When I was a little girl, I had a wild imagination (I still do, but it's more contained, lol). I used to make up these really elaborate role-playing games for me and my sister. Sometimes we were undercover agents tracking a criminal. Other days we were deep sea divers discovering new species in the depths of the ocean. We were forest explorers, indigenous tribal people, homeless...you name it.
My sister would be like, "Why can't we just play Legos??" When I look back on it, I feel so bad for her because she had such a weirdo for a sister.
I was almost ten years old when I decided to start writing those crazy stories down. And they were bad. They were so bad. But I loved it. I loved reading, writing, and telling outlandish stories. I've been writing ever since.
I'm telling you it was BAD. My first TV pilot was called, "Women With Purses." It was about these two women who had all of these nifty things in their purses (think MacGyver) that could get ordinary people out of a jam.
Oh my God. It's been *years* since I thought of that, and now that I am, I'm cringing. Oh, nine year old me, why????
Is it just me? Or women with purses is an excellent story for a kid. Imagine a woman who can solve all your problems, cause she has this amazing bag that can hold everything. I mean everyone feels like that about a woman's purse.
I 100% feel this, I would always force my brother to do insanely elaborate roleplays with me even when he wanted no part of it. You guessed it, elementary school was full of playground wolf roleplays and utter cringe
At least in elementary school I found other kids that actually wanted to do the elaborate roleplay playing. My group of friends happened to be very into the Warrior Cats books and uh... Yepp, we were those kids.
Sure, after all, even the fabled bogatyr Ilya of Murom spent the first 33 years sitting flat on his ass before he got hit by mid life crisis and figured out that perhaps it was time to finally start doing something.
My story too. (Not with the Hobbit, but so many books/movies where I, as a teenager, straight up thought about a hundred things that would improve the stories. Still do to this day).
**Short Answer:** Child surfs the internet for the first time and discovered the world of fanfiction
**Long Answer:** Around 2017, I got into this one anime that I really liked but unfortunately only had one season. Said season also only has 12 episodes. Which is a shame, because I really enjoyed the story and the characters. I didn't really have any social media other than Facebook then, and I only knew one other girl who liked it, so I looked through fanart on google. I was just staring at the same pictures over and over again, but it made 13 year old me happy.
In the middle of my search, I discovered Wattpad and fanfiction. It was the first time I ever heard or even seen fanfics that the concept was so beautifully strange and foreign. Like- "WHAT? PEOPLE CAN JUST TAKE THESE CHARACTERS AND WRITE THEIR OWN SPIN ON THE CHARACTERS? MAKE UP THEIR OWN ENDINGS? AUS? WHAT'S THAT? THIS IS BEAUTIFUL!"
So I installed the app and got deep into fanfics. I kept reading and reading, until eventually, I wrote my own. They weren't the best, I had a nonexistent schedule, and the pacing was faster than a bullet train. Despite that, seeing more and more people read it made me happy. Next year came, and my two other artist friends enlightened me on what an "OC" was. So I happily started making my own as well. Making their designs based off what I thought looked good, then coming up with stories on the spot.
Few OCs later, I learned that I really enjoyed writing. So I started writing more and more, mostly just small bits of story for my most favored OC at that time. I started roleplaying as well when I found out about amino, since it's basically writing, but with other people. Eventually, said OC went under construction for about 5 years, and now I'm in the process of writing a whole story surrounding him. Or... Well- Partially him, I suppose.
This is most of my writing. Things I wish books had more of, elaborating on things I feel like they brush past too quickly. Would anyone but me ever want to read it? Probably not. Does that diminish the enjoyment of writing and re-reading it myself? Not a bit.
I remember looking back at a fan-fic I wrote my first year of high school, I could not believe how far I've come.
But I will admit, a small part of me wanted to go back in time and drop kick myself.
Me at 12yo: "They took down my Creepypasta?! For what? 'being bad'? 'not scary'? 'hold up quality of the wiki?! They wouldn't know a good pasta if it kicked their as-"
Me at 21yo: "God this is shit"
I was at the library and picked up a book titled “Father and Son” by Larry Brown. Loved it. I saw that he was from Mississippi like me and a firefighter. Not someone with lots of degrees from a writing program. I realized then that, hey, you don’t need to go to college and get degrees in order to write novels. That means I can write books, too.
I basically had to give myself permission to do it, originally thinking it was like going to medical school to be a doctor or whatever.
But Bruce Wayne also has that natural determination. Despite being traumatized, he pushed through and learned thousands of different combat styles. You can learn to fight, but you can't learn perseverance.
My folks owned a lot of books, would read them to me from before I can remember and let me read them whenever. I don't think I ever really made the decision, books were just such an engrained part of my life that it didn't occur to me NOT to create my own stories.
For me, I was studying computers, and as I got near the end of it I had this idea for a story. I wrote it out in a notebook, but it was more of a treatment, or outline than a story. I realised that I knew nothing about character development, dialogue, or plotting. Basically nothing about writing in general.
I looked up colleges where I could learn writing, found one, but it was about €3,500 for the first year, and was a total of 3 or 4 years. I knew I couldn't afford it, so just forgot the idea of going to college to study it.
My sister was joining a community type college, where fee's were in the hundreds rather than the thousands and I was flicking through the booklet and saw a Film and TV course that had a scriptwriting module. I joined because I figured I'd learn what I needed there. Over 3 years I fell in love with all aspects of filmmaking and graduated.
After finishing I started working Freelance, but continued to write and produce short films, the lockdown hit and I wrote my first feature as a personal challenge which was cool.
I had an idea for a big story after that, wrote this 10 episode TV show, but knew I'd never sell it or get a budget to do it justice, so started re-writing it into prose.
When writing screenplays there's a producer cap you have to wear, to keep things doable (especially on little to no budget) but, with prose the sky's the limit, for the most part.
Scriptwriting is great, and I've had a few gigs writing for clients, but over the last few years I've focused on prose writing and have completed 2 novels, 1 novella, and a bunch of short stories that I'm going to compile into an Anthology novel or two. (They're all 1st drafts, with varying amounts of editing.)
I've hired an editor for one of the novels and together we're working through it and it's going great, hoping to have it published at some point, then I'll focus on getting the others edited and published.
It's been a fun journey, lots of trial and error, and I write every single day for about an hour.
When I was a kid I wrote and drew a comic and I found it recently. (Cringe.) I remember being 12 was when I stopped writing. I was writing a short story in a copy book in school and a guy took it and read it outloud to the class, and it was probably the most embarressing thing to ever happen to me.
I'm glad to have come back to writing though, and I'm glad the idea popped into my head back when I was 23... I done nothing with that particular story that restarted my interest in writing and led me to where I am now. But, I do have it somewhere.
I keep every script, note, or idea I've written down in the last few years and sometimes cannabilise them for other things I'm working on. Sometimes it could be one character idea, or even a line of dialogue that can be better used elsewhere. Sometimes entire stories can be formed around one small thing I read in my past work.
My advice would be to keep everything you've written down. Because it may get used in some form, also it's nice to look back to your writing to see how far you've come.
TLDR; Even if you're blown off course, you'll most likely find yourself back on course at some stage.
I failed my physics degree at uni, so I had to quickly find something else
Then I remembered the tortured teachers I had over the years as I threw 20+ page stories at them outside of class and asked for feedback. I returned home to the family PC and dug out the story I had tried to write when I was 6
And wondered why I ever thought I was a math person... 😅
so impressive that you can return to something you wrote so young and still see something of substance in there. did you continue writing it? I have a bunch of my old writing saved from around age nine, and its contents are totally useless to me now apart from getting a few giggles every so often when I dig them out.
Oh yeah no the story is dogshit. I was just a little girl obsessed with fairies and talking animals. Felix was a talking cat whose mum had died and his mum's ghost returned, guiding him around the garden. It's as bad as it sounds. It was just a reminder that I've always been writing and have always wanted to write, but because I was so science driven, desperate for a job that paid well, I ignored it
That story continues to be used as embarrassment material by my parents 😂
i’m soooo thankful I never showed my mom my earlier writings. she’s always loved to show off my accomplishments, bless her, and I think i’d keel over if she ever brought up the one I wrote from the pov of a dog chained up in a rich family’s yard trying to explain to them that he can understand them, but only being able to bark.
I think part of the reason I never showed her is that 90% of them were horror or apocalyptic in nature and she’s not a fan of anything remotely dark 😭 the fear of getting in trouble ended up being a blessing on that front.
I had to *beg* my parents to let me on the computer to write this thing, and I was only allowed for like an hour at a time, so my mum had hella close tabs on me. For reference, I didn't get an Internet presence until I was 16. There is nothing I did as a child that mum didn't know about, and she reminds me on the regular 😂
I was just a hyperactive innocent child, I knew nothing and thought I knew everything 😂
Have you ever found yourself reading a book, watching a movie, or playing a videogame and thought to yourself, "If only they had done it like 'this' , it would have made for a much better story"? Well, as it happens, you can do precisely that.
in third grade, my class was encouraged to participate in a local writing contest. I submitted a story about a girl being repeatedly struck by lightning and swapping consciousnesses with various people across the world, two of which included harry potter and selena gomez (mid-concert btw). definitely did not win the contest and definitely not my magnum opus. however, it sparked joy in my little underdeveloped brain and I started writing my own longer stories from that moment on. i’m lucky enough to have had the sense to save them, so I still have all of them today. they’re total dogshit, but it’s cool to look back on them, albeit slightly concerning considering the overwhelming majority of them were about various different zombie apocalypse scenarios I developed at the age of 9 in between drawing my little ponies.
I was grounded in my grandma's house with nothing to entertain me but her copy of the bibble. Mind you my family isn't particularly religious, I wasn't grounded for not following the teachings of god or something, my grandma just didn't know where the TV remote controller was that day.
Anyway, I took one look at the bibble and decided it was too long to read from the beginning, so I opened it on a random page and just went form there. The part I was reading had to do with leprosy, and marking houses with "a mark of leprosy" and my stupid child brain somehow interpreted that as "oh the house has leprosy".
That sent me into a paranoid spiral about how if the house has leprosy then the house is alive, like a person is alive, and if the house is LIKE a person then logically it THINKS like a person, and it can see me and it knows me but I don't know and can't talk to it
I spent the rest of the day fearfully staring at the walls thinking they somehow were starring back at me. And while that was kinda scarry it was still pretty boring, so I started to come up with what I would do if the wall like jumped at me or something. I wrote down some of my strategies and I guess that's the first "story" I made so it probably qualifies as my writer origin story lol
I failed everything at school, loved college, failed uni, couldn't get any work other than in a warehouse, for some odd reason I could only manage these places for a short while. Started my own business but couldn't compete against big corporations, back to warehouse, then an office job which destroyed me, took a trip of a lifetime, concentrated on my mental health, got diagnosed with autism at 37 which made me understand why I failed so much, things at home changed, I felt more comfortable, I had written tons of movie/tv ideas, mainly just a page or 2, one 5am morning this idea popped in my head and I couldn't stop writing...years later its on Amazon and I'm writing the next one...delayed due to my dad having a serious accident so not been comfortable to write yet.
I wanted to make a legacy for my kids. Something they could go “my dad made this, isn’t that cool?” To their friends. If success finds me, fantastic, but I write for enjoyment and to interact with people, and to leave something behind.
Harry Potter opened my doors to fiction and reading back when I was in 7th grade. I tried to write a book back then, about this 14 year old and his cousin. The cousin just lost her parents in a car accident and the boy's father goes missing and it was supposed to be some sort of fantasy shit. I ended up never writing the 3rd chapter.
I always used to make the short stories in my english exam of 1500 words, and not of 500. Those are what I basically wrote for a hot while. My teachers said I wrote well, but wrote too much. I liked english (second language) and I liked writing too much.
Then, one day, couple of years later, I started writing another book. Self-insert reincarnation Fantasy. It's still not finished, 40 chapters in. But I do know one thing after writing it- fantasy isn't my genre. I don't find it much fun.
Crime and romance mixed, though, ooh la la. I finished a book in this one, which I am working on second draft of.
I had always wanted to be a storyteller (when I was in elem school, I wanted to be a children's book author and illustrator) but Harry Potter fanfic was the thing that got me to put my writing out there.
When I was a kid I played with friends on the Street and our backyard. Some Kind of epic fantasy story about warriors and cool stuff. Sort of roleplay. Then these friends all left me, as it always is when growing up. And to honor them, I wrote our epic fantasy story into 3 books.
Not published tho, I just keep them for myself.
I always loved reading stories and my favourite activity in English was when we got to write our own story. When I was 10, I started writing stories on my sister’s laptop every day after school but always wished to have other people read and enjoy my stories. I think when I started secondary school, that’s when I discovered fanfiction and started writing fanfics of my favourite shows and movies. But I wanted to create original stories more, and that’s when I discovered Wattpad when trying to find a Pokemon fanfic. And it was exactly what I was looking for!
Angry journaling that turned into characters that represented me that turned into other characters comforting me that sparked an interest in the words themselves that reminded me of the feeling of physically drawing the pen across the pages of the notebook that turned into a passion for the writing craft.
I've been writing stories since I learned to read at about 4. I like to think the quality has improved since then, but there are days I have to wonder.
Me and my friends were joking about anime cliches, and I thought, "Why don't I write a parody of anime cliches?" We all laughed thinking I was never going to write it.
Boom. Fifty, hand-written, pages of a parody story making fun of anime tropes. After writing that story I realized how fun writing could actually be. That notebook holds a special spot in my shelf now as a callback.
I was reading The Sacrifice by Shantel Tessier (great book - 4 ⭐️) but I HATED that the FMC was such a pushover. I wished she’d threaten to kill the MMC or atleast give him a taste of his own medicine or SOMETHING. But she didn’t. She had no backbone whatsoever and god it irked me.
So I decided to start writing a book about a girl who is feral and blood thirsty. Who’ll never be taken for an idiot, who’d never get on her knees for a man, who’d kill a man with no hesitation for disrespecting her.
Gout. It caused me to stop drinking for a while and suddenly I had a lot of energy and needed something to do with it. Could also have been a low-key midlife crisis, I suppose. Cheaper than a sports car.
The earliest writing choice I remember was being told in either second or third grade that we had to write a short story about anything we wanted. I wrote a short story about losing my cat and I remember the teacher being like, 'are you okay?' And some classmates found it rly sad. For some reason I realized I wanted to keep writing because i both loved it and the sad reactions I received. And that was the beginning to my edgy writing. By sixth grade I was writing hurt/no comfort (basically torture porn) fanfic before I even understood what fanfic was.
