C
Chessie
Guest
I grew up watching horror movies on my mother's lap if that tell you anything...
your ideas were a lot better at 7 years old than mine at 7 years old, lol...
Thanks guys. My 7 year old self would be pleased to hear that too.That's actually...a pretty surprising story for a 7 year old. Did not go in the direction I expected. I'd read it if adapted to a serious work!
I think that's a pretty good way of describing it.I think there is something to this topic. Most people's first stories don't deserve to see the light of day. But there has to be something special about them. Because they're the stories that made us realize we had to be writers. They're the stories that we cared enough about to take from beginning to end back when we didn't know what we were doing or maybe even that we would become writers. There's something special about that.
I am using an unpublished trilogy I wrote about 30 years ago as the history for my WIP. The trilogy will remain unpublished in all likelihood, but the characters and setting have not been abandoned.
You know...if ever there was a safe and friendly way to put all our first stories up on this forum, just to have a bit of a laugh and chat (over many bottles of wine, methinks), that would be a riot! I'd totally throw mine in the ring, but alas, I can't imagine anyone would ever want to actually finish them, even if they did start reading in good fun. Terrible. Just awful. But it'd be a good time, reading what everyone did when they were a young writer. And I don't mean you in age, I mean experience.
I wrote my first story when I was 21...many years ago. As a teen, I never thought about writing. Like, at all. I was a reader.
Today, I was so super excited to begin reading a book I originally read in 1994...one of my favorite books ever. And though I was at a waterpark with my kids for the last two days, I still found time to crack it open while the kiddos were in the wave pool with daddy...because I simply couldn't wait until we came home to read.
Oh man, I sure never meant to write a book. I just loved reading so much. The only reason I began writing was because of a terrible job I had at the time (selling Hyundais back in 2001). I worked 12-hour days and I didn't really like to talk to my coworkers, who were all considerably older than I was, and we'll just call them hardened car salespersons. I didn't have much in common with them, so I wrote at my desk, to look busy and therefore avoid conversations about buying homes and love lives, and everything else that didn't pertain to me at the time (but evidently was extremely riveting to middle-aged people). Now that I'm older, I can appreciate that sort of conversation a whole lot more, but the writing disease has completely festered and changed me forever.
I mentioned earlier that the first novels I wrote were garbage. But as I wrote (to entertain myself for a decade, while my kids were young, my husband watched sports, etc.) I got better at coming up with ideas and creating characters and plots, and by then, i was hooked. Still didn't know a damn thing about writing, but was invested to the point that I couldn't turn back.
I guess I owe all this journey to one horrible job that I sucked at. In 2011, I came to this forum one night because I wanted to write a scene that I got stuck on. I was pretty confident in researching, but at the time, I was looking into 16th century seafaring, to find out how life aboard a ship was actually lived, and it was a dead end, no matter where I looked. I could find statistics about ships, and material about what sailors ate and how many men were aboard a boat, and what diseases got to them, and so forth, but relatively nothing about what life was actually like. How officers and crewmen related, or what kinds of laws exist aboard a ship. So I came here and asked around, but no one responded to answer my questions for a whole year (thanks, Fluffypoodel, for saving me eventually).
But by then, I was already engrossed by the challenge section and making friends, and trading critiques, and so on, that I forgot my problem with that novel (my tenth), and was busy writing other things. I eventually got my answers, and finished that series of events aboard the ship. But that November, I heard about nanowrimo here, and I was off. Down the rabbit hole, never to return to the land of the sane. I was hooked. I became a writer in my heart and soul, and began my quest to be the best writer I could be.
Now that i'm much more experienced, it's hard to look back at those early works and think them worth any of my time. But, who knows. Maybe one day I'll rewrite them just to see what I can do to fix them. Basically, I would keep about three things, and rewrite everything else. HA!
I've definitely told my personal story at least a dozen times. We've had a number of "how did you get started" threads, but they get lost over time. I suppose that's why I start threads detailing my journey in some way, because I can't possibly find those posts now, after five years on this forum. HA! I also use my portfolio to show some of my earlier work and then whatever I'm currently working on. However, whenever I submit them to agents, I take them down, because they DO show up in google searches. Just in case folks aren't aware of that. And since they show up, they could work against you as "published" works on an online forum, which some agents specifically say they won't read.
