On the one hand, I can sympathize with wanting to read Story X that you've heard good things about, and being frustrated when it is no longer available.
But on the other hand, I've done this supposedly hellbound act of de-archiving my older stories. It wasn't something done as a "as a sort of passive-agressive "fuck you" aimed at other fans."
I did so because I felt that they had no value, and served no purpose. They were not good stories, and many of them were very embarrassing stories. And yes, I get the notion of wanting to have a showcase of progress as a writer. For me, it didn't work that way. These stories were, at the time, the best that I could pull off. They are no longer representative of me, my thoughts on those characters, and my abilities as a writer.
It's a bit like being in a pottery class. When you start the course, your work is pretty dismal. As you learn techniques and improve upon old ones, your work becomes better. At the end of the class, you've got a series of things that you've made, starting with the dismal and ending with the improved. Speaking personally, I'm not interested in saving my lumpy ashtrays, or displaying them. If somebody saw one of those early works and liked it, that's certainly flattering. But I didn't, and my opinion is the one that I deal with on a daily basis.
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Date: 2006-10-28 02:54 am (UTC)On the one hand, I can sympathize with wanting to read Story X that you've heard good things about, and being frustrated when it is no longer available.
But on the other hand, I've done this supposedly hellbound act of de-archiving my older stories. It wasn't something done as a "as a sort of passive-agressive "fuck you" aimed at other fans."
I did so because I felt that they had no value, and served no purpose. They were not good stories, and many of them were very embarrassing stories. And yes, I get the notion of wanting to have a showcase of progress as a writer. For me, it didn't work that way. These stories were, at the time, the best that I could pull off. They are no longer representative of me, my thoughts on those characters, and my abilities as a writer.
It's a bit like being in a pottery class. When you start the course, your work is pretty dismal. As you learn techniques and improve upon old ones, your work becomes better. At the end of the class, you've got a series of things that you've made, starting with the dismal and ending with the improved. Speaking personally, I'm not interested in saving my lumpy ashtrays, or displaying them. If somebody saw one of those early works and liked it, that's certainly flattering. But I didn't, and my opinion is the one that I deal with on a daily basis.