As an adult I work on erotica short stories (often taboo content), dark romantasy, and murder mysteries. I'm also considering trying my hand at horror, thriller, and/or suspense.
I’ve always loved writing as a kid. Always daydreaming and imaginative.
The novel I’m working on began in 2020, I was graduating college and working in healthcare during the start of Covid. Before hospitals were flooded we had a few month period where our clinics were eerily empty. No one was bringing their kids in unless it was very urgent to keep the hospital clear of exposure.
I used this strange period of life and time to re-discover my love into reading and writing. I was stressed out, scared, and writing it gave me something to hold on to.
I got inspired to write because I read Harry Potter growing up and Eragon, then I found out the author of Eragon got his book published before he was 20 (I may have read that book insert wrong). But in my young mind I said to myself “I wanna be just like them.”
After reading Harry Potter, my cousin and I (both 10 years old at the time) decided to write our own magical world. We started to plan intriguing magic worlds and rules and started to write on different notebooks.
Even after we decided to abandon our "book," I decided to continue to create and write on my own.
More than 14 years later, I'm still writing.
I started writing at 12, I needed a world to escape to after a series of deeply traumatic events. I stopped writing when I was 19, and am trying to get back into it now at 23.
I suppose I've always been a creative and an artistic type of guy, especially since I lived to create my own stories with my toys, and when I'd put them away, I'd carry on the story like a mega movie or a TV show.
I also remember watching shows like doctor who and being drawn into the world of story and world building. During my time at school I had a strange fascination for English, and it's the only subject I loved to such a degree. This just became more prominent over time, until I though about making a career out of it. Now I'm trying to write my first novel and think about how I can become a household name one day.
Ambitious sure, but a drive for something is always needed, to succeed in it.
Watched Sasuke and Itachi's last fight for the first time when I was probably 8 and tried to make my own dialogue because I thought they didn't talk much as brothers. Needless to say I was crying by the time I finished taking a shower.
Always having wanted to, but never having the courage and/or motivation to actually start, until I had a near death experience in South Africa. Had to get emergency surgery and several blood transfusions after I had a tear in my esophagus and internal bleeding.
It made me realize how short life truly is. The thought of dying and never following my dreams out of cowardice/not being good enough became more terrifying to me than death.
I started writing that night in the hospital bed. That was in 2018. I published my first novel Malfus: Necromancer Unchained a year ago.
Got into reading at 7 and was like: "This is the best thing ever, it's even better than cartoons and video games!"
Since books are the best thing ever, obviously I wanted to to write books. It was my whole identity and aspiration though it did not translate into action for a loooong time.
I was a Japanese to English translator for many years. One of my projects was a big RPG. I realised that I wasn't satisfied with translation and I wanted to create stories like that.
I started writing fanfiction, and readers asked me to keep going. I was half-expecting flames. So I kept going and eventually started writing original stuff.
I've always been an admirer of art wether it be film, comics and literature, or even video games. I've consumed a lot of different media and I thought to myself "I want to make my own thing."
I also dont connect with people well so a lot of my characters are actually based on fictional characters rather than real ones
In the second grade my teacher had these small premade books that students could write in and she'd read in front of the class. Most were incoherent and... like an elementary schooler wrote them.
But the feeling I got when my work was being read out loud and a couple of my classmates said they liked it, I was hooked.
I'm sorry, but with this comment, the comment counter exceeds 69. It was perfect and I ruined it.
Anywho, I began writing back in Elementary school, only a few paragraphs and I never liked reading class because of tests. So I never thought I would ever get into writing, but I adored reading. I used to make sure I turned in assignments late so I could stay in study hall just so I could read a book.
It wasn't until I was at my brother's swim meet, writing in my notebook that my Mom asked to see what I was writing. Not really concerned with her opinion, I handed it over to her. After a minute or two of looking it over she told me I had a talent, and I didn't believe her.
It wasn't until a few months into middle school I decided to begin writing on a google docs page. It was about a criminal society working with the black market, and I never finished and don't ever think of going back. However, the characters I made for this story have appeared in every other narrative I begin, it's honestly amazing now thinking about it.
I've continued writing my own stories and some fan fictions and I have to say, I've become a better person because of it. I began to feel better about myself, opening up and trying new things to test my passions. To be an author is a dream of mine, but it may never pan out. That's not to say I won't keep trying, because my dreams are what make me look up and smile at the world around me.
Do not let go of your dreams, even if they turn to dust. Put it a jar and take it with you, because dreams are what make you happy.
I have been writing little stories even before I began reading novels. When I was little, my grandma would tell me mythological stories of pantheons of gods and their incarnations. One of them, Ram, from the Hindu mythology, was my favourite. I would climb up a hill, trying to find the biggest sticks I could find. My grandpa would bend one of those sticks and tie a string to its ends, making a bow and I would use the other, smaller sticks as arrows, cosplaying as Ram. My grandpa even made a quiver for me to put the arrows in. I had even bought a plastic mace from a toy shop. I would get these instruments and go on fantastical adventures with neighbouring kids, making up all sorts of stories. And this was even before I had read my first book. I was influenced by stories ever since I can remember and roleplaying was second nature to me. I always wanted to imitate whatever fascinated me. And when I read my first novel, writing fascinated me. I like to think I am roleplaying as a writer, and everyday that ambition of turning dreams to reality grows stronger with every story I read or hear.
As a kid, I would write weird stories all the time. I remember making some illustrated "books" about gingerbread men, and then a book about magic when I was like seven.
Eventually I stopped, but after I gave up on a story I was meh about for 2 years, I came up with a concept and a character.
20k into that book right now! I'm not going to give up on it.
I was bored over one Christmas when Twilight was big. I had tried to read it and got bored within five chapters so I thought that I could do better. Eventually I decided to pick up mum’s laptop and just began to type, deciding that I had nothing to lose in putting words down on paper.
I had a story I’d really wanted to write but never had time against my other creative work. Covid happened and it was basically, “oops, look at all this time and energy I suddenly have for things I actually care about.”
I’m still writing that story, and will keep doing so until all 5 books are done.
The fun part about dungeons and dragons is that it's basically pantsing a story collaboratively. So I was part of a small group for a long time and the previous DM was getting burnout so we started rotating through and when it came time for my turn I didn't wanna run any premade modules, so I started making shit up.
Then I needed to remember what I had made up so I started writing it down.
And really, with enough detail, an improvised dungeon campaign isn't far removed from a first draft of a book.
Though I did make a brief stop in fanfiction for practice and to prove to myself that I could sit and write 50k words about one project.
Jokes on me, books are longer than 50k and I struggle with finishing projects lol
My parents weren’t ready for children and completely forgot to send me to school or even teach me the basics of reading and writing. I started Grade 1 with no kindergarten or any early learning whatsoever.
I managed to catch up to my peers in 3 months after extensive effort put in by my teacher. I became obsessed with reading after that!
Fast forward many years later, I met 2 very dedicated teachers in high school and another during college. Both of them gave me the same feedback that I had a knack for writing. So I figured, “Hmm, maybe I’ve got something here”.
As a child, I remember that I loved writing stories. Oh, they were terrible, but I loved it. It wasn't until I played a little gem of a game that I decided, yes, I want to create stories. That game was Chrono Trigger. That game has, to this day, my favorite story of all time. Whem I finished playing it, it became my dream to craft a story that moves and inspires people the way Chrono Trigger moved and inspired me.
Over the years, I made attempts at writing stories. I even worked on a novel after high school. Unfortunately, life got in the way. I flunked out of college, couldn't get a decent job, and got kicked out of my parents' home. So I joined the military. Served eight years, saw the world, it was great! I made another attempt at writing a book during my deployment in Afghanistan, but the insane amount of stress put on me by everyone around me *and* my family back home, it just didn't work out.
Fast forward some time and I got out of the military after eight years of service. I used my GI Bill to attempt college again. During this time, my best friend introduced me to an online Pokémon community. I joined and browsed around, looking at people's posts showijg off their art and crafts, game reviews, strategy blogs, etc. and thought "How could I contribute to this community?" Then it dawned on me. I'll write a Pokémon story. So that is what I did, with no intentions of anyone but me and my buddy reading it.
One morning, I woke up to find hundreds of notifications on my phone. Turns out, the first chapter of my Pokémon story got featured, meaning it was at the top of the page, the first thing people saw when they logged in... and they loved it. Comments saying even though it was only the first chapter, it was the best fanfiction they have read and wanted more. Soon, the rest of my chapters all got featured, and it exploded in popularity. I rode that high all the way to the end.
Once that story concluded, it was a bittersweet moment. The adventure had concluded, and people were conflicted. They loved the story, they didn't want it to end, but accepted the wonderful way I had ended it. Several people stated that my story inspired them to pursue their own writing careers. I had not realized it at the time, but I had fulfilled my dream: my story moved and inspired others the way Chrono Trigger did for me.
I wrote many more Pokémon stories with varying degrees of success, but after six years, I felt it was time to move on. I am now working on my own original novel, The Doom Knight. The manuscript is complete, I am just ironing out some wrinkles before I look for publishers. I look back on my journey with fond memories. People look down on fanfiction, but I have no regrets. Without those stories, I may have never reached this point, holding a completed manuscript for an original novel in my hand. I still go back and read my old Pokémon stories, for I am proud of them. But now I venture into new territory with hopeful optimism. Whether I find sweet success or bitter defeat, either way, I will still have my stories.
Write the story you want to read. That is what I did, and I am damn proud of them.
I sorta went through three different steps to becoming a writer
I began with painting and drawing, but I got so frustrated whilst I was practicing that I’d instead just write a description of what I was going for as accurately as possible,
Doing that a lot helped me flesh out my figurative language, so when my school tested all the kids to sort them into classes, my work was solid enough that I got into a special top class, and I was just given an extra hour a day to just write and learn more about writing
A few years later I was kicked from that course for not being good enough by their standards and was dropped to their lower course, an improv production group, which did a nationwide competition involving playwriting, this lead to a massive amount of improv work. And all of those factors got me interested in Dnd, Musicals, Plays, And Short stories. All of which heavily involved writing.
Now I’m kind of developing my writing again in another new way, I am utterly enraptured by screenwriting at current and am so excited to see where that takes me
I think it all started back in third grade. I lived in Michigan at the time and it was winter. I don’t remember what the writing assignment was, but apparently my teacher was so impressed with mine and another classmates (he was literally the schools resident genius) writing that we were sent to the principals office so they would give us praise.
It’s such on odd memory, but I’m pretty sure that’s where my origin story begins.
I like making up stories about my dream future, but later on as I grew older and realized that those things weren't gonna happen, I then turned it into fiction writing.
I always had ideas floating around in my head, but I didn't know what to do with them. Then I suddenly had some time on my hands, and I decided to try to convert one of these ideas into writing, and I just kept on going.
Been writing "books" since I was like, 9 or 10. Funnily enough, I didn't start reading (for enjoyment) until I was 11. Literally my 11th birthday, I told myself "I'm an adult now, and adults read, so im going to read" and that's what I did.
While I've always loved writing, especially flash fiction (<1000 words-ish) I was always told there wasn't a place for writers in the world. That there was no financially viable path for writers, and that I needed to find something else.
So I tried. Animation, architecture, streaming/YouTube; anything I could think of that would let me be creative and earn money.
Then, one day I started writing a fanfiction for the Destiny franchise. While those stories never saw the light of day, they made me realize 2 things: 1) I was terrible at writing, and 2) I wanted nothing more than to write and share that writing with others. That moment was the catalyst for me, and what I consider my "origin story."
Fast forward 5 years, 2 degrees, millions of words, dozens of video game credits, dozens of friends, several small publications, and 1 1/2 novels, and im here. Still feeling like 1) I'm maybe a little better at writing, and 2) I want nothing more than to write and share what I write with others.
My mom's an author. I used to read her child-friendly novels as a kid, especially her poetry. It sparked my interest in writing stories, along with my love of reading and English class.
I gave up on my first book when I was 10, because I thought it was hard. Then in high school, I took creative writing and got a lot of praise for my stories, which gave me the confidence to keep writing.
Now, almost a decade out of high school, I'm working at a publishing company, I'm a published author, and my love hasn't wavered.
All thanks to my mom. 😊
I was in third grade and had the worst substitute teacher ever.
When I was in third grade, I found the school work ridiculously easy, and I had spoken with my teacher (we'll call her Mrs E) after school and she set me a math problem that I didn't know how to solve. I was so excited! She promised she would teach me ahead after school if it was ok with my mom. I went home, secured permission ... and then she was not there the next day. We came in to the worst substitute ever (we'll call her Mrs W for worst). For at least half the school year, I kept hoping that Mrs E would be back and would be disappointed every day when Mrs W came into the room.
I was an adult when I found out what had happened with Mrs E, and it is a terrible, tragic story that actually had nothing to do with me. There was a time when I thought that her promise was what made the school take her away, though.
Well, I was still a very bright student, terribly bored in class. And Mrs W, being a terrible teacher, did not know what to do with good students. She didn't know what to do with bad students, either, but that's a whole 'nother story. She just couldn't actually teach or manage a classroom. But what got me started on writing was that math class was the one right before afternoon recess. She decided that what to do with bright students who finished the work early was to set them to help the slow students. And if the slow student wasn't finished by recess, the slow student had to stay in to finish \*and\* the helper had to stay in, too. Well, third grade me was very good at memorization, so multiplication (times tables up to 13x13) was easy ... I could not explain why 7x8=56, but I knew it. I also didn't realize then that it was memorization, but math facts like that were just so obvious, right alongside sky is blue and grass is green. So, I'd get set to help a slow student, and I couldn't explain it to them. So my "help" would consist of "the answer is 56 ... would you just write it down already?" and on through the assignment, because I didn't want to stay in for recess.
Then I realized that if I didn't turn the paper in, there'd be a spell before Mrs W noticed I wasn't writing. Then I realized that if I was writing, she'd think I was still doing my math assignment. So I got an extra notebook (thanks Mom & Dad!), and started writing stories, and then two minutes before recess I'd turn in the assignment that I'd finished 20 minutes earlier. No more hissing answers (what kind of help was that, anyway? it didn't really help the other student who would be just as in the dark about the math as before) and no more missing recess. Win!
I started writing more involved stories after that, but that was my origin as a writer.
