Revisiting The Past
Ever thought about revisiting a piece you wrote years ago? I am right now, and it’s scary.
At the time when I originally wrote the piece in question back in 1995, spending my Friday nights conceiving a fresh chapter for my own entertainment and that of my friends, I thought it was brilliant.
But then I would, wouldn’t I? After all, it emerged from my mind, no one else’s.
Out of that first attempt at science fiction came my sci-fi space opera “Onet’s Tale”, which I wrote back in 2003, and eventually published in 2010.
I shudder now when I look at the first story. Not because it is necessarily bad, more that my use of words back then was so darned flowery. In my defense I say only this – I knew no better at the time, so sue me!
While it is currently fifty thousand words in length, so much of it is nothing more than long descriptive passages.
I blame those on my days when I used to write for various magazines in New Zealand.
After all, description is what constitutes any article worth its salt in the ‘travel’ scene.
Little did I know back then in 1995 that seventeen years later I would be totally consumed with writing blog posts, short stories, and full-length novels. If we’re truthful, none of us really know what lies ahead of us.
Meanwhile, I’m about to begin on chapter 4, having cut a whole lot out already, not to mention altering punctuation, style, etc, etc, etc. I shall doubtless be occupied with it for several months yet.
What will I do with it when I’m done? Who knows? Maybe I’ll offer it to my editor as the prequel to “Onet’s Tale”, which technically it is. Or I may even publish it on my blog a chapter at a time.
Thinking that far ahead hurts my brain, so I’ll stop right now revisiting the past…
