put them on paper. I also revisit consistently my unpublished serials in order to add a chapter or two but instead I finish rewriting a chapter or two.

But yes, I usually re-read my older stories with a kind of nostalgia, as visiting an old friend that I hadn't see for long time...

re "After all they're only silly little spanking stories.
Gail
Thankyou very much for your very kind compliment.
What I meant is that they are written from figments of our imagination and fantasy, and only need a small amount of research.
While I think my stories, and indeed most of those in LSF have as much value as most romantic fiction and "chick-lit" (NB no intentions of sexism- just using the current abbreviation) and imho are certainly far better than the appalling 50 Shades etc., I was comparing them to the work of the fiction authors I admire most whose work involves months if not years of meticulous research before even putting pen to paper.

Jim

PS When I was recently in a motorway WH Smiths they had a whole full depth metre run of 50 Shades , with all the rip-offs in the shelves underneath, and on the top two shelves the harder BDSM stuff.
A few years ago-(pre-internet spanking sites), the top shelf was mainly full of male orientated spanking/ BDSM paperbooks, and the one below it hot "chick-lit"- Black Lace etc.
Believe me that if their computers are telling them to give that amount of space to 50 Shades and associated rip-offs, then they are certainly selling!