Many thanks to Alex, all the co-hosts this month, and the whole IWSG team!!!
This month, I'm blogging from the Flat-Water Sprint Canoe and Kayak National Championship in Oklahoma City!
Question of the month: What was your very first piece of writing as an aspiring writer? Where is it now? Collecting dust or has it been published?
I took second place in my sixth grade classroom short story writing contest with a story about a pencil and eraser who run away from school. My teacher told me I had potential to be an author.
However, the pencil story is collecting dust.
One of my first novel attempts involved a nerdy girl having a crush on a popular boy in junior high with several failed attempts on her part to ask him to a school dance - oh, the agony of early teenagedom. I even foolishly had inserted my name and the name of a boy I liked into that story at one point and one of my friends took it and passed it around. I thought I would die of humiliation. I shredded that story to pieces with my own fingers after I cried over it. My "friend" thought she had done me a favor. I disagreed silently and kept my writing to myself for a long while after that.
(Now, in a weird way, I think I should rewrite this whole scenario into a MG novel.)
The interesting part of recounting all of this is that it makes sense with what I write today.
I like speculative fiction best and I feel extremely uncomfortable about writing romance.
(If I write that MG novel, my main character might get a time-traveling, full-length locker. I could fit in those as a teen - unfortunately, I know this from experience.)
My first stories and my first experiences with writing are still with me, inside.
So, I have a second question, based on the official one:
How did your early writing and writing experiences shape you as a writer?
My first novel that did make it to the world is free in all the usual places. Check out My Books page for more information or just go to my Amazon page to find Champion in the Darkness. The rest of The Champion Trilogy is out, so you don't have to wait to find out how the adventure unfolds.
Your story from sixth grade sounds adorable! That's so mortifying what your friend did with your first novel attempt, though. I like the idea of recycling this for a MG novel, though. The time-traveling locker angle would be a lot of fun!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteShe passed it around? Oh no. I would've shredded it, too.
ReplyDeleteIt was pretty terrible.
DeleteOh no. Boo to that friend. I can just imagine how embarrassing that would have been, but you are right. It makes a great story now. I think reading a huge amount of material helped me understand what makes good characters, interesting plots, and good pacing. I'm not a Jedi yet, but I know what to aim for.
ReplyDeleteReading helps so much!
DeleteI love your confession. I would had died too. I think like you, romance makes me squirm in an uncomfortable way, but yes, everything I enjoyed reading as a teen, all my short stories and attempts at novels hint at the same sort of modern fictional world with a sprinkle of magical possibility.
ReplyDeleteI think our early reading influences us greatly - love the idea of magical possibility
DeleteOooh! That must have been incredibly embarrassing. I'm not sure I could have gone back to school after that, much less regained the courage to write.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be able to write romance either.
I was already capable of hiding in the library so I managed going back. And I think we each have our own genres. :)
DeleteYou were already winning in the sixth grade! Now that's excellent.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteDon't worry, I suck at anything with romance as well.
ReplyDeleteI wrote what I enjoyed, which was science fiction and fantasy. And that's what I still write today.
And you write it really well!
DeleteAnd I think it would make a great story. Do it! :-)
ReplyDeleteAnna from elements of emaginette
Thanks!
DeleteHa! Sounds a little like my first attempt at writing in high school. Luckily, mine didn't get passed around. So sorry!
ReplyDeleteHigh school is a crucible type experience
DeleteOh my. Yes, I think you should write that story out. Oh my. I would have died. Completely died.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement
DeleteI think my first experience with criticism from someone I trusted shaped my writing more and introduced me to my first encounter with writer's block. I was an adult already tho.
ReplyDeleteYou should rewrite your story.
Juneta @ Writer's Gambit
Thanks
DeleteYikes! This will be my first year teaching high school English. I plan on having 'critical partners' for their writing. Hopefully nothing like that happens in my room!
ReplyDeleteYikes! This will be my first year teaching high school English. I plan on having 'critical partners' for their writing. Hopefully nothing like that happens in my room!
ReplyDeleteMaybe not calling them "critical" partners would help set a less negative and threatening "tone"...perhaps a writer's workshop should have critique partners or even just writing teams, or writing enhancement partners....just a thought...
DeleteWhat a great story! That would've been my worst nightmare as a teen. I also think it'd make a great MG or YA story. I also had a teacher encourage me when I was young--and I suppose that's why I've kept at this so long.
ReplyDeleteI read a quote today...your worst enemy is not as dangerous as a friend who lacks discretion. Poor young you! That would be scarring.
ReplyDeleteI won't even ask how you know you fit in a locker.
All writing feedback is subjective and opinionated, colored by the existential being lens viewing the imagery....always.
ReplyDeleteYikes! Are you still friends?
ReplyDeletedistantly
DeleteI definitely think you should make that event an MG novel! And I would so add the time traveling locker part. :)
ReplyDeleteTake that negative and turn it around. I love the idea of this becoming an MG novel. SO many kids could relate and benefit from your experience.....
ReplyDeleteYes! Please write the MG novel about the girl whose dreamy story gets into the wrong hands. Tapping into that first, deep wounding experience will make for great fiction (and, I hope, heal it a bit too). Love the time-travel locker, too. Lots of ways to go with that, from a Back to the Future-type thing (peeking in on a parent's romantic mishaps), to tumbling into the teen world of an author she admires who also suffered in middle school.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of your story about a pencil and eraser who run away from school. You could turn it into a picture book.
ReplyDeleteYou should definitely recycle the MG story...loads of potential in that one.
I love the 2nd grade mention:) I had similar experiences throughout my schooling years. I guess it all makes sense now:)
ReplyDeleteWe are so fragile at that age. I remember going to the Sadie Hawkins dance and my friend asking the boy I liked to dance with me. I was also embarrassed and humiliated, even though he did ask me. Horror that someone might actually know that I liked them at that age! He was a popular boy in school and I found out later he was gay. So, good to know there was actually no future there anyway (at least not for me). Ha! Young love! I found you through the IWSG, #256, In my own words. Keep writing - your blog is very enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteThose experiences feel like the end of the world at the time but it's all stuff we can turn round and use if we want to. The time-travelling locker sounds great!
ReplyDeleteI remember writing a nerdy girl/cool guy story too - but in my version, the girl turns the guy down. So I guess I've always avoided the traditional plots. The aftermath of your story would, indeed, make a great book itself :-)
ReplyDeleteThe pencil and eraser story sounds cute. That's awful about your friend sharing your story. I wouldn't be a teen again for the world. I hope you do write that middle grade story someday, though, particularly with the time-traveling locker. With your experiences, I think it would be an instant hit.
ReplyDelete