How Has Your Writing Changed Over the Years? Part II and Richard Thompson

How has your writing changed over the years?

I stumbled across this older blog post, and I'm going to repost part of it here:



Deniz, Age 5: A story about a cow, which went something like this: "Where was All? He did not know where All was. Aldo could not find All the cow. He searched and searched. He went up with a jet and All was with the moon."

Deniz, Age 10: The Kitchen Mystery

Deniz, Age 15: Trying too hard to be an adult, I started a story about two handcuffed convicts and a sheriff travelling through the California desert. Never mind the two long romances I had, featuring scenes like the one where the hero and heroine have a food fight... at the supermarket...

Deniz, Age 20: Depressing stories about girls going out at night and failed relationships. I had a lovely one-page story called Eyes of the Sky but can't for the life of me find an electronic copy at the moment. This was the tail end of the thesaurus era, where I'd write a line like "the red sun sank into the dark blue sea" and then translate it into: "The crimson orb was lowered beneath the indigo billows" (blogged about here).

Deniz, Age 25: A lot of 'tell' and barely enough 'show' in my half-finished novel An Arnavutkoy Spring. Not to mention that I did no research whatsoever; for a story set in Istanbul in the 1910s I had hairdos from the 60s, clothing from the 50s and language from the 80s. I even threw in a reference to The Beatles! Come to think of it, perhaps I meant it to be set in the 60s after all. Only what does this line mean: "He eyed her easily, but without malice"?

Deniz, Age 30: A snip from Out of the Water, featuring Rosa, a Spanish girl and her lover, an Ottoman man, who's ill with consumption. On one of his better days, they've taken a walk above the neighbourhood of Galata, in Constantinople, 1493.

Deniz, Age 35+: Various samples under the Shared Writing Snips tab.

I hope I've improved, anyway. As part of ROW80 this round I'm trying something I've rarely done before, writing from a villain's point of view.

More music, after last week's three songs:

Amanda Palmer has a new song out, a cover of Richard Thompson's 1952 Vincent Black Lightning:





This reminded me of another Richard Thompson cover I like, REM's version of Wall of Death:





Are there topics that you used to write about but have since let be? 
Points of view that you're trying for the first time?
How has your writing changed over the years?

And which cover songs do you really like? 

Comments

Crystal Collier said…
It's awesome to see how you evolve over time. I occasionally pull out old works just to be encouraged, but I cringe away from looking at old things that are published. I don't want to see how I've grown without a way to improve on it--know what I mean?
Yeah, the crimson-indigo line is a bit much.
I wrote a space story as an early teen, along with a bunch of short stories. Then I rewrote in my early forties. I think you know the rest of that story.
Hi Deniz ... interesting ... I don't think I wrote as a child - I guess I did, but nothing was saved ... and I certainly wasn't striving to write.

I see how I've changed in the blog ... I write easily and relate to my readers as best I can ... there's little formality, yet there is interest ... stories I've never got to ..

Cheers - one day those stories will come out ... Hilary
Zan Marie said…
I'm just tickled that you keep at it, Deniz! I started with poetry at 8. Shifted to stories--SF mostly--in college. Then, was "discovered" by a story that's squarely Upmarket Women's Fiction. I'm not looking back, not when I have at least 5 books in the queue. ;-)
Nas said…
Awesome that you have it! I wrote throughout using pen and paper but don't have them on me now.

Its great to see how we all evolve.
I read the teapot story. It made me smile. What a good writer you were, Deniz, when you were twelve, and still are. Don't give up, and keep recording your "evolution." When you get "older," you'll be glad you did!
Suzanne Furness said…
What a lovely look back at your writing journey so far. I still have some of the poetry I wrote as a child.
Deniz Bevan said…
Thanks all!

I agree, Crystal, I can't really look back at pieces that are actually finished. What if I find more stuff to fix?!

Thanks so much, Ann.