forum how and when did you start writing?
Started by @cami
tune

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@cami

i've been writing since i was maybe 10 or 12 (so over half my life now) and the reason i fell in love with writing was because i fell in love with nancy drew books. i never really liked reading when i was younger so when i fell in love with those books, it really inspired something in me :)

so what was it for you? is there an author or book series that really influenced you as a writer?

Deleted user

I don't know when exactly I started writing, I just kinda made up stuff in my head before I went to sleep and then when I learned how to read and write I just kinda put it into words.

@7Dragon2

I started writing maybe a year ago but I have improved so much over that time span. It started when I got into anime. I loved watching the fight scenes and the sort of romantic scenes. I started off by making a wattpad account and I made fanfictions for the show Fairy Tail. A lot of people read my stories and begged me to make more. I decided to go onto Microsoft Word and create my own stories with my own characters. Now, I have 4 or 5 stories that I'm working on on Wattpad and Quotev. It's going great so far.

@Athantos

I started writing when I was maybe seven? What I write is influenced by what I read, watch, and listen to. Lately, because of depression, I haven't been taking in much content and in turn, haven't been putting out much content either. I used to write daily and I'm forcing myself to do that again. I have always wanted to be an author, so I quit my job and I'm writing full time! That may seem glamorous, but it's not the only reason I quit my job. I promised my boyfriend that if I quit, I would write full time. Which means a strict, be on the computer by 10:00 AM, write 1,000 words daily, until I have a book written.

I have several projects to choose from, all started in middle and high school, and right now I'm working on a werewolf novel, but we'll see how long it holds my attention.

Deleted user

I started writing in grade school, but I was an avid reader for as long as I can remember. There was a dry period from when I was in middle school up until about six months ago where I did not write anything (aside from fanfiction), but I've been gradually starting to write more. I've been challenging myself to write and create more original stuff, and I feel like I've really improved. I've also kind of come out of my shell and published some works on FictionPress, which I think was another challenge.

@Celia

When I was younger, no one could get me to read or write. Due to that, I was a very late reader, being behind all the other kids in my age group. However when I got into the double digitals, my sister got me to read a book (a Star Wars book of all things) and I fell in love. I read and read and by the end of the year, I had already read fifty different books. So naturally, with my love of reading stories came my curiosity on if I could write. At the time my sister was writing her first book (it’s already published and can be found on the Barnes and Noble website. It’s called “the Stars of Amero: the King’s Son”) and I found it fascinating. So I started to write. First it was just short stories but then the more I wrote the more eager I became. Soon enough I was plotting an entire novel and creating an entire cast of characters.
However, during my short writing career I had a lot of regrets. Even though I hated them at first, I learned from them.

Deleted user

I think I only really started writing last year. I've always loved reading but I never really wrote any of my own stories, unless you count playing "let's pretend" in the forest with my friends when I was in elementary school. Our imaginary games always got strangely deep and complex, now that I think about it.

I think I was in fourth grade when my mom started trying to teach me how to type, but I was very resistant. It was boring, after all. Because she's devious, my mom decided we should write a story together but she made me promise to use my proper typing while I wrote it. We passed bits back and forth through email and I got really invested.

I found the old document last year and scrapped all of my cringe worthy eight-year-old writing and started it again. Soon my ideas for a story turned into ideas for a book and then suddenly it was a trilogy and I haven't been able to stop writing since.

@breerosiey

I've always been a reader, having read the most books in my fifth grade (one of my greatest accomplishments to date :P). My mother was an obsessive reader who would go through 1-2 novels every day, so I mimicked her and was obsessive with my reading. I was diagnosed with ADHD later and it became harder for me to find books that I could enjoy reading, but I stumbled into writing when I got onto a computer.

I don't remember when writing became a hobby for me, nor do I remember when I first started doing it regularly. I must have been young (perhaps 8-10), but I never wrote stories on paper or anything (I was far too nervous that my mother would stumble across it after she came across a love letter to my crush when I was in third grade!).

I've been writing and roleplaying since I was about twelve years old, but I've become more dependent on writing to keep me sane since all the stress that accompanied chronic illness in high school.

Mio

Well, I play a lot of video games. The one I was obsessed with, when I was ten, was World of Warcraft Online. I still love the game; feel free to judge. Anyways, on griffin flights, or when I'd get bored with the story, I'd come up with new imaginary side story. That was how my very first character Maybold Brave was born. After that, I just sort of latched on to writing and have been doing it ever since.

@stargirl-3213

I've always loved reading. It's like a second nature to me. I first discovered my love for creative writing in 2nd grade. I had a dry period from 2nd to 5th grade, but I picked the pen back up in 5th grade and started writing again. I haven't stopped since. I just love being able to communicate things through writing because I'm not good with talking. I have the occasional writers block because of depression/anxiety and school in general, but I haven't stopped since, nor do I intend to ever stop!

