What was the first thing you ever wrote and how old where you when you wrote it?

The first proper story I ever wrote was about an orphaned child who set out on a quest to avenge himself on those who killed his parents. I must've been 11 or 12 when I wrote it, and I don't doubt that my brother playing Iron Maiden's 'Flash of the Blade' in the room next door had some bearing on the way my thoughts turned. Either way, it rather coloured what was to come. I've never been one for happy endings, and that's been reflected in what I've put to paper ever since.

 

I think many of us would be glad they're gone forever.

 

I had one or two of those binders myself..lost them over the various moves i made

 

I think I was in the 5th grade when I wrote a story called The Suicide King. It was a project for D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) and our classes had to write a story about the consquences you face when you or someone you know does drugs. The best story was voted on by the entire student body and mine came in second. Parents were invited to listen to the top 3 stories. (People did come up to me asking me why mine didn't win.....so I that was a confidence boost!).

The story was about the King, Queen, and Jack of Hearts (from the card deck). It had an evil Queen who was constantly abusing drugs and ruining her life basically. The King was always trying to help her and thought he got her on the right path. Years later when they finally had a child (One-Eyed Jack), he was so beside himself with grief over the deformity of the child, that he killed himself. The Queen never recovered and Jack was forever an outcast.

If you look at the card deck - the Jack is in profile - so he only has one eye and the King of Hearts has always been called The Suicide King.

 

In elementary school, each month all the students would have to write a story based around a certain theme. I don't have any of them anymore, but I remember two. One was about a superhero turkey who fought lumberjacks. Another was about how firebreathing dinosaur-dragons kicked angelic elves off Earth, and how the elves may one day return (I think the main character was named Akelia). All were horrible by my present standards, but I always won a prize for them. If I recall correctly, the angel-elf one won first place.

My first lengthy project was a novelization of Final Fantasy VII in seventh grade. Yeah. It didn't get far, mainly because I was too lazy to copy the script and the game branched in many directions when it came to story-enhancing sidequests. Then, in eight grade, I had an epiphany- my writing could be about anything I wanted it to be.
With that, I launched my first attempt at an original novel. It was called The Unforeseen Path and was about a girl from Earth who gets dragged into a parallel world full of angels, who happen to be fighting a war over Earth. It was cliche-ridden, and like a lot of early works, it sucked. However, it did serve as a springboard; I was able to develop my six primary characters and get the taste of writing fantasy. And so here I am today.

 

@Falling: Thanks. ^^ Regarding the poem, even though the style is clumsy, it's a wonderful concept, innocent and sweet. If you ever revisit Brown Mist, I'd love to read it.

 

The only thing I remember writing as a child was a poem about litter. It made it in The Huntsville Times newspaper (again voted on by peers). The theme was "We Can Make a Difference." I remember it to this day because it was kinda catchy. So here it is:

We will put litter in its place.
Not in the ocean or outer space.
When we see trash,
We'll throw it away.
To make this world a better place to stay.
Together,
We can make a difference.
~Age 8~

 

Now that you mention it, I do seem to recall getting put in some Young Americans Poetry anthology that my 6th grade teacher made us submit things to. I think it was a diamond poem about werewolves, with the top word being Werewolf and the bottom word being Human - or perhaps just Wolf and Man. I can't really remember, although knowing my mum (and mums in general), she's probably kept a copy of the book.

 

It would appear - a few of us started out as "poets" before we became storytellers.....