tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post7189174837784916395..comments2024-03-25T09:56:16.164+00:00Comments on An Awfully Big Blog Adventure: Old Manuscripts - by Katherine LangrishUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-30711142571000270602010-04-19T16:49:24.576+01:002010-04-19T16:49:24.576+01:00I keep all mine, far too many of them, in damp car...I keep all mine, far too many of them, in damp cardboard boxes stuffed under the stairs. Just recently I began digging them out -not to read, but to recycle as drawing and doodling paper for my children.Andrew Stronghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04875188855955154864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-54946348033708537952010-04-16T13:11:05.174+01:002010-04-16T13:11:05.174+01:00Mine are in a folder, and at some point I'll g...Mine are in a folder, and at some point I'll get my parents to burn them (don't like fire), or I'll shred them. A bit worried people might steal ideas if I put them in recycling! Even if the originals are extremely different from the current versions.Nayuleskahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08693548526829437580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-57590108348093064052010-04-15T23:05:19.388+01:002010-04-15T23:05:19.388+01:00At a meeting of Australian authors Patsy Adam-Smit...At a meeting of Australian authors Patsy Adam-Smith once said that computers were going to make it very difficult for students of future literature. She said the long hand drafts with endless crossings out would no longer exist and students would not get the same insight into the writing process. It is an interesting thought.catdownunderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06959328192182156574noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-21901574440488228812010-04-15T19:12:26.607+01:002010-04-15T19:12:26.607+01:00Fascinating to find out what everyone does! I do ...Fascinating to find out what everyone does! I do work on computer (natch) but print out as I go, so leave enormous papertrails! But some of my earlier efforts are typed - or even longhand.Katherine Langrishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12529700103932422873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-12526675657575964792010-04-15T17:53:42.244+01:002010-04-15T17:53:42.244+01:00This post came at a perfect time for me. I just po...This post came at a perfect time for me. I just posted about getting a new idea and feeling bad about leaving the old ones behind. I have 3 unfinished WIPS as of now. Two of which I never work on. I probably will never through them away. I saved them on 3 diffrent disks, in case I lost one, and printed each of them out, stuffed them in my bookshelf sight unseen. I don't read them but I remember them well enough to know they never would have made it. <br />It's a learning process to write several manuscripts. They are all and probably will be for awhile, practice runs.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-84800278398184173032010-04-15T17:25:44.345+01:002010-04-15T17:25:44.345+01:00I absolutely love chucking them. It is my treat at...I absolutely love chucking them. It is my treat at the end of a book, to get every single page of it into the *bin. <br /><br /><br />*Recycling bin of course.hilaryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849132435509266651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-56425166207051020762010-04-15T15:17:38.323+01:002010-04-15T15:17:38.323+01:00What a fascinating post and how generous of you to...What a fascinating post and how generous of you to share an extract - I loved reading it! Sadly, many of my old manuscripts are on hard drives of old computers and possibly lost for ever. I find it very interesting that many contemporary writers don't have the same paper trail for their drafts and revisions as would once have been the norm - yet every word we casually share on the world wide web will be there to see for ever. That's what they tell us, anyway.karen ballhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05595346107578248030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-23737595437871127222010-04-15T13:14:59.098+01:002010-04-15T13:14:59.098+01:00All my old manuscripts are on computer files. I do...All my old manuscripts are on computer files. I don't think I could ever have been a longhand or typing novelist!John Doughertyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11937505376169411724noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-20099200085056274422010-04-15T11:29:01.952+01:002010-04-15T11:29:01.952+01:00I just keep them. They are part of my landscape, p...I just keep them. They are part of my landscape, part of my lifestory. At least I'm not a sculptor. Imagine how much space you#d need to store that lot!Miriam Halahmyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04935448538608020877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-53445663432048801122010-04-15T11:20:05.925+01:002010-04-15T11:20:05.925+01:00This comment has been removed by the author.Gillian Philiphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17775401199564200537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-38706343334926290312010-04-15T11:19:31.602+01:002010-04-15T11:19:31.602+01:00I remember pulling out a cockroach-eaten, embarras...I remember pulling out a cockroach-eaten, embarrassing old manuscript and taking a pair of scissors to it. I cut out all the little turns of phrase and metaphors and descriptions I liked (the ones that weren't embarrassing), filing them in an envelope for possible later use, and burning the rest...Gillian Philiphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17775401199564200537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-90404562821159566482010-04-15T11:19:11.779+01:002010-04-15T11:19:11.779+01:00"...children who meet a strange fugitive in t..."...children who meet a strange fugitive in the woods, who turns out to be on the run from the death-aspect of the Triple Moon Goddess (yes, her again) – and involved standing stones, unfriendly elves with golden faces, owls, ruins, and mazes."<br /><br />Kath, I rather like that one just from the description! <br /><br /><br />I agree, it's hard to throw away the old manuscripts. (And I bet you any money that mine are far, far worse than yours.) But I think they're invaluable as a map of the learning process. One can write 80,000 words of utter tripe, but then, buried among it, one character, one image, one turn of style, which you can notice later and say - Yes, THIS was good, and this is the direction in which I developed.<br /><br />Old manuscripts are also great humbling devices. I remember my second manuscript, I thought at the time was brilliant. Looking at it now...! It makes me realise: NEVER think you've done the best you can do.Nick Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11307045090887391553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-36011171198298588762010-04-15T11:14:50.273+01:002010-04-15T11:14:50.273+01:00What I have done, Kath is to buy cardboard archive...What I have done, Kath is to buy cardboard archive boxes from the stationers and every book or books is boxed up and archived. This applies to both published and unpublished stuff.<br /><br />The boxes are neatly labelled and then stored. In my case in a mixture of the eaves above th garage and the room in our house we call the office (they stack quite neatly under the wooden counter we had put in there.)<br /><br />There may come a day, when you've had a huge hit with a book that an American university will pay money for your archive!<br /><br />Or you might suddenly decide to reanimate and modernise an idea you have stashed away. If it's all stored and labelled you will find it when you need it.Mary Hoffmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06241989732624913706noreply@blogger.com