My instructors said it would happen, and it has. I’m in that weird sort of in-between state where I don’t know if I can write or if I’m just a pretender. I liked it a lot better when I was ignorant of my flaws and could pretend that I was as good as those who were already published.
Now I know that there is a difference.
Is the difference readily apparent? Not on first blush. Would a layman recognize it? Perhaps; it depends on how well-read they were and how much you can get away with in the name of style. The difference is there, however, and now I know how to spot it and correct it. In the short term, this means drastic editing, thinking, and reformulating of existing works if I hope to have them published. In the long term, this means that I approach “the craft” in a completely different manner.
This isn’t quite the terrible blow to my ego that I thought it would be. I’ve been taken down a peg or two, but only in the interest of being able to build a stronger foundation when I can climb back to where I (thought I) was before.
While I’m on the scheduled Eat Meat with Pete event this weekend, I’ll be running a few selected writings from my time at Viable Paradise on a scheduled basis. In the comments section (if you’re willing), I would entertain comments not just on the literary merit of the stories, but also the technical aspects of them. It doesn’t matter if you feel you don’t have the skill set for that type of critique; try it anyway. The feedback that I get will prove invaluable if I can get a little bit of insight into the reader’s mind.