But it is amusing to share those old works anyways. A few years ago, one of my steady crit partners and I exchanged first chapters of very early books, sort of to motivate ourselves and prove we've gotten somewhere though the going is often slow. It was good fun. My only warning is that it's a bit like taking your clothes off, showing your first writing. I'd recommend doing it only with friends you like a lot, who you know won't laugh and point. HA! it can be somewhat hurtful if someone laughs at you, even if you're laughing with them. And the last thing you want is to feel defensive.
Yeah, I'd totally show my old work, but I probably wouldn't put it up for public consumption. It certainly isn't anything I'm proud of having written at this point. I know how far I've come, and would be much happier if people read what I'm currently capable of. HA!
Hoo boy. I think we still have a copy of my first story kicking around the house somewhere... I wrote it when I was six, and my mom typed it up on the typewriter she had all the way back in 1995. It was a fanfic (not that I knew the meaning of the word) of the TV show Wishbone, in which the titular dog and his canine friends (all OCs, as far as I'm aware) discovered a bone missing from a dinosaur skeleton in a museum and went looking for it. There was even a sequel, though the title and plot of that one escape my memory. Maybe one day I'll find it again.
I wasn't even writing at your age...so just imagine where you'll be when you're my age! You have a great talent for showing imagery and using character thoughts. That's such a hard thing to do! Keep at it, Dragon. You'll learn things as you go, and critique is a hard thing to face sometimes, but I just know you'll be a great writer if you don't get discouraged from this path.
Sharing one's work is so emotionally taxing. I've shared most of my writing on this forum in one way or another (usually in the challenges). Sometimes you feel like an ass the next day (I showed you my most embarrassing story, Grin's Grim Tale) and other times you get a great score and positive feedback, and you feel like you can take on any concept. The trick is to let the negative comments slide off your back and not to worry about them. Sometimes story concepts are complete flops. Sometimes the concept was strong but execution was weak. Sometimes you take a bland concept and execute it so well people write you encouraging private messages, or leave thoughtful comments on you portfolio pages. The thing is, you have to write for YOU first, and worry about how other people take your writing, secondly.
I think that the first step to becoming a better writer is to be aware. Be aware of what you're really good at, and what needs a good amount of improvement. I'm really fortunate to have a writing group that is wholly supportive of me and honest with their feedback. They expect a lot of me, but they give me great tips when I fail to produce the results that matter. Without my critique partners (both past and present) I wouldn't be the writer I am now, and I certainly wouldn't have improved much. But every time you put yourself out there, you risk being embarrassed. Hopefully if you hone in on what you do really well, you can mask the things you suck at, and play to you strengths more and more, and learn to overcome your weaknesses or just fake it really well (like me).
I've had people say, "Hey, you're really great at writing character interactions. Rather than having this scene devolve into a fist fight, why not just have them argue? Your arguments are stronger than your fight scenes." Well, thanks, I suppose. At least I'm good at something. Let me consider that.
HA! I turned it into an argument, and the scene is better for it.
It's little things that you can improve on, I think, that make good writing great. Find your strengths, acknowledge that HERE is a set of things you really rock at. And then try to do more of that stuff, and fake it a little when you can't play to you strengths. That's what I do, anyways. And over time, I've found that people enjoy my stories more when I'm in my element. And not only that, but the positive feedback has helped me develop the confidence to overcome some of my weaknesses. There's still plenty I suck at, but people seem more forgiving now that I'm entertaining them. And also, I'm getting better at faking it, because my confidence is higher to begin with when I'm writing a scene that would have scared me stupid in the past.
Anyways, best wishes. You're full of talent and you're way ahead of the curve. It takes time to develop a full arsenal of skills as a writer, and it can be doubly challenging for young people who have less overall life experience to "write what you know" and also because they've had fewer years with which to focus specifically on writing.
