Last night, while in Storage sorting through some boxes, I came across a full manuscript of Sid and Peterson's Practical Guide to Hell. I got the urge to read it after I brought the box I rescued inside, and stayed up until 11pm reading words I had first written in October-December 1998. Five years ago. I'm not sure, but I think this is a first draft, meaning the first draft I did, period. And of course there's a story behind it.
In August 1997, I got my first computer. In October 1997, I got on the internet for the first time at home. I immediately joined an online critique group that I had been checking out on my breaks at work, signed up for too many mailing lists, and was well on my way to getting 600+ email messages a day. (My mind boggles.)
Up until then, I hadn't shown my stories to many people: a local writers group that dissolved soon after I went to my first meeting and a few close friends. So I wasn't at all used to critiques, and especially not negative ones.
For some reason, I decided to rewrite the story, including in it the last book of the series as well as the second book. I think I wanted to make it longer. And I did, but I think I changed quite a bit of the original story. (I haven't read that one for a long time.)
Well, to make a long story short, I submitted the revised and expanded novel to my critique group. Initial reviews were awesome. They loved it. They thought it was cute and funny and original. I thought, perhaps, that I finally had gotten the story right, since I originally had the idea while in High School.
And then came the evening of the critique chat, in which the members were supposed to 'roast' the critiquee. After hearing the initial reviews, I thought I had nothing to worry about.
Well, the leader of the group was a hard science fiction writer who was bitter in more ways than one about writing and publishing in general. I won't pretend that I liked his stuff; I didn't understand what I read and it was structurally and grammatically sound. I don't and never will read hard sf. And he hated my story. He reamed me up, down, and sideways for writing a piece of fluff that had no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
And one by one, the other members followed suit. One by one, they recanted their original impressions and trashed my story until it could not stand up under the onslaught. Needless to say, I didn't participate in that group very much after that. As early as two or so years ago, I still spoke to one or two of them occassionally, and I think my name's still on the member roster, but I haven't been to their site in a looooong time. (And as far as I know, they haven't been on my site either.)
I've always wondered why they abandoned their initial impressions and followed the leader, as it were. And I'll probably never know. I'm fairly certain I had written most of book 3 at the time of the critique, and that's probably why it remains unfinished to this day.
Since then, I've worked on the prequel to the Guide to Hell, but I've not touched the first book in what should be a really long series. I keep meaning to rewrite it, or at least revise one of the versions, but I never do.
Last night, for the first time in five years, I read through a completed version of the Guide to Hell. And I realized something.
Something important.
I'm not saying I'm the best writer in the world, but I'd like to think I know whether a book I write is publishable or not. And while my style and voice has changed a bit since that day in 1998 when I finished this particular version of Sid and Peterson's Practical Guide to Hell, I realized something last night.
Yes, there are places that need to be reworked. Yes, you can tell this was the first time I'd written out of my admittedly dark style, but the story isn't bad.
It isn't bad at all. Five years after the fact, I read it and liked it as a whole. It was my first attempt at humorous fantasy, after all, and I think I did a good job.
So. As far as I can tell, this version doesn't exist on my computer anywhere. There might be a disk somewhere that houses it, but it would take me too long to find it, and I'm not that desperate. After all, I have a print version. I can type it in, correcting as I go.
And that's what I'm going to do. I'm still planning to finish BiS by my b-day (which might actually come true) and then I will start something new for NaNoWriMo. But there are a couple of weeks in between where I'm going to need to do something else to take a break from the crafts, and I've decided that typing in Sid and Peterson's Practical Guide to Hell would be the best thing for me to do. After all, once it's typed in and corrected (and revised a little bit) I will have a submittable novel.
And maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to put that 'critique' behind me and move forward, sequel-wise.
In August 1997, I got my first computer. In October 1997, I got on the internet for the first time at home. I immediately joined an online critique group that I had been checking out on my breaks at work, signed up for too many mailing lists, and was well on my way to getting 600+ email messages a day. (My mind boggles.)
Up until then, I hadn't shown my stories to many people: a local writers group that dissolved soon after I went to my first meeting and a few close friends. So I wasn't at all used to critiques, and especially not negative ones.
For some reason, I decided to rewrite the story, including in it the last book of the series as well as the second book. I think I wanted to make it longer. And I did, but I think I changed quite a bit of the original story. (I haven't read that one for a long time.)
Well, to make a long story short, I submitted the revised and expanded novel to my critique group. Initial reviews were awesome. They loved it. They thought it was cute and funny and original. I thought, perhaps, that I finally had gotten the story right, since I originally had the idea while in High School.
And then came the evening of the critique chat, in which the members were supposed to 'roast' the critiquee. After hearing the initial reviews, I thought I had nothing to worry about.
Well, the leader of the group was a hard science fiction writer who was bitter in more ways than one about writing and publishing in general. I won't pretend that I liked his stuff; I didn't understand what I read and it was structurally and grammatically sound. I don't and never will read hard sf. And he hated my story. He reamed me up, down, and sideways for writing a piece of fluff that had no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
And one by one, the other members followed suit. One by one, they recanted their original impressions and trashed my story until it could not stand up under the onslaught. Needless to say, I didn't participate in that group very much after that. As early as two or so years ago, I still spoke to one or two of them occassionally, and I think my name's still on the member roster, but I haven't been to their site in a looooong time. (And as far as I know, they haven't been on my site either.)
I've always wondered why they abandoned their initial impressions and followed the leader, as it were. And I'll probably never know. I'm fairly certain I had written most of book 3 at the time of the critique, and that's probably why it remains unfinished to this day.
Since then, I've worked on the prequel to the Guide to Hell, but I've not touched the first book in what should be a really long series. I keep meaning to rewrite it, or at least revise one of the versions, but I never do.
Last night, for the first time in five years, I read through a completed version of the Guide to Hell. And I realized something.
Something important.
I'm not saying I'm the best writer in the world, but I'd like to think I know whether a book I write is publishable or not. And while my style and voice has changed a bit since that day in 1998 when I finished this particular version of Sid and Peterson's Practical Guide to Hell, I realized something last night.
Yes, there are places that need to be reworked. Yes, you can tell this was the first time I'd written out of my admittedly dark style, but the story isn't bad.
It isn't bad at all. Five years after the fact, I read it and liked it as a whole. It was my first attempt at humorous fantasy, after all, and I think I did a good job.
So. As far as I can tell, this version doesn't exist on my computer anywhere. There might be a disk somewhere that houses it, but it would take me too long to find it, and I'm not that desperate. After all, I have a print version. I can type it in, correcting as I go.
And that's what I'm going to do. I'm still planning to finish BiS by my b-day (which might actually come true) and then I will start something new for NaNoWriMo. But there are a couple of weeks in between where I'm going to need to do something else to take a break from the crafts, and I've decided that typing in Sid and Peterson's Practical Guide to Hell would be the best thing for me to do. After all, once it's typed in and corrected (and revised a little bit) I will have a submittable novel.
And maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to put that 'critique' behind me and move forward, sequel-wise.
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