At Least She Had Good Teeth

So here’s an interesting one for you. Credit where it’s due, my mum has always supported my writing and the other day we got to talking about a story I wrote when I was about 14. It has always been a favourite of mine and hers, but I hadn’t read it in years. After talking to her, I felt compelled to look it out. It had been published in the school magazine so I still have a copy.

Anyway, I read it expecting it to be a lot poorer than I remembered it being…but it wasn’t. I actually still think it’s quite good, and what’s really worrying is that it reads very similarly to the way I write now.

There are issues with it of course; words I would never use now, extraneous phrases, repetition, that sort of thing; and there is a definite naivety in parts. But it doesn’t read as juvenile as I expected it to. In fact, stylistically it seems to me to be very similar to my writing now.

So this leads to an interesting question. At 14 was my writing really good enough that I'd happily compare it to what I produce 20 years later? Or does it in fact mean that my writing just hasn’t evolved at all since then? That as an adult I still write as a child? I’m aware that my writing style is frequently quite conversational and rarely challenging, so is that why? It’s actually just quite immature?

Or, and a definite possibility, am I now reading this through a rose tinted laptop and actually it’s just rubbish?

I have typed this up exactly as it was written, not changing or amending anything, so as I say there are flaws, and one sentence that just makes no sense, but if anyone has a moment and feels like it I’d be interested in your thoughts.

Title: At Least She Had Good Teeth
Fandom: Original
Rating: PG
Warning(s): None
Word Count: 1384
Disclaimer: All characters and situations in this story are property of me.


( At Least She Had Good Teeth )