Writing and reading

[azziria]

A question for those of you on my flist who are writers: how much (or how often) do you re-read your own stories? Is it a write-post-forget thing for you, or do you often read through your own back catalogue?

Personally, because I write what I want to read, I quite often go back and read my older stuff. What's good is that I'm often pleasantly surprised at how good I find it, or I find a passage or turn of phrase that makes me think "Did I really write that? Because it's really quite good...". I guess that's because time gives me some objectivity and distance and the chance to appreciate the writing when I'm not totally wrapped up in the creation process.

So... post and forget, or re-read?

Comments

[portraitofafool.livejournal.com]

Re-read, re-read, re-read... and then do it forty more times just to be sure. That's about how it works for me. Then I end up with parts of my own stories memorized. However, most of what I am doing when I'm re-reading is editing--right down to re-writing an ending to something in the LJ post box.

I can't say I read many of my stories over for the pleasure of reading them, though there are a couple I have re-read for fun (This is Not an Exit for example). I've re-read How to Move in Silence a couple of times lately, too, to try and gear myself up for jumping into that 'verse again, things like that.

Long story short; I do re-read, mostly for fine-tooth comb editing purposes though and not for fun. I should've just said that to begin with, eh? *g*

[azziria.livejournal.com]

Ah, but why say anything in one line when you can use three paragraphs?? *g*

[portraitofafool.livejournal.com]

I will learn the fine art of Commenting with Concision one day, I will! *scuffs feet*