Savannah Watson

Sometimes when you revisit an old project, it hits you differently than it did before, and you have to ask: “…what was I thinking?” Or the plot, characters, or style don’t interest you anymore. It doesn’t mean that this story was bad, it just might be that you have outgrown it.

Just like children outgrow toys, creators can outgrow their creations. This can happen for any number of reasons – age, new experiences, a new writing style, and so on. This leads to the evolution of the author.

If you are an avid reader of a specific author, you can often see the evolution of their writing style throughout their series or career. Personally, when I read my old writings in chronological order, I can easily track my own evolution. My vocabulary has gotten more sophisticated over the years, my grammar has improved, and my style, plot, and characters have changed in tone and purpose.

Sometimes I cringe a little at some of my old stories, but then I have to remind myself where I was in my writing life. I have to remind myself that I was 16 years old with limited experiences to draw from, or that I was in a bad place in my life, so the story was darker than my current style. I have to remember the time frame in which things were written, and I also have to remember that my writing style today may not be my writing style on this day next year.

Just like all of the changes that happen in life, we have to embrace the changes our writing goes through. Hopefully, as we evolve, we become better, more skilled writers. And as we look back at our old works, hopefully, we can see how far we have come!

• Facebook
• Spotify
• Amazon