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hmpfI'm going to say something I think I may have said here before, but just in case I haven't, is worth writing down here.
I think the problem with my writing is this: I am essentially a bad writer - at least if we measure such things in term of innate ability/talent. What I have, instead of talent, is (preternatural ;-)) persistence, and a highly developed sense of quality control. Through the combined application of these two traits, I manage to whip initially poor material into a shape that ranges from 'decent' to 'quite good, actually'. But that takes time, and lots of energy. Frequently, it takes years.
I am glad that I have that ability for quality control. It's the only thing that stands between me and cringe-worthy badfic. The ability is actually so finely honed that a lot of the time I don't even have to write the crap down anymore. I know, before it comes out, that something is not worth writing down. I also know when it *is* worth writing down. That is also part of my quality control sense - I recognise my own, brief flashes of competence as they happen. But since 99% of the time, crap is all I have, that means that 99% of the time that I'm trying to write, I'm just sitting staring at the screen testing stuff in my mind and, well, deciding it's not worth being converted into pixels. (Mind you, a lot of the time I can't even come up with crap.)
I've just reread the very earliest draft I have of the beginning of Back to the Future... It made me cringe. It's barely recognisable; it's hard to believe it was written by the same person as the current version. If a novice writer showed me that draft, I'd have doubts if it could be converted into something even remotely worthwile by said writer. But it has been converted into something worthwhile; and by the same person who wrote the first version, hard as that may be to believe.
I'm a very good editor to my own, very bad writer. Editing is the largest part of the work of writing for me.
I think the problem with my writing is this: I am essentially a bad writer - at least if we measure such things in term of innate ability/talent. What I have, instead of talent, is (preternatural ;-)) persistence, and a highly developed sense of quality control. Through the combined application of these two traits, I manage to whip initially poor material into a shape that ranges from 'decent' to 'quite good, actually'. But that takes time, and lots of energy. Frequently, it takes years.
I am glad that I have that ability for quality control. It's the only thing that stands between me and cringe-worthy badfic. The ability is actually so finely honed that a lot of the time I don't even have to write the crap down anymore. I know, before it comes out, that something is not worth writing down. I also know when it *is* worth writing down. That is also part of my quality control sense - I recognise my own, brief flashes of competence as they happen. But since 99% of the time, crap is all I have, that means that 99% of the time that I'm trying to write, I'm just sitting staring at the screen testing stuff in my mind and, well, deciding it's not worth being converted into pixels. (Mind you, a lot of the time I can't even come up with crap.)
I've just reread the very earliest draft I have of the beginning of Back to the Future... It made me cringe. It's barely recognisable; it's hard to believe it was written by the same person as the current version. If a novice writer showed me that draft, I'd have doubts if it could be converted into something even remotely worthwile by said writer. But it has been converted into something worthwhile; and by the same person who wrote the first version, hard as that may be to believe.
I'm a very good editor to my own, very bad writer. Editing is the largest part of the work of writing for me.
