This week: Old Stories: consider your writing past Edited by: Dawn Embers  
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Fantasy Newsletter by Dawn
This site has been a haven for writers for many years. Those of us that have used it for years have various bits of writing that add up over time. After years of writing, sometimes we can look back at the stuff from the past. |
| ASIN: B000FC0SIM |
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Amazon's Price: $ 12.99
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After almost 17 years of writing, I have accumulated a fair amount of pieces that vary from poetry to short stories, nonfiction and even novels. Not all are speculative fiction but many are in this genre and even now, on occasion I get reviews for writing from many years ago. For a newbie, it might seem an impossible task, having hundreds of bits of writing or creating works for many many years. If you're new, don't worry. We all start somewhere. Write what you can, enjoy your time and keep the writing process going as you learn to create your stories.
If you have been on this site for a little while or even written for years without the site, don't forget all the stories from your past. On the plus side, not every story needs to have a final purpose or desire for publication. Some can be parts of ideas that get rewritten and expanded upon later. Others might be just an attempt to try something new. All of them are ways that we learn as it's a craft that is helped with some education but much of the process in learning is by just writing. We all learn a lot from the things that we write that can help in the future. Sometimes, we need reminders of what exists in the folder. Sometimes it will take a refresher in order to even respond to a review to know what they are talking about. The years go by and we keep writing, adding and changing.
While writing from the past can be of use and not all are abandoned, there are some that hold a special place but exist in a sort of writing graveyard. At some point, certain stories and poem get forgotten in the mix. It's hard to keep track after so many years and even I will admit that the portfolio becomes difficult to manage. Even with the use of folders, it's easy to get overwhelmed when there are hundred's of items to pick from for reviews. Often times, the reviews you will get comes from the use of the random reads. It's great for the reader because they never know what they will get. On occasion, someone might not like the story they come upon or the type of characters due to personal preference, but there is always the options to stop reading, to move on to something else instead. For the rest, it can be quite fun to get a surprise in what comes up for a read and review.
However, because it is a random approach, that means often the reviews may be on an item that is not current. From my experience, I often get reviews on very old items that were written 10+ years ago during my practice years. I always appreciate a review and the comments are definitely valid in the aspects they criticize or the recommendations made. The only issue for me with the old item review is it's often not something I am pursuing or going to fix. If it's part of a novel, the flash fiction scenes or longer attempts will get rewrites to fit in the novel, but the item itself on here, doesn't have a big chance for a rewrite. I have learned from the creation and moved on to many other shiny ideas vying for my writing attention. There are some comments I can consider for future writing, like font size since the standard one used is a little small on these computer screens, but others that are more item specific may never get used or changed. It is one of the challenges for being an older member on the site with enough room to house multitudes of writing.
There is the option to remove items. I've made items on my laptop and sent stories there, away from the site so that it doesn't take up much space. However, it's a hard task to manage all of the old writing while also pursuing the new. Even after 15 years, there is always something to learn here on WDC, different approaches to take and a reminder needed that maybe it will help to reorganize my portfolio. And I'm probably not the only one. I wasn't the first one here and there are many who have been writing on WDC for 10+ years, or 5+ years, or have spent a whole year writing away with many items to share.
So, how do you take care of your portfolio? Do you go back to older items after a review reminds you about its existence? How do you approach the look back for things from the past?
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| |  | Invalid Item
This item number is not valid.
#2276098 by Not Available. |
|  | Elemental (ASR)
Magical forces collide in this fantasy world when a villager receives a mysterious message
#2275729 by BrokenPen   |
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Do you like getting reviews on older stories or poems?
Last month, I wrote about the use of heat including that found in weather for fantasy stories. Here is a comment sent in for that topic:
Comment by Beholden 
Probably the best illustration of weather interwoven with a story is the novel, The Go-Between by LP Hartley (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Go-Between). The tale begins as merely a transfer of a message by an innocent party and the weather is cool at the time. But, as the story continues, gathering pace and intensity as it does, the weather gets hotter, leading ultimately to a searing heat wave of a summer. In the end the story explodes into high drama as the weather, too, reaches its climax in a severe thunderstorm. It's a device that I have "borrowed" on occasion.
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Fantasy: July 13, 2022 Issue [#11458]
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