Tell me about your first serious attempt at creative writing

[skip.knox]

Define serious. No, don't, but that's why I don't know how to answer this. I was writing stuff as a teenager, as were we all. Those I would describe as earnest attempts more than serious attempts. Does "serious" mean "I will try to get this published?" Or is it, I will finish this damn thing?

My first serious writing was academic writing, but the OP specified creative. I wrote a short story when I was in my 20s and submitted it to a print magazine (rejected, naturally), but I only did that one thing and did nothing more for over thirty years. So was I really serious? I'm not sure. So, even though I have written, and even published (non-fiction) material for almost fifty years, I'd say I only got serious back around 2005, when I decided I was going to write a novel and see it published even if that was self-published. It took over ten years. The fact that it took so long and I stayed with it all the way to finished, that's what I call serious. Why so.

 

[Nomadica]

My first serious attempt is my current WIP. The first page of which I posted here https://mythicscribes.com/community/threads/first-page-would-you-turn-it.18444/#post-266584
Got a lot of really helpful feedback too

 

[Fant@syaspiringauthor14]

Because I remember mine, and it was... so bad. The level of cringe it gives me when I read through it from time to time is painful. But in a way, it's a good kind of pain, because it shows me how far I've progressed as a writer. And yes, it was a fanfiction. And yes, I am still embarrassed to this day.

Here it is by the way, if anyone's interested (ugh): Star Wars Meets Destiny Chapter 1, a Star Wars + Destiny Crossover fanfic | FanFiction

I know this thread is from years ago, but oh well. I've always loved writing and I believe my first attempt of creative writing was when I was around 8-10 years old, I've always found creative writing easier than other styles of writing. I have always been terrible with punctuation and paragraphs though. (Still am in a way) But I've always been fairly good at creative writing, my English teachers praised me a lot in primary school and now in secondary school too. I guess that's what happens when you start reading a lot of fiction and fantasy at a young age (I started reading proper fantasy around the age of 6) and when you have a big imagination, I never knew where to put all my ideas, then I discovered creative writing and am now writing my first draft of my first ever fantasy novel, a dream I've had since I was 8.