I'm really lucky that I've been a stay at home mom for the past 8 years, without having to have a real job. Sure, I have four little kids, and I wish I had an office where I could GO to write, sometimes, but it's important enough to me that I make time for writing and developing stories, and talking to writer friends on the phone, and so on. We all have to balance real life with writing fiction, and for some of us it's just a habit now, and we can't draw our attention away from it long enough to cleanse ourselves of the NEED to get ideas out and on paper. I know you fit into that category, because you've been dong it since you were very young. Just keep that energy focused where you can, and allow yourself to be a person too. You have many great years of writing ahead of you, and I know sometimes it feels like you just want to be done NOW...but I've already admitted I'm rewriting my seventh novel (written in 2008). I've written so much. And yet, I have nothing of professional, publishable quality to show for it. So don't feel bad, or like you can't do this. You absolutely CAN. I believe in you!!!
I wasn't even writing at your age...so just imagine where you'll be when you're my age! You have a great talent for showing imagery and using character thoughts. That's such a hard thing to do! Keep at it, Dragon. You'll learn things as you go, and critique is a hard thing to face sometimes, but I just know you'll be a great writer if you don't get discouraged from this path.
Sharing one's work is so emotionally taxing. I've shared most of my writing on this forum in one way or another (usually in the challenges). Sometimes you feel like an ass the next day (I showed you my most embarrassing story, Grin's Grim Tale) and other times you get a great score and positive feedback, and you feel like you can take on any concept. The trick is to let the negative comments slide off your back and not to worry about them. Sometimes story concepts are complete flops. Sometimes the concept was strong but execution was weak. Sometimes you take a bland concept and execute it so well people write you encouraging private messages, or leave thoughtful comments on you portfolio pages. The thing is, you have to write for YOU first, and worry about how other people take your writing, secondly.
I think that the first step to becoming a better writer is to be aware. Be aware of what you're really good at, and what needs a good amount of improvement. I'm really fortunate to have a writing group that is wholly supportive of me and honest with their feedback. They expect a lot of me, but they give me great tips when I fail to produce the results that matter. Without my critique partners (both past and present) I wouldn't be the writer I am now, and I certainly wouldn't have improved much. But every time you put yourself out there, you risk being embarrassed. Hopefully if you hone in on what you do really well, you can mask the things you suck at, and play to you strengths more and more, and learn to overcome your weaknesses or just fake it really well (like me).
I've had people say, "Hey, you're really great at writing character interactions. Rather than having this scene devolve into a fist fight, why not just have them argue? Your arguments are stronger than your fight scenes." Well, thanks, I suppose. At least I'm good at something. Let me consider that.
HA! I turned it into an argument, and the scene is better for it.
It's little things that you can improve on, I think, that make good writing great. Find your strengths, acknowledge that HERE is a set of things you really rock at. And then try to do more of that stuff, and fake it a little when you can't play to you strengths. That's what I do, anyways. And over time, I've found that people enjoy my stories more when I'm in my element. And not only that, but the positive feedback has helped me develop the confidence to overcome some of my weaknesses. There's still plenty I suck at, but people seem more forgiving now that I'm entertaining them. And also, I'm getting better at faking it, because my confidence is higher to begin with when I'm writing a scene that would have scared me stupid in the past.
Anyways, best wishes. You're full of talent and you're way ahead of the curve. It takes time to develop a full arsenal of skills as a writer, and it can be doubly challenging for young people who have less overall life experience to "write what you know" and also because they've had fewer years with which to focus specifically on writing.
I'm really lucky that I've been a stay at home mom for the past 8 years, without having to have a real job. Sure, I have four little kids, and I wish I had an office where I could GO to write, sometimes, but it's important enough to me that I make time for writing and developing stories, and talking to writer friends on the phone, and so on. We all have to balance real life with writing fiction, and for some of us it's just a habit now, and we can't draw our attention away from it long enough to cleanse ourselves of the NEED to get ideas out and on paper. I know you fit into that category, because you've been dong it since you were very young. Just keep that energy focused where you can, and allow yourself to be a person too. You have many great years of writing ahead of you, and I know sometimes it feels like you just want to be done NOW...but I've already admitted I'm rewriting my seventh novel (written in 2008). I've written so much. And yet, I have nothing of professional, publishable quality to show for it. So don't feel bad, or like you can't do this. You absolutely CAN. I believe in you!!!