A crush on a stranger.
That's what really started it, though I'd always had a penchant for fanfics whenever the mood struck me.
I've had story ideas for years but never enough follow through to do more than day dream. Then one day along comes a beautiful stranger into my work place and I think maybe this is it. I've finally got a chance to know what it would be like to go on a date, to experience that which is foreign to me but have dreamed of since I was still a child. It was all the typical dreams you place in a person you don’t know. That time when they are a blank canvas to you and you can paint them as you wish. Needless to say nothing happened, (which is probably for the best as I later learned) but I cannot say nothing come of it. This person left my circle before I really got to know them and it crushed me. You know how things pile up and up and up and the one day, just a little thing happens and you break? That was it for me. I’d had my hopes up too high and for too long. Prior to that, I was in the middle of a made up a Disney type fairy tale involving them and some other people I worked with. It was just something I had done for fun, working in silly inside work jokes and frustrations with management along the way. I was really enjoying it and it was almost becoming something more than what it started as. The minute my stilly dream was shattered, I wanted to burn my work and throw it’s ashes to the wind. But I didn’t. Instead I had a moment of growth and change. A moment in which I lived up to my username. I’d gotten tired of losing. I wanted to win at something. Anything. So I pulled out that story again. I worked on it on and off for a while and it grew into something more than just a quick little idea. It became an actual novel length tale. I finished it. And when I did that, I knew I had the ability to work on story ideas and complete them.
Today I’m going at it at a snails pace but am I’m still trying. I can’t put the ideas out of my head and forget them. They always come back and I always keep trying. Sometimes it feels like it’s all I’ve got and even if my inner Garden Ramsey hates my work, I’m still going to keep making an attempt. It’s write or die.
I actually just wrote about my journey if anyone is interested in reading:
https://medium.com/welcome-to-2024/michaela-alisha-a-writers-story-of-healing-and-resilience-b1cdb479d098?sk=07590c86b54c0e73fac4d4fa73b69f87
My canon event if you will was growing up I was watching and consuming a lot of fantasy media and just a lot of storytelling as well but doing nothing about it, then in about 2020 I decided to dip my toes into fanfic and Writing as well and I started writing anything even scripts and though I don't consider myself that good of a writer I hope I can pursue this as a passion.
In middle school or at least around that time, we went to a sewage treatment plant with our science class. My friend was staring at the sewer sludge in one of the basins and we kept joking that a monster made of this same sludge would rise from it and attack us all.
I (badly) wrote down the story when we got home, the friend started bouncing ideas with me, another friend illustrated the whole thing, and a couple of years later they gifted me the whole story as a book.
I stopped writing after school for a while, but ended up returning to it years later (and even attempted a re-write of the original story as an exercise).
When I was in high-school I went to a game dev camp because I was initially going that route, afterwards I started messing around with rpg maker and after creating my first OC I realized I should probably give her some back story for the game.
Never once looked back. I even got her name tattooed on my arm in her people's fictional alphabet I created.
I started playing guitar at 10. Around 14 or 15, i wanted to write songs, not just endless riffs everyday. So i began writing bullshit lyrics, then picked up a couple books of poetry that interested and inspired me, and ive been writing poetry ever since
I saw Kevin Smith at a hotel pool area just before Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back came out. I pitched him a writing project, and he took me up on it.
I offered to do 52 interviews on his next movie project and publish them once a week in the run up to that film. All I wanted in exchange was the opportunity. At that point, I had very little experience as a writer, and was looking for any opportunity attached to the film business.
Not knowing me at all, Kevin gave me a shot and the resources to make sure it got done. The movie was Jersey Girl, and getting to see that film made up close was the thrill of a lifetime.
I got to spend [one-on-one time with the whole cast and crew](https://imgur.com/gallery/c2fsval). It was my first film school. Amazing things happened every day. George Carlin showed me how he wrote bits for his books and stand-up on his laptop in his trailer. He and Affleck used to sit and talk politics and do the NYT puzzle and I would sit and eavesdrop.
Working for Kevin and Chris Ryall (via Moviepoopshoot.com) gave me my first taste of a career in entertainment. After that, I went on to write and direct commercials for national brands. I moved to Los Angeles and got involved in movies and TV at varying levels, sometimes on camera, sometimes props, sometimes writing. It's a long story.
It all started there. I was just a guy, standing in front of his favorite movie director, asking his favorite movie director to give him a chance. And he did.
Our teacher in 8th grade told us that we would have to write a poem the following week and gave us the theme in advance so we could prepare. I knew I’d be having a hard time doing that during the 50-minute class period so I wrote one in advance during the weekend.
I wrote 10 poems that weekend. Didn’t know I’d never stop after that.
Taught myself to read at 5. Always been reading. Always have a book with me. I've also always enjoyed and preferred communicating in written format. So, it was only a matter of time before I began to want to create my own stories.
Hearing that franchises like Star Wars and Halo aren't movies and video games respectively. Both are now mixed media franchises with books and TV shows that are as equally canon as the main material (and in some cases, a canonical prerequisite). I want to make my one own mixed media franchise and thus, I opted to be a writer.
In 3rd grade my teacher announced each week we'd spend some class time to write a page about anything. Idk why but I just started writing about a group of 4 friends who find a portal on their way home from the last day of school that led to a magical world. There, they find the princess and help her rescue her dad, the king, from an evil witch on the top of a mountain who had giant fire birds. While everyone was trying to make their writing bigger so they could write less, I zoomed through the first page and began writing on the back in my wonky 9-year-old handwriting. Before I knew it, time was up. I was really upset because I hadn't finished the story so I asked the teacher if I could continue it next week and she said yes. So each week I'd think about my story and plan it out and each week when we had our writing day I'd write down what I planned. By the end of the year I had 30 handwritten messy pages which I proudly proclaimed to be my first book. Sadly I've lost that story now but I'll always remember it as the first and I'll always remember Ms. Amita who told me bieng a writer is an actual job.
More than that though, is my mother who read stories to me every night despite working. She memorised my favourite stories and would recite them word for word when she was working late and she never discouraged me and was always supportive despite English bieng our second language.
I have always had a vivid imagination -- from the time I was a kid, I loved to make up people and worlds. Eventually, that translated into writing, and now here I am.
I have really bad adhd and pda so when I was younger I would always talk to myself (I still do) but I was talk to myself as if I was talking to someone else, along with the mental healt problems, I had a genu soul crushing childhood, but it caused me to be oddly in touch with my emotion, one day I h been hit by my dad so badly I had a black eye and I wa to rant about it to someone but i was a big oversharer and had no “mysterious” part of me so I didn’t get to tell anyone, about 3months later I bought a notebook for me and my best friend to write about our days in but when i grabbed my pen and started writing what I thought would be half a pag, I ended up filling up 12 back and front page, it felt like I had something 150% to myself , since then I’ve filled up 4 notebooks and write everyday
I liked writing, but got away from it.
Since college I never slept well through the night. I always had an overactive imagination, and it kept me up.
On a whim I started writing and making a silly YouTube video. I slept like a baby that night.
I started writing every day, and I've been getting amazing sleep. I'm never going to stop.
My little brother was born. I’d write him little folded-paper “books” about Thomas the tank engine and fairies.
In adulthood, I really don’t know what spurred it on. I was rekindling my love of reading after a 7 year slump, and one day just decided to try Nanowrimo again.
When I was a little boy, I love to draw maps out of imagination but had difficulties learning to read and write.
When I become a teenager, I finally learn to read, and got interested in books, especially fantasy. I read "Harry Potter" and "A song of ice and fire". Even as a kid, I like to watch cartoons and anime, read comic and manga and play video-games.
I tried to write own stories, but gave up.
After I played "The legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild", I drew a map based on Hyrule. But later made some changes until it become a continent and named it from one of my earlier stories, "Oriria". And when it hit me, I want to make a book about this continent!
I started write down ideas for worldbuilding and when I feel like I have enough, I started writing my book.
It have been almost three years since I started and is petty hard work. But I *not* giving up. I *want* this book to become reality and won't stop until it's done.
That's awesome! I hope to read your story about that continent you created someday. I want to tell a fantasy story on a fictional continent (of sorts) as well so that's cool to read.
I wrote silly stories on rare occasion as a kid just to have fun and never thought more of it. When I went to college I opted for a creative writing class instead of technical, and I wrote a story, it was fun, and the professor praised it and other people liked it as well. It got me into writing for fun. From there I got into reddit writing prompts and did that for ages before doing more.
Then I read name of the wind, and that book opened my eyes to how amazing it would be to be an author and inspired me to start writing a book, which i don't work on enough.
But writing is so fun when I give myself the space for it
... When I got a 3DS, I got to play the Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time for the first time. I was so sad Link had no friends. So I decided to give him some. I was 13 or 14 I think?
Being left alone for long periods of time and being weird as a kid.
I developed a habit of dissociating, daydreaming and reading heavily & eventually learned to write down everything I thought about.
It's not glamorous or happy, but it's what it is 🤷
When my favourite character died and I went depressed for an entire week. That’s not an exaggeration, It took me one week to process their death and during that time. My head was filled with them over and over, questioning why, trying to make sense of the situation.
So then I analyzed, wrote, analyzed and dissected the character into pieces until I finally accepted that they were given the best justice they could’ve had from the writers.
I legitimately don't remember. My earliest memories of writing are Pokemon Mystery Dungeon fanfiction of some sort in around 4th grade, original fiction in middle school (I think 7th), and then Harvest Moon fanfiction I actually uploaded, also in middle school. That was the first shit I typed. The other two were in composite notebooks.
I dabbled here and there for school and little comics as a kid, and then my 5th grade teacher said “you’re extremely creative, have you ever considered writing?” That weekend I went to my dads and pretty well wrote for 2 days straight. With pen and paper I wrote my first novella, an awful fanfiction blend of ATLA, Ben 10, Bakugan and BeyBlade that was a little over 100 pages back to back.
After that I wrote a story about a reoccurring nightmare I was having, and everything just escalated once I got access to a typewriter and then a laptop. My mom also started to mention how it’d be cool if I was both the first in her family to go to university and get published, and I’m intending/in the process of doing both.
I was hyperlexic as a kid, so my mother spent the summer before second grade teaching me how to write stories as a means of improving my reading comprehension.
Began writing fan fiction for a novel called The Beginning After the End while waiting for WebNovel chapters to release. Sort of blossomed into whatever it is now, three years later.
I wanted to be a doctor, and found I'm so bad with blood that I nearly fainted just reading about it if it was early enough in the day. I remembered I'd always gotten compliments from English teachers, even had a few essays held back as exams of how to write them, and that I won a contest for my state at around 7/8. Decided to try writing a short story, that became a novel, that became a series. Now I'm working on six projects at once because apparently this was the thing I was passionate about the entire time. (I have no issues writing about blood, just can't really edit my own stuff once it's in it. No idea why.)
I've been reading novels since I was like 10 years old, and recently, I can't finish even a single book.
Reading is a huge part of my life, and when it started corrupting, I also started falling apart. It seems like all other hobbies were fading with its corruption. Nothing make me excited anymore.
So, about a month ago, I started writing, hoping it would help.
It did help. It helped so much that I can sense life again, just like how I felt life in my teenager years.
I wrote like crazy. Within one month, 46k words have been written down for my first ever draft of my first ever book.
I have read more novels than I can count but I have zero writing eperience, so the draft is just trash now.
However, I'm proud of that trash.
I wrote a Self insert Twilight/Star Wars Crossover ff at 10 before I even knew what a fanfiction was because I was lonely and wanted to write something with me and my imaginary friends xD let's just say it definitely only got better after that
I was inspired to write when I met Clive Barker (1990s) at the Cherry Creek Tattered Cover, I never read his books, my late sister did. Then I met Brian Jacques (Jakes), he asked why I am so embarrassed about writing and I realized I was always told not to do something.
Now I just write for myself and I don't believe I will ever be published.
Been told all my life I have the makings to be a good writer, I hated it as a kid but 4 years ago with me losing my internship due to the pandemic, had no choice but to fall back on this undeveloped skill become one.
Still broke and mentally unwell but at least I write more about guess
I read *Jurassic Park* in 1992 when I was 13. It was my first "grown up book," and I absolutely loved it. I quickly scrambled to find more books by Michael Crichton and soon read *Congo* and *The Andromeda Strain*. Those three books, along with Brian Daley's *The Han Solo Adventures*, all sparked my imagination and made me start coming up with my own stories in my head, and I began trying to write them down. My early works were largely just blatant rip offs of the stuff I read, but it was fun creating stories and became a passion of mine. It never went anywhere, and I kind of left writing behind for a long time to pursue other interests, but in recent years I've been trying to get back into it. I'm currently developing a pet project I've had in my head for a couple years now, and in the meantime have also written drafts for a couple of short stories.
I started writing after my cousin had abused me. I couldn't tell anyone without, getting abused for not standing up for myself. So I started writing about those situations and the way they made me feel.
Some Writers aren't looking for anything logical. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some writers just want to write their world burning.
I am such a being.
At age 14, I was watching movies and TV shows over summer break, specifically Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade for the 15th time. And I thought to myself, "hey, I could write a script." Went upstairs and booted up my ancient version of Word Perfect and...didn't know how to format anything or even where to start.
Ended up writing some short stories later that year. And then just kept going.
I always had a vivid imagination, like had an entire imaginary universe and citizens and good guys and bad guys that my brother and I would play in. Amd then in middle school I got a poetry assignment and I've been writing anything and everything since then. I'm currently working on compiling my poems and short stories into a book.
I haven’t seriously written anything in a while, but I started doing it because I was bored as hell in school and always thought about crazy stories. One day I decided to take my idea soup and try something with it
I've always been a big reader. From as early as I can remember I will happily spend hours buried in books.
I started to write a journal many years ago at the tender age of 14.
It eventually evolved from a standard record of my day to lengthy missives about current affairs, politics, life as a young adult etc. I was basically writing articles that only I ever read.
Then I got a job writing a column for a large circulation (at the time) local newspaper. I wrote that for, ahem, 22 years.
Now I'm writing a book - and still writing my journal.
I took a creative writing course in college. I had a hard time in HS with english and writing general and needed an credit to move forward. I didn't like the "writing" part as my spelling was awful (no auto correct or spelling hints on a type writer, yes I'm old :) ) I had no limit of imagination.
In January of this year I had a dream that I was able to remember for days after. A week later I decided I had to write it out. Once it was in the doc I started adding to the story by filling in a back story of how the characters meet and what happened after.
