You can count me in as a 'me too' person, Anna. I'm not happy with some of my earlier stuff.
Fortunately, the truly awful earliest stuff I wrote is hidden away in another fandom. (And in print fanzines that have, with luck, mostly found their way into people's recyclers.)
Then there came some slightly better stuff, which was tucked away in fandom number two. (Some of those stories were on the internet, but I discovered recently that the archive it was in has disappeared. So, nobody is going to stumble across any of
that on a dark night. Phew.)
Then comes my Lois and Clark stories...
Even though they are by no means the worst stuff I've written, there are things that, in an ideal world, I'd like to redo. But I almost certainly won't because:
1) I'm lazy. I wrote the stories. They're done and dusted, and I've moved on to other projects. (I hadn't really thought about it from the archivist's point of view before now, but that's an added incentive to do nothing! Thanks, Labby! You've made my day.
)
2) My view is that it is very easy for a writer to second-guess him- / herself excessively. I know, for instance, that I can reread something I've written one day and think, "Ouch! Did I really put words together like that? It sounds awful!" But another time, I can find that I'm pleasantly surprised by something I've written.
Sometimes it'll even be the same story! Go figure!
3) Yes, in an ideal world, I want a story to obey all sorts of rules -- perfect execution of POV... perfect grammar... spelling... punctuation... and a fantastic plot that is woven together seamlessly and packs a huge emotional punch. Plus, I want it to be written in a style that I personally find engaging.
Usually stories (fan or pro) press some buttons for me, but not all. (There are, however, a number of stories on the archive that have had me reading into the small hours, desperately to find out what happens next.)
So in this not-quite-ideal world I'll settle for a story that has a plot and a premise that can make me forget my own personal checklist of perfection and that can make me love it despite the occasional bit of head-hopping, the occasional misplaced comma, and the dangling plot threads.
(Note that, for me, the plot comes first. I can cope with a bit of dodgy grammar if the plot is excellent, but a lousy plot in a perfectly executed bit of prose will have me reaching for the delete key.)
Thing is, what I love won't necessarily be what anyone else loves. I have a personal favourite among my stories that most people seem to have skipped over. Is it bad? is it very boring? Maybe, but I like it anyway. And then there is the story that I wrote in all seriousness that got nominated for a Kerth... in the best comedy category!
Taste, reading pleasure etc etc is incredibly personal and subjective.
Did I just wonder way off the point?
I guess what I'm saying here is, leave your stuff on the archive. There will be plenty of people who want to see it despite any misgivings you might have about it. Put your energy into your next story, and the one after that... and the one after that... and... Well, you get the point.
After all, the regular readers here are voracious for fresh material...
BTW, as an aside, I have to say, I hadn't thought about keeping stuff on the archive as a reminder of how writers develop over time. Interesting point.
Chris
