: Re: How to get past the cringe factor of reviewing my earliest writing attempts? I’m currently working on a novel that I’m remodelling from an old fanfiction novel I wrote around 6 years ago.

@Odierno164

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I am analytical by nature, even as I am writing new stuff.

My recommendation would be to make a copy and actually go analytical, as if it were written by somebody else (and it really was, you are a different writer now than you were then). I say make a copy because the purpose is to edit it and write notes. Do it in boldface or red or whatever, but when you come across something cringe-worthy, identify the problem, add a note or lesson at the beginning, and move on.

If your editor can open more than one file at once, copy the lessons (if they are new) into a separate file, and any passages you really like into a third file (with or without a note to recall the context and what you like about it).

While you're at it, you might extract a summary of the plot points; why you put in each scene. What it was supposed to accomplish (if anything), why you felt it was necessary. So in the end you have something like an English outline of what each scene and chapter in the book was supposed to accomplish.

You might want to accomplish the same purpose with your new work, even if written from scratch. Or rearrange or revise the outline to make better sense.

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