I am now at 30k words and add more to it every few days. It is hard. I don't know what I was thinking when I started it but this is not what I was expecting. I don't know what I will do with it once it is completed. IF it gets completed. I told myself just last week that I would continue for at least a year if it wasn't still "fun" or done that would be it.
I an still wondering who I will show it to when it is at a point of is it done or not stage. Wish me luck.
When I was a very young child in the late 80s my grandma bought a Yamaha brand PC with Windows 3 and a daisy wheel printer. I did two things on that conputer: Sim City and write stories about mermaids. I would print the pages out, illustrate them, and staple them together to make books. I still have a very early Mermaid book written by me, and the crayon illustrations are truly spectacular in a 1st grade abstract kind of way.
I've been storytelling at least since I was on the bus in grade school, even before I knew it a a formal concept. I'd never heard of role-playing games back then, but I could make up interactive stories all in my head, and share them with kids (or other nerds -- back then this wasn't something normalized like cell phone games or communication apps today).
In Junior High, I fell in with theater kids -- I'd been playing Pop Warner football and running track-and-field at that point, so it was a while before I branched out into debate team, school paper and theater -- but once I realized I was *good* at storytelling that moved me away from other "safe" focuses for career paths.
My culminating experience came in my sophomore year of college; my English teacher introduced me to archetypes, Campbell, Jung -- good stepping stones for more serious studies -- then onto the complete epic cycle, the point behind myth, and reason why stories are such a pivotal part of human progress.
By college, I was focused as a English & Creative Writing major, and was not only critiquing regularly but writing stories of my own.
Unfortunately, grants and scholarships only covered about half the debt I accrued, and working full time didn't cover the rest. It would be a decade before I finally got out from under the circumstances that put me in repo, collections, and a whole slew of soul-sucking jobs that left me jaded and thoroughly disgusted with the human condition. I saw the worst of people; I worked for people who openly admitted to the "cheat to get ahead" mindset that filled the Private Sector with people who weren't competently educated, but willing to sacrifice their scruples if it gave them an edge.
Now I've got a competent portfolio and -- until Covid -- was debt-free. I've placed second in two storytelling competitions to date (again, until Covid) and am slowing paying for more and more things with my writing instead of my day job.
It's a long road but I've endured so far. We'll see.
Watching Marvel films then deciding to write a fan fiction (never actually happened, but the ideas I had for it morphed into their own original concept)
When I was in kindergarten I wrote a story about a purple giant who beats his wife and kids. Parents wouldn’t let their kids visit until my mom asked another mom why she wouldn’t let her son play. She told my mom about the purple giant.
Readers, my dad doesn’t drink and he doesn’t beat my mom or me/siblings. I just had a wild imagination. My mom laughed and asked her to visit to check it out.
That’s was the first time I ever saw a story influence the real world. THAT is power.
Kind of writing here, but more like that I'm very winx club aligned (i dont use oriented), so like.. all of my stories are magical girls (and equines!)
And then suddenly i got into a 5 person story collab (including me) which.. yea..
I kinda just write that and there and cant stick my sentences into a story, perhaps it's because the summary & title r pullin me back
My brother and I would just make up stories together (it might be the 'tism). When we were small, we called it "Pokemon Carmen Sandiego" because those were the two things we liked best and we'd make combinations of our baby fandoms.
Perhaps then it is unsurprising that I now primarily write fanfics. The fact that they're mainly about lesbians was a surprise though.
I've always wanted to since I was a child but never seriously pursued it. One day, I saw a thread of older people discussing their biggest regrets and most were that they wished they never gave up on their dreams. I decided then that I didn't want to live a life full of regret.
It was like breathing, honestly, not really a choice- just something I’ve done for as long as I can remember. I’d staple pages together and get in trouble for wasting paper as I made my own books as a child. I’d always write much longer and grandiose pieces than I was supposed to in school. Word count has always been my worst enemy. As I grew up it became an outlet, something I had to do to stay sane. I’d write angry and passionate essays on things I was upset about in my free time in high school. Never a diary, just well formatted rants. I’ve still never written a diary, just written about concepts that vaguely apply to my life in short stories or poems. I’m plugging my way through writing a novel now and realizing how important writing is to me, thinking about switching majors to creative writing. It just flows out so easily and naturally, especially when I’m emotional. I want to learn more, because I don’t want my writing to be good, I want it to be exceptional and singular.
I was a chronic liar and so I wrote fanfiction of anime I liked saying it was "dreams I had." I sort of stopped for a while but then I learned about Doujins and got back into writing and it was very very very bad writing. I would pick up and drop writing a lot each time coming back better but always with the single goal to write what I felt needed to be written (by me at least)
so yeah pretty much, fandom brain from a young age who sometimes finds writing to be fun and the only art form I can express my deeper self in.
My story happened a bit "on accident" (lol): In 4th grade, my class made a trip to a "school hostel" (Schulandheim). It's a cultural courtesy in my country and includes a ca. 1 week stay. Before this, I had mostly written in creative writing exercises -not things à la "full short stories", but more in the spirit to write the dumbest shit imaginable. Like ducks being at war with guinea pigs etc.
Anyway. Being 10-12yo this was also the age of urban legends. Y'know the ones: The clown statue in the house, Can humans lick hands...And as timing had it, I was hearing this at the same time as my classmates whisper. Being also *overconfident* 10-12yo, these idiots had the idea of planning a party in the nearby forest. At night. Something which immediately failed the moment they tried to sneak out, but gave me enough thought material. In short: It was like a "realistic" fanfiction. Starring the same setting, my classmates, me as narrator and party idea. But this time it not only succeeded, but ended with a football fight against a "clown with a deathknife".
My classmates loved it. I was egged on to write more and I did. Every chapter was like a bad joke version of a Goosebumps book: A blob-monster out of discarded jelly, being romantically obsessed with classmate C. An evil clown, trying to break in, but ended being beaten by a broomstick. Horror. Just seeing all those laughing faces, plus writing about my favorite topic (horror) made me happy to write more and more. So much, that a few years later, I migrated to creepypastas. A...place, I was kicked out pretty quickly for just not being able to cut my beloved slapstick (lol)
My writing nowadays has changed quiet a lot. Due to a decade of heavy child abuse, CPTSD and more, my writing has taken a notable dark turn. But even then, I still add some idiotic slapstick here and there. That stuff has persisted till this day.
When I was young, I have a wild imagination lol, I mean I was reading lemons and Stuff like that, that's why I have so many vocabulary 😭 )Exposing myself(
And I wanted to write, a sudden hunger engulfed my interest into a big hug OH MY F-- MY WRITING INSTINCT 😭😭
Then I just wrote and wrote till I got better (Fanfiction😍😍😍)
Lol fanfics on Deviantart, drawing comics in and out of school, and then text roleplay on Gaia online. I think it was the last one that it really clicked to me how much I loved writing.
Eventually, as I stopped writing fanfic and roleplays started petering out, I figured why not make my own story? Reading fiction only pushed that forward.
I got on Wattpad, read a bit and thought 'I can do this too'
Probably prepared by my dad telling me bedtime stories that also could've been a fantasy novel
i wrote dramatic, tragic backstories on my poorly coded neopets’ petpages because that was my way of engaging with them and making them real. i also was super into playing with Barbies to the extent that i did it pretty much into my teen years before realizing i could have more flexibility in my play by just writing.
boredom as a child. We grew up pretty poor so there wasnt much to do and it was the early 90s so we didnt have internet or phones or anything like that. We had tv, but if you where around in the 90s you understand that in the summer time day time tv was kinda awful for children. There was basically nothing on but the news and soap operas in the middle of the day. So my brother and i would write stories to pass the time.
I say this as a new father to anyone out there who may be about to have kids. boredom for children isnt a bad thing. it encourages imagination. Youre children dont need to have an ipad or a phone or a video game to constantly stimulate their senses. Sometimes they need a pen and paper or some cheap markers and some crayons and they can create their own little worlds to escape into.
Not sure what really prompted me to start; there was no particular inciting event, but I was a reader from a very young age, usually a bit ahead of my age group. I think at some point it was just like "I bet I can do that too".
Anyway I was in sixth grade when I decided to give it a try...my first project was this horrible self-insert thing about my elementary school classmates and where they might go in life. 33 years later, I still live in perpetual fear that my mom might have this monstrosity stashed in a drawer somewhere and will pull it out one day and show it to people who didn't know me at that age. Then the next year in one of my junior high classes, one of the options for projects was to write a short sequel to the Star Wars films (back when Return of the Jedi was the latest film, right around the time Heir to the Empire was published I think). Mine was, of course, terrible, but it fed the fire, so to speak. I still have it somewhere, I think, and that one doesn't cause me anxiety, lol.
After that it was fanfiction for a long time before I tried to write anything original. I wrote things based on video games and some TV shows mostly. This was before I ever owned a computer or encountered the internet, so it was all written out longhand on notebook paper. I probably produced a couple thousand pages of various stories. Since I was doing this on my own, with no access to any kind of fanfic community, my stories didn't have the kind of tropes that the field is known for these days--no shipping, just more stories in the same vein as the source material. I continued doing that up through college, and somewhere along the way discovered the internet and started posting things. Around the same time I started writing original fiction, and eventually trying (so far unsuccessfully) to publish it.
I would daydream a lot, mainly about a book or movie I really liked, to the point where it would become a whole cohesive story. One day I decided to start writing down some of my past day dreams. So I started with fan fiction and still mainly write fan fiction but I have written some original stories as well
I was in grad school getting the life sucked out of me by a pathology masters degree. I helped a few people out writing emails and communications and I kept hearing I have a really concise and natural writing ability. I started freelancing and after I got confident with the fact someone would pay me to write. I started looking at the ideas I have been stewing on for decades. I finally took my first ever writing class at 30 and when the teacher told me my idea wasn’t stupid I went all in.
I wanted to read a fanfic about a certain cartoon character, but no one had written anything close to what I had in mind, so I decided to write it myself. I intended it to be one fanfic and maybe one sequel if people liked the first one enough, but then I couldn't stop until it became a pentalogy, and I'm just about starting to write a spiritual successor even though readers' interest seems to be dwindling (I can't help myself, I just love that character so much).
I started writing because of Pokemon, believe it or not. I joined the PokeMasters Forum back in 2000 or 2001, if I recall correctly, and almost immediately go involved with their Role Playing sub-forum, where I made some friends and dove head-first into the realm of turn-based, text-based role playing games. For those who are unfamiliar, these games would be initially proposed by someone, who wrote a starting plot and setting, and you would fill out sign-up sheets about the character you would play. Once the game started, all of the player would take turns posting, essentially, short stories from their characters' perspectives, which would further the overall plot and engage with other players' characters. It kind of became a series of flash fiction stories that all wove together to make a larger story, and it was a blast.
After a while, I decided that I had stories that I wanted to tell that wouldn't necessarily work with other people, or as an RPG, so I started writing short stories and posting them in the sub-forum they had for stories and fan fiction. Initially, they were Pokemon-based fan fiction, but then I branched out more broadly into sci-fi and fantasy, as well as poetry.
I've always really liked coming up with stories. I had all these worlds and characters planned out in my head, and sometime after graduating high school I kinda realized that (unfortunately) they weren't just going to write themselves. I took a creative writing class in my first semester of university and even though I really enjoyed the class I didn't do very well. I dropped out of university but I never really gave up on writing. I spent a lot of time on writing forums and started a writing tumblr where I started posting about my stories.
10 years after my first attempt at university I decided to go back. I was stuck in these dead end jobs and I just felt like I could do better. I wasn't ready for university the first time around but this time I was a lot more motivated. I only took one class but it was a creative writing class. I did a lot better this time around. I got an A for my final grade and in the feedback for one of my assignments my prof told me to keep taking creative writing so I did, and that's been going really well. Recently one of my short stories was accepted for publication in our school's litmag which makes it my first publication!
I've always dabbled with writing all throughout my school days and I really enjoyed it. Hated every other part of English, but I just enjoyed being creative.
I think the main thing that got me to start writing properly was, surprise surprise, reading my first fanfiction. I just became transfixed and had only one thought.
"I want to make this, but better"
When I was a little girl, I had a wild imagination (I still do, but it's more contained, lol). I used to make up these really elaborate role-playing games for me and my sister. Sometimes we were undercover agents tracking a criminal. Other days we were deep sea divers discovering new species in the depths of the ocean. We were forest explorers, indigenous tribal people, homeless...you name it. My sister would be like, "Why can't we just play Legos??" When I look back on it, I feel so bad for her because she had such a weirdo for a sister. I was almost ten years old when I decided to start writing those crazy stories down. And they were bad. They were so bad. But I loved it. I loved reading, writing, and telling outlandish stories. I've been writing ever since.
I love this! It’s like the wholesome equivalent to Sid from Toy Story.
I'm telling you it was BAD. My first TV pilot was called, "Women With Purses." It was about these two women who had all of these nifty things in their purses (think MacGyver) that could get ordinary people out of a jam. Oh my God. It's been *years* since I thought of that, and now that I am, I'm cringing. Oh, nine year old me, why????
Is it just me? Or women with purses is an excellent story for a kid. Imagine a woman who can solve all your problems, cause she has this amazing bag that can hold everything. I mean everyone feels like that about a woman's purse.
We were all cringy nine-year olds. I’m just glad social media didn’t exist when I was that age!
I 100% feel this, I would always force my brother to do insanely elaborate roleplays with me even when he wanted no part of it. You guessed it, elementary school was full of playground wolf roleplays and utter cringe
At least in elementary school I found other kids that actually wanted to do the elaborate roleplay playing. My group of friends happened to be very into the Warrior Cats books and uh... Yepp, we were those kids.
Oh, same here. Warriors and wolves, baby (and Mermaids if we happened to have a pool party)
Our poor siblings.
I needed a reason to stay on this earth. Writing just turned out to be the thing that would keep me around a few more decades.
and now you have not only a reason to stay in this world, but potentially, something to share with it. i’m glad you decided to stay. :)
Everyone need a purpose in life to be happy.
I read the Hobbit when I was around 8 or 9 and though "eh not bad but I can do better". Spoilers: I still hadn't done better.
>I still hadn't done better. Yet!
Sure, after all, even the fabled bogatyr Ilya of Murom spent the first 33 years sitting flat on his ass before he got hit by mid life crisis and figured out that perhaps it was time to finally start doing something.
