This Week's Topic:

[twopoint]

Hi!

Question: How long does it take after you've edited and posted a fic to be able to re-read it without feeling like you're going to throw up?

(I'm seriously emetophobic, so typing the words 'throw up' is very hard for me, but no other phrase comes close to expressing my feelings on this matter.)

Comments

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

You're funny! Hmmm! I am going through that revolted-by-the-story-I-just-posted period myself right now with my Ardor-in-August fic. Sometimes I actually like a story that I have written right away, but usually the best I can expect when I first finish is to hope it is better than I think it is.

But if I wait too long to look it over again, I find even more things wrong with it. My favorite thing I have ever produced, my novel, A New Day, makes me want to pull my hair out right now; I looked at it the other day to check for a point of continuity in my personal canon and I wanted to sit down and re-write the entire thing.

My answer is that I have no answer. Maybe if it were a drabble or a short poem, I could look at something and think it was as good as I could get it, but never on longer things. I usually just have to declare them finished and "off limits" at a certain point, unless I spot an obvious error or typo.

[two-point.livejournal.com]

I know my revulsion is directly proportional to hormones and general feelings of Magnificent Scorpio Certainty at any given time. But I don't mind re-reading during the editing process, but once I've declared it finished - It. Is. Finished. No more peeking, thinking or pondering.

But you are so correct about drabbles and short pieces! I was thinking about this while posting the question. Maybe smaller means less margin of error, or smaller is a like beautifully-made piece of clothing that emphasizes the author's attributes. I don't know, but I have less of a need to read my smaller fics with my nose scrunched up and my head turned to the side so I have to see the fic out of the corner of my eye.

But it is this tendency that keeps us trying for better or more or something else, which is crucial to the creative process.

I have no problem reading Your stories over and over!