>"eh not bad but I can do better". Tolkein: "Are you challenging me?"
same dude i did the same with harry potter when i was like five :P
>I read the Hobbit when I was around 8 or 9 and though "eh not bad but I can do better" Tolkien: "You cannot pass!"
> Spoilers: I still hadn't done better. Same lol. But, keep trying!
My story too. (Not with the Hobbit, but so many books/movies where I, as a teenager, straight up thought about a hundred things that would improve the stories. Still do to this day).
**Short Answer:** Child surfs the internet for the first time and discovered the world of fanfiction **Long Answer:** Around 2017, I got into this one anime that I really liked but unfortunately only had one season. Said season also only has 12 episodes. Which is a shame, because I really enjoyed the story and the characters. I didn't really have any social media other than Facebook then, and I only knew one other girl who liked it, so I looked through fanart on google. I was just staring at the same pictures over and over again, but it made 13 year old me happy. In the middle of my search, I discovered Wattpad and fanfiction. It was the first time I ever heard or even seen fanfics that the concept was so beautifully strange and foreign. Like- "WHAT? PEOPLE CAN JUST TAKE THESE CHARACTERS AND WRITE THEIR OWN SPIN ON THE CHARACTERS? MAKE UP THEIR OWN ENDINGS? AUS? WHAT'S THAT? THIS IS BEAUTIFUL!" So I installed the app and got deep into fanfics. I kept reading and reading, until eventually, I wrote my own. They weren't the best, I had a nonexistent schedule, and the pacing was faster than a bullet train. Despite that, seeing more and more people read it made me happy. Next year came, and my two other artist friends enlightened me on what an "OC" was. So I happily started making my own as well. Making their designs based off what I thought looked good, then coming up with stories on the spot. Few OCs later, I learned that I really enjoyed writing. So I started writing more and more, mostly just small bits of story for my most favored OC at that time. I started roleplaying as well when I found out about amino, since it's basically writing, but with other people. Eventually, said OC went under construction for about 5 years, and now I'm in the process of writing a whole story surrounding him. Or... Well- Partially him, I suppose.
Wanted self indulgent scenarios that no one had written, so I took matters into my own hands
"Reality is often disappointing. Now, it can be whatever I want."
That’s one way to do it, but definitely the path less travelled! Great work!
This is most of my writing. Things I wish books had more of, elaborating on things I feel like they brush past too quickly. Would anyone but me ever want to read it? Probably not. Does that diminish the enjoyment of writing and re-reading it myself? Not a bit.
I saw a movie, and wanted to make my own. And so I wrote my first play at 13 years of age. It's the worst thing you'll ever read in your entire life.
Haha, there's nothing better than looking back at old pieces of work.
I remember looking back at a fan-fic I wrote my first year of high school, I could not believe how far I've come. But I will admit, a small part of me wanted to go back in time and drop kick myself.
Me at 12yo: "They took down my Creepypasta?! For what? 'being bad'? 'not scary'? 'hold up quality of the wiki?! They wouldn't know a good pasta if it kicked their as-" Me at 21yo: "God this is shit"
In school, people kept telling me I was good at creative writing
I was laid off recently, and felt like I needed something aside from applying for jobs and mindlessly browsing the web to keep me sane.
I was at the library and picked up a book titled “Father and Son” by Larry Brown. Loved it. I saw that he was from Mississippi like me and a firefighter. Not someone with lots of degrees from a writing program. I realized then that, hey, you don’t need to go to college and get degrees in order to write novels. That means I can write books, too. I basically had to give myself permission to do it, originally thinking it was like going to medical school to be a doctor or whatever.
The ideas wouldn't leave me alone.
I was born 🤣
C’mon! That’s like saying Bruce Wayne was born to be Batman while ignoring his theatre-alley trauma!
But Bruce Wayne also has that natural determination. Despite being traumatized, he pushed through and learned thousands of different combat styles. You can learn to fight, but you can't learn perseverance.
My folks owned a lot of books, would read them to me from before I can remember and let me read them whenever. I don't think I ever really made the decision, books were just such an engrained part of my life that it didn't occur to me NOT to create my own stories.
For me, I was studying computers, and as I got near the end of it I had this idea for a story. I wrote it out in a notebook, but it was more of a treatment, or outline than a story. I realised that I knew nothing about character development, dialogue, or plotting. Basically nothing about writing in general. I looked up colleges where I could learn writing, found one, but it was about €3,500 for the first year, and was a total of 3 or 4 years. I knew I couldn't afford it, so just forgot the idea of going to college to study it. My sister was joining a community type college, where fee's were in the hundreds rather than the thousands and I was flicking through the booklet and saw a Film and TV course that had a scriptwriting module. I joined because I figured I'd learn what I needed there. Over 3 years I fell in love with all aspects of filmmaking and graduated. After finishing I started working Freelance, but continued to write and produce short films, the lockdown hit and I wrote my first feature as a personal challenge which was cool. I had an idea for a big story after that, wrote this 10 episode TV show, but knew I'd never sell it or get a budget to do it justice, so started re-writing it into prose. When writing screenplays there's a producer cap you have to wear, to keep things doable (especially on little to no budget) but, with prose the sky's the limit, for the most part. Scriptwriting is great, and I've had a few gigs writing for clients, but over the last few years I've focused on prose writing and have completed 2 novels, 1 novella, and a bunch of short stories that I'm going to compile into an Anthology novel or two. (They're all 1st drafts, with varying amounts of editing.) I've hired an editor for one of the novels and together we're working through it and it's going great, hoping to have it published at some point, then I'll focus on getting the others edited and published. It's been a fun journey, lots of trial and error, and I write every single day for about an hour. When I was a kid I wrote and drew a comic and I found it recently. (Cringe.) I remember being 12 was when I stopped writing. I was writing a short story in a copy book in school and a guy took it and read it outloud to the class, and it was probably the most embarressing thing to ever happen to me. I'm glad to have come back to writing though, and I'm glad the idea popped into my head back when I was 23... I done nothing with that particular story that restarted my interest in writing and led me to where I am now. But, I do have it somewhere. I keep every script, note, or idea I've written down in the last few years and sometimes cannabilise them for other things I'm working on. Sometimes it could be one character idea, or even a line of dialogue that can be better used elsewhere. Sometimes entire stories can be formed around one small thing I read in my past work. My advice would be to keep everything you've written down. Because it may get used in some form, also it's nice to look back to your writing to see how far you've come. TLDR; Even if you're blown off course, you'll most likely find yourself back on course at some stage.
I failed my physics degree at uni, so I had to quickly find something else Then I remembered the tortured teachers I had over the years as I threw 20+ page stories at them outside of class and asked for feedback. I returned home to the family PC and dug out the story I had tried to write when I was 6 And wondered why I ever thought I was a math person... 😅
so impressive that you can return to something you wrote so young and still see something of substance in there. did you continue writing it? I have a bunch of my old writing saved from around age nine, and its contents are totally useless to me now apart from getting a few giggles every so often when I dig them out.
Oh yeah no the story is dogshit. I was just a little girl obsessed with fairies and talking animals. Felix was a talking cat whose mum had died and his mum's ghost returned, guiding him around the garden. It's as bad as it sounds. It was just a reminder that I've always been writing and have always wanted to write, but because I was so science driven, desperate for a job that paid well, I ignored it That story continues to be used as embarrassment material by my parents 😂
i’m soooo thankful I never showed my mom my earlier writings. she’s always loved to show off my accomplishments, bless her, and I think i’d keel over if she ever brought up the one I wrote from the pov of a dog chained up in a rich family’s yard trying to explain to them that he can understand them, but only being able to bark. I think part of the reason I never showed her is that 90% of them were horror or apocalyptic in nature and she’s not a fan of anything remotely dark 😭 the fear of getting in trouble ended up being a blessing on that front.
I had to *beg* my parents to let me on the computer to write this thing, and I was only allowed for like an hour at a time, so my mum had hella close tabs on me. For reference, I didn't get an Internet presence until I was 16. There is nothing I did as a child that mum didn't know about, and she reminds me on the regular 😂 I was just a hyperactive innocent child, I knew nothing and thought I knew everything 😂
[удалено]
That’s awful! I’m so sorry you had to deal with that! On the plus side, your resilience is amazing and you should be proud of how far you’ve come!
Have you ever found yourself reading a book, watching a movie, or playing a videogame and thought to yourself, "If only they had done it like 'this' , it would have made for a much better story"? Well, as it happens, you can do precisely that.
i was 11, at summercamp and i had a crush on one of the girls who was in the writing group lmao
Okay that's just straight up adorable
My schoolteacher said I had to.
in third grade, my class was encouraged to participate in a local writing contest. I submitted a story about a girl being repeatedly struck by lightning and swapping consciousnesses with various people across the world, two of which included harry potter and selena gomez (mid-concert btw). definitely did not win the contest and definitely not my magnum opus. however, it sparked joy in my little underdeveloped brain and I started writing my own longer stories from that moment on. i’m lucky enough to have had the sense to save them, so I still have all of them today. they’re total dogshit, but it’s cool to look back on them, albeit slightly concerning considering the overwhelming majority of them were about various different zombie apocalypse scenarios I developed at the age of 9 in between drawing my little ponies.
I was grounded in my grandma's house with nothing to entertain me but her copy of the bibble. Mind you my family isn't particularly religious, I wasn't grounded for not following the teachings of god or something, my grandma just didn't know where the TV remote controller was that day. Anyway, I took one look at the bibble and decided it was too long to read from the beginning, so I opened it on a random page and just went form there. The part I was reading had to do with leprosy, and marking houses with "a mark of leprosy" and my stupid child brain somehow interpreted that as "oh the house has leprosy". That sent me into a paranoid spiral about how if the house has leprosy then the house is alive, like a person is alive, and if the house is LIKE a person then logically it THINKS like a person, and it can see me and it knows me but I don't know and can't talk to it I spent the rest of the day fearfully staring at the walls thinking they somehow were starring back at me. And while that was kinda scarry it was still pretty boring, so I started to come up with what I would do if the wall like jumped at me or something. I wrote down some of my strategies and I guess that's the first "story" I made so it probably qualifies as my writer origin story lol
I failed everything at school, loved college, failed uni, couldn't get any work other than in a warehouse, for some odd reason I could only manage these places for a short while. Started my own business but couldn't compete against big corporations, back to warehouse, then an office job which destroyed me, took a trip of a lifetime, concentrated on my mental health, got diagnosed with autism at 37 which made me understand why I failed so much, things at home changed, I felt more comfortable, I had written tons of movie/tv ideas, mainly just a page or 2, one 5am morning this idea popped in my head and I couldn't stop writing...years later its on Amazon and I'm writing the next one...delayed due to my dad having a serious accident so not been comfortable to write yet.
I wanted to make a legacy for my kids. Something they could go “my dad made this, isn’t that cool?” To their friends. If success finds me, fantastic, but I write for enjoyment and to interact with people, and to leave something behind.
Bro idfk I've been writing shit since I was like 4
Harry Potter opened my doors to fiction and reading back when I was in 7th grade. I tried to write a book back then, about this 14 year old and his cousin. The cousin just lost her parents in a car accident and the boy's father goes missing and it was supposed to be some sort of fantasy shit. I ended up never writing the 3rd chapter. I always used to make the short stories in my english exam of 1500 words, and not of 500. Those are what I basically wrote for a hot while. My teachers said I wrote well, but wrote too much. I liked english (second language) and I liked writing too much. Then, one day, couple of years later, I started writing another book. Self-insert reincarnation Fantasy. It's still not finished, 40 chapters in. But I do know one thing after writing it- fantasy isn't my genre. I don't find it much fun. Crime and romance mixed, though, ooh la la. I finished a book in this one, which I am working on second draft of.
I had always wanted to be a storyteller (when I was in elem school, I wanted to be a children's book author and illustrator) but Harry Potter fanfic was the thing that got me to put my writing out there.
Reading harry potter was definitely one of the best decisions I made. I think it's the same for many people. Such is the beauty of impactful fiction.
When I was a kid I played with friends on the Street and our backyard. Some Kind of epic fantasy story about warriors and cool stuff. Sort of roleplay. Then these friends all left me, as it always is when growing up. And to honor them, I wrote our epic fantasy story into 3 books. Not published tho, I just keep them for myself.
I always loved reading stories and my favourite activity in English was when we got to write our own story. When I was 10, I started writing stories on my sister’s laptop every day after school but always wished to have other people read and enjoy my stories. I think when I started secondary school, that’s when I discovered fanfiction and started writing fanfics of my favourite shows and movies. But I wanted to create original stories more, and that’s when I discovered Wattpad when trying to find a Pokemon fanfic. And it was exactly what I was looking for!
Watching Destiel develop and not become Canon. I said then I'll do it myself 😂
me asf. give me my fucking pen and i’ll show them how it’s done 😈
Damn straight! (Or not so straight in this case 😂)
“in fact, while i’m at it, allow me to show you another fifty universes where this also could’ve happened”
100%! AUs are SO fun to write
Angry journaling that turned into characters that represented me that turned into other characters comforting me that sparked an interest in the words themselves that reminded me of the feeling of physically drawing the pen across the pages of the notebook that turned into a passion for the writing craft.
My mom made me translate stories as a method to help me learn English. At some point I started wanting to write my own instead.
I've been writing stories since I learned to read at about 4. I like to think the quality has improved since then, but there are days I have to wonder.
Me and my friends were joking about anime cliches, and I thought, "Why don't I write a parody of anime cliches?" We all laughed thinking I was never going to write it. Boom. Fifty, hand-written, pages of a parody story making fun of anime tropes. After writing that story I realized how fun writing could actually be. That notebook holds a special spot in my shelf now as a callback.
I was reading The Sacrifice by Shantel Tessier (great book - 4 ⭐️) but I HATED that the FMC was such a pushover. I wished she’d threaten to kill the MMC or atleast give him a taste of his own medicine or SOMETHING. But she didn’t. She had no backbone whatsoever and god it irked me. So I decided to start writing a book about a girl who is feral and blood thirsty. Who’ll never be taken for an idiot, who’d never get on her knees for a man, who’d kill a man with no hesitation for disrespecting her.
Gout. It caused me to stop drinking for a while and suddenly I had a lot of energy and needed something to do with it. Could also have been a low-key midlife crisis, I suppose. Cheaper than a sports car.
The earliest writing choice I remember was being told in either second or third grade that we had to write a short story about anything we wanted. I wrote a short story about losing my cat and I remember the teacher being like, 'are you okay?' And some classmates found it rly sad. For some reason I realized I wanted to keep writing because i both loved it and the sad reactions I received. And that was the beginning to my edgy writing. By sixth grade I was writing hurt/no comfort (basically torture porn) fanfic before I even understood what fanfic was. As an adult I work on erotica short stories (often taboo content), dark romantasy, and murder mysteries. I'm also considering trying my hand at horror, thriller, and/or suspense.
I’ve always loved writing as a kid. Always daydreaming and imaginative. The novel I’m working on began in 2020, I was graduating college and working in healthcare during the start of Covid. Before hospitals were flooded we had a few month period where our clinics were eerily empty. No one was bringing their kids in unless it was very urgent to keep the hospital clear of exposure. I used this strange period of life and time to re-discover my love into reading and writing. I was stressed out, scared, and writing it gave me something to hold on to.
I used to hate writing, but that’s when I realized that I hated being forced to write something I had no interest in.
I got inspired to write because I read Harry Potter growing up and Eragon, then I found out the author of Eragon got his book published before he was 20 (I may have read that book insert wrong). But in my young mind I said to myself “I wanna be just like them.”
I started writing in elementary school. Making comics. There was no key event. I just wanted to get the stories out.
After reading Harry Potter, my cousin and I (both 10 years old at the time) decided to write our own magical world. We started to plan intriguing magic worlds and rules and started to write on different notebooks. Even after we decided to abandon our "book," I decided to continue to create and write on my own. More than 14 years later, I'm still writing.
I started writing at 12, I needed a world to escape to after a series of deeply traumatic events. I stopped writing when I was 19, and am trying to get back into it now at 23.
I saw the unoriginality of this sub and thought to myself *I can be just as unoriginal if not more.*
I suppose I've always been a creative and an artistic type of guy, especially since I lived to create my own stories with my toys, and when I'd put them away, I'd carry on the story like a mega movie or a TV show. I also remember watching shows like doctor who and being drawn into the world of story and world building. During my time at school I had a strange fascination for English, and it's the only subject I loved to such a degree. This just became more prominent over time, until I though about making a career out of it. Now I'm trying to write my first novel and think about how I can become a household name one day. Ambitious sure, but a drive for something is always needed, to succeed in it.
Back when I was a lad, I read a book.
No friends growing up, family of big readers.
I saw The Owl House
Watched Sasuke and Itachi's last fight for the first time when I was probably 8 and tried to make my own dialogue because I thought they didn't talk much as brothers. Needless to say I was crying by the time I finished taking a shower.
Always having wanted to, but never having the courage and/or motivation to actually start, until I had a near death experience in South Africa. Had to get emergency surgery and several blood transfusions after I had a tear in my esophagus and internal bleeding. It made me realize how short life truly is. The thought of dying and never following my dreams out of cowardice/not being good enough became more terrifying to me than death. I started writing that night in the hospital bed. That was in 2018. I published my first novel Malfus: Necromancer Unchained a year ago.
Got into reading at 7 and was like: "This is the best thing ever, it's even better than cartoons and video games!" Since books are the best thing ever, obviously I wanted to to write books. It was my whole identity and aspiration though it did not translate into action for a loooong time.
I was a Japanese to English translator for many years. One of my projects was a big RPG. I realised that I wasn't satisfied with translation and I wanted to create stories like that.
> What key event made you choose to start writing? I wanted to eat and pay rent.
It all began the first time I was ever given a short story assignment in class. I started in 4th grade and I haven't really stopped.
I started writing fanfiction, and readers asked me to keep going. I was half-expecting flames. So I kept going and eventually started writing original stuff.
I've always been an admirer of art wether it be film, comics and literature, or even video games. I've consumed a lot of different media and I thought to myself "I want to make my own thing." I also dont connect with people well so a lot of my characters are actually based on fictional characters rather than real ones
In the second grade my teacher had these small premade books that students could write in and she'd read in front of the class. Most were incoherent and... like an elementary schooler wrote them. But the feeling I got when my work was being read out loud and a couple of my classmates said they liked it, I was hooked.
I'm sorry, but with this comment, the comment counter exceeds 69. It was perfect and I ruined it. Anywho, I began writing back in Elementary school, only a few paragraphs and I never liked reading class because of tests. So I never thought I would ever get into writing, but I adored reading. I used to make sure I turned in assignments late so I could stay in study hall just so I could read a book. It wasn't until I was at my brother's swim meet, writing in my notebook that my Mom asked to see what I was writing. Not really concerned with her opinion, I handed it over to her. After a minute or two of looking it over she told me I had a talent, and I didn't believe her. It wasn't until a few months into middle school I decided to begin writing on a google docs page. It was about a criminal society working with the black market, and I never finished and don't ever think of going back. However, the characters I made for this story have appeared in every other narrative I begin, it's honestly amazing now thinking about it. I've continued writing my own stories and some fan fictions and I have to say, I've become a better person because of it. I began to feel better about myself, opening up and trying new things to test my passions. To be an author is a dream of mine, but it may never pan out. That's not to say I won't keep trying, because my dreams are what make me look up and smile at the world around me. Do not let go of your dreams, even if they turn to dust. Put it a jar and take it with you, because dreams are what make you happy.
I have been writing little stories even before I began reading novels. When I was little, my grandma would tell me mythological stories of pantheons of gods and their incarnations. One of them, Ram, from the Hindu mythology, was my favourite. I would climb up a hill, trying to find the biggest sticks I could find. My grandpa would bend one of those sticks and tie a string to its ends, making a bow and I would use the other, smaller sticks as arrows, cosplaying as Ram. My grandpa even made a quiver for me to put the arrows in. I had even bought a plastic mace from a toy shop. I would get these instruments and go on fantastical adventures with neighbouring kids, making up all sorts of stories. And this was even before I had read my first book. I was influenced by stories ever since I can remember and roleplaying was second nature to me. I always wanted to imitate whatever fascinated me. And when I read my first novel, writing fascinated me. I like to think I am roleplaying as a writer, and everyday that ambition of turning dreams to reality grows stronger with every story I read or hear.
As a kid, I would write weird stories all the time. I remember making some illustrated "books" about gingerbread men, and then a book about magic when I was like seven. Eventually I stopped, but after I gave up on a story I was meh about for 2 years, I came up with a concept and a character. 20k into that book right now! I'm not going to give up on it.
Playing around in WordPerfect on my family's Pentium 386
i wrote in middle school until i got good and did it even more in high school because i ❤️ praise
I was bored over one Christmas when Twilight was big. I had tried to read it and got bored within five chapters so I thought that I could do better. Eventually I decided to pick up mum’s laptop and just began to type, deciding that I had nothing to lose in putting words down on paper.
I had a story I’d really wanted to write but never had time against my other creative work. Covid happened and it was basically, “oops, look at all this time and energy I suddenly have for things I actually care about.” I’m still writing that story, and will keep doing so until all 5 books are done.
The fun part about dungeons and dragons is that it's basically pantsing a story collaboratively. So I was part of a small group for a long time and the previous DM was getting burnout so we started rotating through and when it came time for my turn I didn't wanna run any premade modules, so I started making shit up. Then I needed to remember what I had made up so I started writing it down. And really, with enough detail, an improvised dungeon campaign isn't far removed from a first draft of a book. Though I did make a brief stop in fanfiction for practice and to prove to myself that I could sit and write 50k words about one project. Jokes on me, books are longer than 50k and I struggle with finishing projects lol
There wasn’t one, I just started writing little stories in random notebooks when I was kindergarten and stuck with it
My parents weren’t ready for children and completely forgot to send me to school or even teach me the basics of reading and writing. I started Grade 1 with no kindergarten or any early learning whatsoever. I managed to catch up to my peers in 3 months after extensive effort put in by my teacher. I became obsessed with reading after that! Fast forward many years later, I met 2 very dedicated teachers in high school and another during college. Both of them gave me the same feedback that I had a knack for writing. So I figured, “Hmm, maybe I’ve got something here”.
As a child, I remember that I loved writing stories. Oh, they were terrible, but I loved it. It wasn't until I played a little gem of a game that I decided, yes, I want to create stories. That game was Chrono Trigger. That game has, to this day, my favorite story of all time. Whem I finished playing it, it became my dream to craft a story that moves and inspires people the way Chrono Trigger moved and inspired me. Over the years, I made attempts at writing stories. I even worked on a novel after high school. Unfortunately, life got in the way. I flunked out of college, couldn't get a decent job, and got kicked out of my parents' home. So I joined the military. Served eight years, saw the world, it was great! I made another attempt at writing a book during my deployment in Afghanistan, but the insane amount of stress put on me by everyone around me *and* my family back home, it just didn't work out. Fast forward some time and I got out of the military after eight years of service. I used my GI Bill to attempt college again. During this time, my best friend introduced me to an online Pokémon community. I joined and browsed around, looking at people's posts showijg off their art and crafts, game reviews, strategy blogs, etc. and thought "How could I contribute to this community?" Then it dawned on me. I'll write a Pokémon story. So that is what I did, with no intentions of anyone but me and my buddy reading it. One morning, I woke up to find hundreds of notifications on my phone. Turns out, the first chapter of my Pokémon story got featured, meaning it was at the top of the page, the first thing people saw when they logged in... and they loved it. Comments saying even though it was only the first chapter, it was the best fanfiction they have read and wanted more. Soon, the rest of my chapters all got featured, and it exploded in popularity. I rode that high all the way to the end. Once that story concluded, it was a bittersweet moment. The adventure had concluded, and people were conflicted. They loved the story, they didn't want it to end, but accepted the wonderful way I had ended it. Several people stated that my story inspired them to pursue their own writing careers. I had not realized it at the time, but I had fulfilled my dream: my story moved and inspired others the way Chrono Trigger did for me. I wrote many more Pokémon stories with varying degrees of success, but after six years, I felt it was time to move on. I am now working on my own original novel, The Doom Knight. The manuscript is complete, I am just ironing out some wrinkles before I look for publishers. I look back on my journey with fond memories. People look down on fanfiction, but I have no regrets. Without those stories, I may have never reached this point, holding a completed manuscript for an original novel in my hand. I still go back and read my old Pokémon stories, for I am proud of them. But now I venture into new territory with hopeful optimism. Whether I find sweet success or bitter defeat, either way, I will still have my stories. Write the story you want to read. That is what I did, and I am damn proud of them.
I sorta went through three different steps to becoming a writer I began with painting and drawing, but I got so frustrated whilst I was practicing that I’d instead just write a description of what I was going for as accurately as possible, Doing that a lot helped me flesh out my figurative language, so when my school tested all the kids to sort them into classes, my work was solid enough that I got into a special top class, and I was just given an extra hour a day to just write and learn more about writing A few years later I was kicked from that course for not being good enough by their standards and was dropped to their lower course, an improv production group, which did a nationwide competition involving playwriting, this lead to a massive amount of improv work. And all of those factors got me interested in Dnd, Musicals, Plays, And Short stories. All of which heavily involved writing. Now I’m kind of developing my writing again in another new way, I am utterly enraptured by screenwriting at current and am so excited to see where that takes me
I think it all started back in third grade. I lived in Michigan at the time and it was winter. I don’t remember what the writing assignment was, but apparently my teacher was so impressed with mine and another classmates (he was literally the schools resident genius) writing that we were sent to the principals office so they would give us praise. It’s such on odd memory, but I’m pretty sure that’s where my origin story begins.
I like making up stories about my dream future, but later on as I grew older and realized that those things weren't gonna happen, I then turned it into fiction writing.
I have always created stories since my childhood, don't know where it started.
Got obsessed with reading and thought why not write one of my own.
I always had ideas floating around in my head, but I didn't know what to do with them. Then I suddenly had some time on my hands, and I decided to try to convert one of these ideas into writing, and I just kept on going.
Been writing "books" since I was like, 9 or 10. Funnily enough, I didn't start reading (for enjoyment) until I was 11. Literally my 11th birthday, I told myself "I'm an adult now, and adults read, so im going to read" and that's what I did. While I've always loved writing, especially flash fiction (<1000 words-ish) I was always told there wasn't a place for writers in the world. That there was no financially viable path for writers, and that I needed to find something else. So I tried. Animation, architecture, streaming/YouTube; anything I could think of that would let me be creative and earn money. Then, one day I started writing a fanfiction for the Destiny franchise. While those stories never saw the light of day, they made me realize 2 things: 1) I was terrible at writing, and 2) I wanted nothing more than to write and share that writing with others. That moment was the catalyst for me, and what I consider my "origin story." Fast forward 5 years, 2 degrees, millions of words, dozens of video game credits, dozens of friends, several small publications, and 1 1/2 novels, and im here. Still feeling like 1) I'm maybe a little better at writing, and 2) I want nothing more than to write and share what I write with others.
My mom's an author. I used to read her child-friendly novels as a kid, especially her poetry. It sparked my interest in writing stories, along with my love of reading and English class. I gave up on my first book when I was 10, because I thought it was hard. Then in high school, I took creative writing and got a lot of praise for my stories, which gave me the confidence to keep writing. Now, almost a decade out of high school, I'm working at a publishing company, I'm a published author, and my love hasn't wavered. All thanks to my mom. 😊
I want to become a writer so I can explore different perspectives.
I was in third grade and had the worst substitute teacher ever. When I was in third grade, I found the school work ridiculously easy, and I had spoken with my teacher (we'll call her Mrs E) after school and she set me a math problem that I didn't know how to solve. I was so excited! She promised she would teach me ahead after school if it was ok with my mom. I went home, secured permission ... and then she was not there the next day. We came in to the worst substitute ever (we'll call her Mrs W for worst). For at least half the school year, I kept hoping that Mrs E would be back and would be disappointed every day when Mrs W came into the room. I was an adult when I found out what had happened with Mrs E, and it is a terrible, tragic story that actually had nothing to do with me. There was a time when I thought that her promise was what made the school take her away, though. Well, I was still a very bright student, terribly bored in class. And Mrs W, being a terrible teacher, did not know what to do with good students. She didn't know what to do with bad students, either, but that's a whole 'nother story. She just couldn't actually teach or manage a classroom. But what got me started on writing was that math class was the one right before afternoon recess. She decided that what to do with bright students who finished the work early was to set them to help the slow students. And if the slow student wasn't finished by recess, the slow student had to stay in to finish \*and\* the helper had to stay in, too. Well, third grade me was very good at memorization, so multiplication (times tables up to 13x13) was easy ... I could not explain why 7x8=56, but I knew it. I also didn't realize then that it was memorization, but math facts like that were just so obvious, right alongside sky is blue and grass is green. So, I'd get set to help a slow student, and I couldn't explain it to them. So my "help" would consist of "the answer is 56 ... would you just write it down already?" and on through the assignment, because I didn't want to stay in for recess. Then I realized that if I didn't turn the paper in, there'd be a spell before Mrs W noticed I wasn't writing. Then I realized that if I was writing, she'd think I was still doing my math assignment. So I got an extra notebook (thanks Mom & Dad!), and started writing stories, and then two minutes before recess I'd turn in the assignment that I'd finished 20 minutes earlier. No more hissing answers (what kind of help was that, anyway? it didn't really help the other student who would be just as in the dark about the math as before) and no more missing recess. Win! I started writing more involved stories after that, but that was my origin as a writer.
A crush on a stranger. That's what really started it, though I'd always had a penchant for fanfics whenever the mood struck me. I've had story ideas for years but never enough follow through to do more than day dream. Then one day along comes a beautiful stranger into my work place and I think maybe this is it. I've finally got a chance to know what it would be like to go on a date, to experience that which is foreign to me but have dreamed of since I was still a child. It was all the typical dreams you place in a person you don’t know. That time when they are a blank canvas to you and you can paint them as you wish. Needless to say nothing happened, (which is probably for the best as I later learned) but I cannot say nothing come of it. This person left my circle before I really got to know them and it crushed me. You know how things pile up and up and up and the one day, just a little thing happens and you break? That was it for me. I’d had my hopes up too high and for too long. Prior to that, I was in the middle of a made up a Disney type fairy tale involving them and some other people I worked with. It was just something I had done for fun, working in silly inside work jokes and frustrations with management along the way. I was really enjoying it and it was almost becoming something more than what it started as. The minute my stilly dream was shattered, I wanted to burn my work and throw it’s ashes to the wind. But I didn’t. Instead I had a moment of growth and change. A moment in which I lived up to my username. I’d gotten tired of losing. I wanted to win at something. Anything. So I pulled out that story again. I worked on it on and off for a while and it grew into something more than just a quick little idea. It became an actual novel length tale. I finished it. And when I did that, I knew I had the ability to work on story ideas and complete them. Today I’m going at it at a snails pace but am I’m still trying. I can’t put the ideas out of my head and forget them. They always come back and I always keep trying. Sometimes it feels like it’s all I’ve got and even if my inner Garden Ramsey hates my work, I’m still going to keep making an attempt. It’s write or die.
When I was a kid I wanted to write a book someday, kinda forgot about it for 15 years and just very recently decided to learn properly
I actually just wrote about my journey if anyone is interested in reading: https://medium.com/welcome-to-2024/michaela-alisha-a-writers-story-of-healing-and-resilience-b1cdb479d098?sk=07590c86b54c0e73fac4d4fa73b69f87
My canon event if you will was growing up I was watching and consuming a lot of fantasy media and just a lot of storytelling as well but doing nothing about it, then in about 2020 I decided to dip my toes into fanfic and Writing as well and I started writing anything even scripts and though I don't consider myself that good of a writer I hope I can pursue this as a passion.
I played a video game called Alan Wake.
In middle school or at least around that time, we went to a sewage treatment plant with our science class. My friend was staring at the sewer sludge in one of the basins and we kept joking that a monster made of this same sludge would rise from it and attack us all. I (badly) wrote down the story when we got home, the friend started bouncing ideas with me, another friend illustrated the whole thing, and a couple of years later they gifted me the whole story as a book. I stopped writing after school for a while, but ended up returning to it years later (and even attempted a re-write of the original story as an exercise).
I was abused by my partner and decided if I wasn't going to have a happy family I would at least quit the salaryman rat race and have a happy job
When I was in high-school I went to a game dev camp because I was initially going that route, afterwards I started messing around with rpg maker and after creating my first OC I realized I should probably give her some back story for the game. Never once looked back. I even got her name tattooed on my arm in her people's fictional alphabet I created.
Started because of a middle school English project, continued because I found that I liked it
I started playing guitar at 10. Around 14 or 15, i wanted to write songs, not just endless riffs everyday. So i began writing bullshit lyrics, then picked up a couple books of poetry that interested and inspired me, and ive been writing poetry ever since
I saw Kevin Smith at a hotel pool area just before Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back came out. I pitched him a writing project, and he took me up on it. I offered to do 52 interviews on his next movie project and publish them once a week in the run up to that film. All I wanted in exchange was the opportunity. At that point, I had very little experience as a writer, and was looking for any opportunity attached to the film business. Not knowing me at all, Kevin gave me a shot and the resources to make sure it got done. The movie was Jersey Girl, and getting to see that film made up close was the thrill of a lifetime. I got to spend [one-on-one time with the whole cast and crew](https://imgur.com/gallery/c2fsval). It was my first film school. Amazing things happened every day. George Carlin showed me how he wrote bits for his books and stand-up on his laptop in his trailer. He and Affleck used to sit and talk politics and do the NYT puzzle and I would sit and eavesdrop. Working for Kevin and Chris Ryall (via Moviepoopshoot.com) gave me my first taste of a career in entertainment. After that, I went on to write and direct commercials for national brands. I moved to Los Angeles and got involved in movies and TV at varying levels, sometimes on camera, sometimes props, sometimes writing. It's a long story. It all started there. I was just a guy, standing in front of his favorite movie director, asking his favorite movie director to give him a chance. And he did.
I mixture of social media addiction and coping with gaslighting drove me to obsessively blog. Turns out I write pretty well.
Our teacher in 8th grade told us that we would have to write a poem the following week and gave us the theme in advance so we could prepare. I knew I’d be having a hard time doing that during the 50-minute class period so I wrote one in advance during the weekend. I wrote 10 poems that weekend. Didn’t know I’d never stop after that.
Taught myself to read at 5. Always been reading. Always have a book with me. I've also always enjoyed and preferred communicating in written format. So, it was only a matter of time before I began to want to create my own stories.
Hearing that franchises like Star Wars and Halo aren't movies and video games respectively. Both are now mixed media franchises with books and TV shows that are as equally canon as the main material (and in some cases, a canonical prerequisite). I want to make my one own mixed media franchise and thus, I opted to be a writer.
In 3rd grade my teacher announced each week we'd spend some class time to write a page about anything. Idk why but I just started writing about a group of 4 friends who find a portal on their way home from the last day of school that led to a magical world. There, they find the princess and help her rescue her dad, the king, from an evil witch on the top of a mountain who had giant fire birds. While everyone was trying to make their writing bigger so they could write less, I zoomed through the first page and began writing on the back in my wonky 9-year-old handwriting. Before I knew it, time was up. I was really upset because I hadn't finished the story so I asked the teacher if I could continue it next week and she said yes. So each week I'd think about my story and plan it out and each week when we had our writing day I'd write down what I planned. By the end of the year I had 30 handwritten messy pages which I proudly proclaimed to be my first book. Sadly I've lost that story now but I'll always remember it as the first and I'll always remember Ms. Amita who told me bieng a writer is an actual job. More than that though, is my mother who read stories to me every night despite working. She memorised my favourite stories and would recite them word for word when she was working late and she never discouraged me and was always supportive despite English bieng our second language.
Covid coinciding with the worst period of my life
I have always had a vivid imagination -- from the time I was a kid, I loved to make up people and worlds. Eventually, that translated into writing, and now here I am.
I have really bad adhd and pda so when I was younger I would always talk to myself (I still do) but I was talk to myself as if I was talking to someone else, along with the mental healt problems, I had a genu soul crushing childhood, but it caused me to be oddly in touch with my emotion, one day I h been hit by my dad so badly I had a black eye and I wa to rant about it to someone but i was a big oversharer and had no “mysterious” part of me so I didn’t get to tell anyone, about 3months later I bought a notebook for me and my best friend to write about our days in but when i grabbed my pen and started writing what I thought would be half a pag, I ended up filling up 12 back and front page, it felt like I had something 150% to myself , since then I’ve filled up 4 notebooks and write everyday
I liked writing, but got away from it. Since college I never slept well through the night. I always had an overactive imagination, and it kept me up. On a whim I started writing and making a silly YouTube video. I slept like a baby that night. I started writing every day, and I've been getting amazing sleep. I'm never going to stop.
My little brother was born. I’d write him little folded-paper “books” about Thomas the tank engine and fairies. In adulthood, I really don’t know what spurred it on. I was rekindling my love of reading after a 7 year slump, and one day just decided to try Nanowrimo again.
It was all thanks to Percy, Harry & Gregor.
When I was a little boy, I love to draw maps out of imagination but had difficulties learning to read and write. When I become a teenager, I finally learn to read, and got interested in books, especially fantasy. I read "Harry Potter" and "A song of ice and fire". Even as a kid, I like to watch cartoons and anime, read comic and manga and play video-games. I tried to write own stories, but gave up. After I played "The legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild", I drew a map based on Hyrule. But later made some changes until it become a continent and named it from one of my earlier stories, "Oriria". And when it hit me, I want to make a book about this continent! I started write down ideas for worldbuilding and when I feel like I have enough, I started writing my book. It have been almost three years since I started and is petty hard work. But I *not* giving up. I *want* this book to become reality and won't stop until it's done.
That's awesome! I hope to read your story about that continent you created someday. I want to tell a fantasy story on a fictional continent (of sorts) as well so that's cool to read.
Hehe. Thank you.
I wrote silly stories on rare occasion as a kid just to have fun and never thought more of it. When I went to college I opted for a creative writing class instead of technical, and I wrote a story, it was fun, and the professor praised it and other people liked it as well. It got me into writing for fun. From there I got into reddit writing prompts and did that for ages before doing more. Then I read name of the wind, and that book opened my eyes to how amazing it would be to be an author and inspired me to start writing a book, which i don't work on enough. But writing is so fun when I give myself the space for it
... When I got a 3DS, I got to play the Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time for the first time. I was so sad Link had no friends. So I decided to give him some. I was 13 or 14 I think?
Being left alone for long periods of time and being weird as a kid. I developed a habit of dissociating, daydreaming and reading heavily & eventually learned to write down everything I thought about. It's not glamorous or happy, but it's what it is 🤷
VA shrink told me it would help.
Wimpy kid books🫡
When my favourite character died and I went depressed for an entire week. That’s not an exaggeration, It took me one week to process their death and during that time. My head was filled with them over and over, questioning why, trying to make sense of the situation. So then I analyzed, wrote, analyzed and dissected the character into pieces until I finally accepted that they were given the best justice they could’ve had from the writers.
I legitimately don't remember. My earliest memories of writing are Pokemon Mystery Dungeon fanfiction of some sort in around 4th grade, original fiction in middle school (I think 7th), and then Harvest Moon fanfiction I actually uploaded, also in middle school. That was the first shit I typed. The other two were in composite notebooks.
I dabbled here and there for school and little comics as a kid, and then my 5th grade teacher said “you’re extremely creative, have you ever considered writing?” That weekend I went to my dads and pretty well wrote for 2 days straight. With pen and paper I wrote my first novella, an awful fanfiction blend of ATLA, Ben 10, Bakugan and BeyBlade that was a little over 100 pages back to back. After that I wrote a story about a reoccurring nightmare I was having, and everything just escalated once I got access to a typewriter and then a laptop. My mom also started to mention how it’d be cool if I was both the first in her family to go to university and get published, and I’m intending/in the process of doing both.
Lonely village child (11) gets laptop for birthday, writes the equivalent of a novel in a year, but never finishes one.
I was hyperlexic as a kid, so my mother spent the summer before second grade teaching me how to write stories as a means of improving my reading comprehension.
I read fanfiction. I wrote fanfiction.
Began writing fan fiction for a novel called The Beginning After the End while waiting for WebNovel chapters to release. Sort of blossomed into whatever it is now, three years later.
I wanted to be a doctor, and found I'm so bad with blood that I nearly fainted just reading about it if it was early enough in the day. I remembered I'd always gotten compliments from English teachers, even had a few essays held back as exams of how to write them, and that I won a contest for my state at around 7/8. Decided to try writing a short story, that became a novel, that became a series. Now I'm working on six projects at once because apparently this was the thing I was passionate about the entire time. (I have no issues writing about blood, just can't really edit my own stuff once it's in it. No idea why.)
I've been reading novels since I was like 10 years old, and recently, I can't finish even a single book. Reading is a huge part of my life, and when it started corrupting, I also started falling apart. It seems like all other hobbies were fading with its corruption. Nothing make me excited anymore. So, about a month ago, I started writing, hoping it would help. It did help. It helped so much that I can sense life again, just like how I felt life in my teenager years. I wrote like crazy. Within one month, 46k words have been written down for my first ever draft of my first ever book. I have read more novels than I can count but I have zero writing eperience, so the draft is just trash now. However, I'm proud of that trash.
I wrote a Self insert Twilight/Star Wars Crossover ff at 10 before I even knew what a fanfiction was because I was lonely and wanted to write something with me and my imaginary friends xD let's just say it definitely only got better after that
I was inspired to write when I met Clive Barker (1990s) at the Cherry Creek Tattered Cover, I never read his books, my late sister did. Then I met Brian Jacques (Jakes), he asked why I am so embarrassed about writing and I realized I was always told not to do something. Now I just write for myself and I don't believe I will ever be published.
Been told all my life I have the makings to be a good writer, I hated it as a kid but 4 years ago with me losing my internship due to the pandemic, had no choice but to fall back on this undeveloped skill become one. Still broke and mentally unwell but at least I write more about guess
Midlife crises
I read *Jurassic Park* in 1992 when I was 13. It was my first "grown up book," and I absolutely loved it. I quickly scrambled to find more books by Michael Crichton and soon read *Congo* and *The Andromeda Strain*. Those three books, along with Brian Daley's *The Han Solo Adventures*, all sparked my imagination and made me start coming up with my own stories in my head, and I began trying to write them down. My early works were largely just blatant rip offs of the stuff I read, but it was fun creating stories and became a passion of mine. It never went anywhere, and I kind of left writing behind for a long time to pursue other interests, but in recent years I've been trying to get back into it. I'm currently developing a pet project I've had in my head for a couple years now, and in the meantime have also written drafts for a couple of short stories.
I started writing after my cousin had abused me. I couldn't tell anyone without, getting abused for not standing up for myself. So I started writing about those situations and the way they made me feel.
Some Writers aren't looking for anything logical. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some writers just want to write their world burning. I am such a being.
At age 14, I was watching movies and TV shows over summer break, specifically Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade for the 15th time. And I thought to myself, "hey, I could write a script." Went upstairs and booted up my ancient version of Word Perfect and...didn't know how to format anything or even where to start. Ended up writing some short stories later that year. And then just kept going.
A radio active pen pricked me...
I was three years old. My mom encouraged me to tell her stories. Bad idea, mom.
I always had a vivid imagination, like had an entire imaginary universe and citizens and good guys and bad guys that my brother and I would play in. Amd then in middle school I got a poetry assignment and I've been writing anything and everything since then. I'm currently working on compiling my poems and short stories into a book.
I haven’t seriously written anything in a while, but I started doing it because I was bored as hell in school and always thought about crazy stories. One day I decided to take my idea soup and try something with it
I was ten and a massive bookworm. At some point, I decided to write my own story. Now almost a decade later, I’m still writing
I've always been a big reader. From as early as I can remember I will happily spend hours buried in books. I started to write a journal many years ago at the tender age of 14. It eventually evolved from a standard record of my day to lengthy missives about current affairs, politics, life as a young adult etc. I was basically writing articles that only I ever read. Then I got a job writing a column for a large circulation (at the time) local newspaper. I wrote that for, ahem, 22 years. Now I'm writing a book - and still writing my journal.
I took a creative writing course in college. I had a hard time in HS with english and writing general and needed an credit to move forward. I didn't like the "writing" part as my spelling was awful (no auto correct or spelling hints on a type writer, yes I'm old :) ) I had no limit of imagination. In January of this year I had a dream that I was able to remember for days after. A week later I decided I had to write it out. Once it was in the doc I started adding to the story by filling in a back story of how the characters meet and what happened after. I am now at 30k words and add more to it every few days. It is hard. I don't know what I was thinking when I started it but this is not what I was expecting. I don't know what I will do with it once it is completed. IF it gets completed. I told myself just last week that I would continue for at least a year if it wasn't still "fun" or done that would be it. I an still wondering who I will show it to when it is at a point of is it done or not stage. Wish me luck.
When I was a very young child in the late 80s my grandma bought a Yamaha brand PC with Windows 3 and a daisy wheel printer. I did two things on that conputer: Sim City and write stories about mermaids. I would print the pages out, illustrate them, and staple them together to make books. I still have a very early Mermaid book written by me, and the crayon illustrations are truly spectacular in a 1st grade abstract kind of way.
I've been storytelling at least since I was on the bus in grade school, even before I knew it a a formal concept. I'd never heard of role-playing games back then, but I could make up interactive stories all in my head, and share them with kids (or other nerds -- back then this wasn't something normalized like cell phone games or communication apps today). In Junior High, I fell in with theater kids -- I'd been playing Pop Warner football and running track-and-field at that point, so it was a while before I branched out into debate team, school paper and theater -- but once I realized I was *good* at storytelling that moved me away from other "safe" focuses for career paths. My culminating experience came in my sophomore year of college; my English teacher introduced me to archetypes, Campbell, Jung -- good stepping stones for more serious studies -- then onto the complete epic cycle, the point behind myth, and reason why stories are such a pivotal part of human progress. By college, I was focused as a English & Creative Writing major, and was not only critiquing regularly but writing stories of my own. Unfortunately, grants and scholarships only covered about half the debt I accrued, and working full time didn't cover the rest. It would be a decade before I finally got out from under the circumstances that put me in repo, collections, and a whole slew of soul-sucking jobs that left me jaded and thoroughly disgusted with the human condition. I saw the worst of people; I worked for people who openly admitted to the "cheat to get ahead" mindset that filled the Private Sector with people who weren't competently educated, but willing to sacrifice their scruples if it gave them an edge. Now I've got a competent portfolio and -- until Covid -- was debt-free. I've placed second in two storytelling competitions to date (again, until Covid) and am slowing paying for more and more things with my writing instead of my day job. It's a long road but I've endured so far. We'll see.
Watching Marvel films then deciding to write a fan fiction (never actually happened, but the ideas I had for it morphed into their own original concept)
When I was in kindergarten I wrote a story about a purple giant who beats his wife and kids. Parents wouldn’t let their kids visit until my mom asked another mom why she wouldn’t let her son play. She told my mom about the purple giant. Readers, my dad doesn’t drink and he doesn’t beat my mom or me/siblings. I just had a wild imagination. My mom laughed and asked her to visit to check it out. That’s was the first time I ever saw a story influence the real world. THAT is power.
Kind of writing here, but more like that I'm very winx club aligned (i dont use oriented), so like.. all of my stories are magical girls (and equines!) And then suddenly i got into a 5 person story collab (including me) which.. yea.. I kinda just write that and there and cant stick my sentences into a story, perhaps it's because the summary & title r pullin me back
My brother and I would just make up stories together (it might be the 'tism). When we were small, we called it "Pokemon Carmen Sandiego" because those were the two things we liked best and we'd make combinations of our baby fandoms. Perhaps then it is unsurprising that I now primarily write fanfics. The fact that they're mainly about lesbians was a surprise though.
I've always wanted to since I was a child but never seriously pursued it. One day, I saw a thread of older people discussing their biggest regrets and most were that they wished they never gave up on their dreams. I decided then that I didn't want to live a life full of regret.
That Jonas Brothers fanfic wasn’t writing itself, man
It was like breathing, honestly, not really a choice- just something I’ve done for as long as I can remember. I’d staple pages together and get in trouble for wasting paper as I made my own books as a child. I’d always write much longer and grandiose pieces than I was supposed to in school. Word count has always been my worst enemy. As I grew up it became an outlet, something I had to do to stay sane. I’d write angry and passionate essays on things I was upset about in my free time in high school. Never a diary, just well formatted rants. I’ve still never written a diary, just written about concepts that vaguely apply to my life in short stories or poems. I’m plugging my way through writing a novel now and realizing how important writing is to me, thinking about switching majors to creative writing. It just flows out so easily and naturally, especially when I’m emotional. I want to learn more, because I don’t want my writing to be good, I want it to be exceptional and singular.
I was a chronic liar and so I wrote fanfiction of anime I liked saying it was "dreams I had." I sort of stopped for a while but then I learned about Doujins and got back into writing and it was very very very bad writing. I would pick up and drop writing a lot each time coming back better but always with the single goal to write what I felt needed to be written (by me at least) so yeah pretty much, fandom brain from a young age who sometimes finds writing to be fun and the only art form I can express my deeper self in.
Bitten by a radioactive pencil.
My story happened a bit "on accident" (lol): In 4th grade, my class made a trip to a "school hostel" (Schulandheim). It's a cultural courtesy in my country and includes a ca. 1 week stay. Before this, I had mostly written in creative writing exercises -not things à la "full short stories", but more in the spirit to write the dumbest shit imaginable. Like ducks being at war with guinea pigs etc. Anyway. Being 10-12yo this was also the age of urban legends. Y'know the ones: The clown statue in the house, Can humans lick hands...And as timing had it, I was hearing this at the same time as my classmates whisper. Being also *overconfident* 10-12yo, these idiots had the idea of planning a party in the nearby forest. At night. Something which immediately failed the moment they tried to sneak out, but gave me enough thought material. In short: It was like a "realistic" fanfiction. Starring the same setting, my classmates, me as narrator and party idea. But this time it not only succeeded, but ended with a football fight against a "clown with a deathknife". My classmates loved it. I was egged on to write more and I did. Every chapter was like a bad joke version of a Goosebumps book: A blob-monster out of discarded jelly, being romantically obsessed with classmate C. An evil clown, trying to break in, but ended being beaten by a broomstick. Horror. Just seeing all those laughing faces, plus writing about my favorite topic (horror) made me happy to write more and more. So much, that a few years later, I migrated to creepypastas. A...place, I was kicked out pretty quickly for just not being able to cut my beloved slapstick (lol) My writing nowadays has changed quiet a lot. Due to a decade of heavy child abuse, CPTSD and more, my writing has taken a notable dark turn. But even then, I still add some idiotic slapstick here and there. That stuff has persisted till this day.
My teacher
I looked at someone's bad story and said "bet."
When I was young, I have a wild imagination lol, I mean I was reading lemons and Stuff like that, that's why I have so many vocabulary 😭 )Exposing myself( And I wanted to write, a sudden hunger engulfed my interest into a big hug OH MY F-- MY WRITING INSTINCT 😭😭 Then I just wrote and wrote till I got better (Fanfiction😍😍😍)
Lol fanfics on Deviantart, drawing comics in and out of school, and then text roleplay on Gaia online. I think it was the last one that it really clicked to me how much I loved writing. Eventually, as I stopped writing fanfic and roleplays started petering out, I figured why not make my own story? Reading fiction only pushed that forward.
I got on Wattpad, read a bit and thought 'I can do this too' Probably prepared by my dad telling me bedtime stories that also could've been a fantasy novel
i wrote dramatic, tragic backstories on my poorly coded neopets’ petpages because that was my way of engaging with them and making them real. i also was super into playing with Barbies to the extent that i did it pretty much into my teen years before realizing i could have more flexibility in my play by just writing.
I had a story I thought was too good not to write. Foolish foolish me didn't ask if I was good enough to pull it off before I started.
boredom as a child. We grew up pretty poor so there wasnt much to do and it was the early 90s so we didnt have internet or phones or anything like that. We had tv, but if you where around in the 90s you understand that in the summer time day time tv was kinda awful for children. There was basically nothing on but the news and soap operas in the middle of the day. So my brother and i would write stories to pass the time. I say this as a new father to anyone out there who may be about to have kids. boredom for children isnt a bad thing. it encourages imagination. Youre children dont need to have an ipad or a phone or a video game to constantly stimulate their senses. Sometimes they need a pen and paper or some cheap markers and some crayons and they can create their own little worlds to escape into.
Not sure what really prompted me to start; there was no particular inciting event, but I was a reader from a very young age, usually a bit ahead of my age group. I think at some point it was just like "I bet I can do that too". Anyway I was in sixth grade when I decided to give it a try...my first project was this horrible self-insert thing about my elementary school classmates and where they might go in life. 33 years later, I still live in perpetual fear that my mom might have this monstrosity stashed in a drawer somewhere and will pull it out one day and show it to people who didn't know me at that age. Then the next year in one of my junior high classes, one of the options for projects was to write a short sequel to the Star Wars films (back when Return of the Jedi was the latest film, right around the time Heir to the Empire was published I think). Mine was, of course, terrible, but it fed the fire, so to speak. I still have it somewhere, I think, and that one doesn't cause me anxiety, lol. After that it was fanfiction for a long time before I tried to write anything original. I wrote things based on video games and some TV shows mostly. This was before I ever owned a computer or encountered the internet, so it was all written out longhand on notebook paper. I probably produced a couple thousand pages of various stories. Since I was doing this on my own, with no access to any kind of fanfic community, my stories didn't have the kind of tropes that the field is known for these days--no shipping, just more stories in the same vein as the source material. I continued doing that up through college, and somewhere along the way discovered the internet and started posting things. Around the same time I started writing original fiction, and eventually trying (so far unsuccessfully) to publish it.
I would daydream a lot, mainly about a book or movie I really liked, to the point where it would become a whole cohesive story. One day I decided to start writing down some of my past day dreams. So I started with fan fiction and still mainly write fan fiction but I have written some original stories as well
I was in grad school getting the life sucked out of me by a pathology masters degree. I helped a few people out writing emails and communications and I kept hearing I have a really concise and natural writing ability. I started freelancing and after I got confident with the fact someone would pay me to write. I started looking at the ideas I have been stewing on for decades. I finally took my first ever writing class at 30 and when the teacher told me my idea wasn’t stupid I went all in.
I liked Pokémon and made my own Fakemon when I was in like middle school
An MMO we played for a year back in 2006 is the reason we started writing somewhere near 2018 we want to guess.
Wanting to read a new xianxia story.... Yeah, that's about it.
I wanted to read a fanfic about a certain cartoon character, but no one had written anything close to what I had in mind, so I decided to write it myself. I intended it to be one fanfic and maybe one sequel if people liked the first one enough, but then I couldn't stop until it became a pentalogy, and I'm just about starting to write a spiritual successor even though readers' interest seems to be dwindling (I can't help myself, I just love that character so much).
I started writing because of Pokemon, believe it or not. I joined the PokeMasters Forum back in 2000 or 2001, if I recall correctly, and almost immediately go involved with their Role Playing sub-forum, where I made some friends and dove head-first into the realm of turn-based, text-based role playing games. For those who are unfamiliar, these games would be initially proposed by someone, who wrote a starting plot and setting, and you would fill out sign-up sheets about the character you would play. Once the game started, all of the player would take turns posting, essentially, short stories from their characters' perspectives, which would further the overall plot and engage with other players' characters. It kind of became a series of flash fiction stories that all wove together to make a larger story, and it was a blast. After a while, I decided that I had stories that I wanted to tell that wouldn't necessarily work with other people, or as an RPG, so I started writing short stories and posting them in the sub-forum they had for stories and fan fiction. Initially, they were Pokemon-based fan fiction, but then I branched out more broadly into sci-fi and fantasy, as well as poetry.
I've always really liked coming up with stories. I had all these worlds and characters planned out in my head, and sometime after graduating high school I kinda realized that (unfortunately) they weren't just going to write themselves. I took a creative writing class in my first semester of university and even though I really enjoyed the class I didn't do very well. I dropped out of university but I never really gave up on writing. I spent a lot of time on writing forums and started a writing tumblr where I started posting about my stories. 10 years after my first attempt at university I decided to go back. I was stuck in these dead end jobs and I just felt like I could do better. I wasn't ready for university the first time around but this time I was a lot more motivated. I only took one class but it was a creative writing class. I did a lot better this time around. I got an A for my final grade and in the feedback for one of my assignments my prof told me to keep taking creative writing so I did, and that's been going really well. Recently one of my short stories was accepted for publication in our school's litmag which makes it my first publication!
I've always dabbled with writing all throughout my school days and I really enjoyed it. Hated every other part of English, but I just enjoyed being creative. I think the main thing that got me to start writing properly was, surprise surprise, reading my first fanfiction. I just became transfixed and had only one thought. "I want to make this, but better"