@emma123

I've been writing all my life - I still have messy little stories I wrote when I was 4. I've always been a crazy reader, and for me, reading and writing just go hand in hand. :)

NK13

I've always loved to read and make up little stories and characters, but I never really translated that into anything until middle school, when I met a girl who is still my friend now. We made up characters together, roleplayed and all that stuff. Then I wanted to start writing about these characters by myself and then I started making up new characters and worlds on my own…it just took off from there.

@Krystal

Though I had been an avid reader and had a tendency to dream and day-dream from the perspective of original fictional characters for about as long as I can remember, I only started writing in 8th grade after my friend pleaded with me to get on a reading & writing site and read her stories there. I ended up getting more into it than she ever did, writing down some of the stories I had running through my head and found a love within myself for writing the stories I wanted to read.

@Masterkey

My mom read to me from a very young age, which produced in me a love of stories (it was mostly classics like Heidi, The Secret Garden, different fairy tales, Narnia, etc). I usually didn't like to read long books on my own, but I LOVED it when my mom read them. I would draw picture stories that lasted like an inch thick stack of paper, but I never wrote anything. Then when I was eight, these new neighbors moved in that happened to like writing books too, but they actually wrote words, which inspired me to do the same. The rest is history.

@Masterkey

Krystal, that last line is EXACTLY why I love to write! I've got these stories that I wish were printed so that I could read and enjoy them. In my list of favorite things to do, reading comes first, not writing. :P

@n o s t r a d a m u s location_city

I wrote my first book when I was 4 or 5. It was a short story about a girl and her cat going on adventures. My mum typed and laminated it for me, and I drew pictures for each page and read it in front of my class, I think I still have it as well. I kind of abandoned writing after that until we had to write descriptive first person paragraphs in year 5, that was when I found that I really liked to write.

Some of my first short stories were unintentional fanfiction, looking back at them. When I started high school (in Aus high school starts in year 7), I decided to come up with my own ideas and write full length novels, I abandoned most of them. I even started to write a collaborative book with one of my friends, before I realised that she didn't have the same level of technique that I did, and it made the work seem patchy.

After a year or 2 of mediocre, wattpad level writing, I found that I actually had a natural talent for syntax (the arrangement of words in a sentence or paragraph, or flow) and had really honed in on the technical side of writing. Around this time is also when my chronic migraines were getting really bad because I had built up an immunity to the medication I was on (which is a common thing for me, I own like fifty different kinds of pain medication), so I wasn't at school most days and didn't have internet at the time, so I would often write to fill the time that I spent on my own. I also really improved my writing speed (I could write a 4/5 page essay in under an hour and a half, and somehow manage an A or A+), and entered a local youth writing competition, in which I came 3rd.

A while later I was also selected by my school to do ICAS English (anyone can participate but my school is a grammar school and likes to be selective. So they pick 3 or 4 people to participate per year level in a specific subject), which I got a Credit for (top 30% of Australia, I really wanted Distinction though).

I like to write in the same way that I like to paint, it's therapeutic for me and helps me get my emotions out. I also really like to plan things, so worldbuilding helps me stay productive and focused. Sorry that was so damn long.

@WriteOutofTime

I don't know how old I was. probably five or six? possibly seven. My sister loved writing and she was really good. she got published in American girl magazine and i was super impressed. I wrote these stories about a girl named amy (the most wonderful woman in the world). she was home alone in one story (her mom accidentally left her, kinda like home alone) in another she survived a tornado…there were more. as I got older, I started to base my stories off of whatever I read, so mostly fantasy. still mostly fantasy. it kinda stuck with me.

writing is kind of my escape from stuff now. among other things. its stressful but in a good way. idk what i'd do without it.

@Mojack group

I don’t remember exactly when, but I think I was like 4 years old when I wrote my first ‘writing.’ I just remember being in school when I did it. I’ve improved a lot, and I’m writing short stories about my universes, characters, full on chapters, etc, etc.

@Faltering pets

I think I was probably nine when I started writing stories. I often found myself daydreaming a lot since I was a pretty lonely kid and didn't have any friends. I would spend my days at home during the summer writing while other kids played outside. Our house was mostly quiet and there was this sort of emptiness about it that helped me concentrate on what I was doing. My first character that I ever made was named Hashi. I don't use her anymore but I still got all her information down. I remember becoming so obsessed with writing that I would stay up all night writing whatever it was that I had in my head. It was pretty fun until my mom found out and had to stop me lol. I ended up playing this game a few years ago online where I met a guy who was one year older than me. He was the one who introduced me to rping and surprisingly enough I still keep contact with him. So yeah, I've been writing for a while now but due to me not feeling the greatest at the moment I haven't had the motivation to write anything or continue the rps that I'm in right now. I am trying to expand my vocabulary though because I seem to be seriously lacking in that field and I just love learning new words in general, it's fun stuff

@Kinarymo

I started writing when i was about 11 - i had read the first 3 Harry Potter books and saw bits and pieces of the last movie. I was very unsatisfied with the ending (i dont like seeing my fav characters grow up and have kids of their own, its weird i know)
So, like the brilliant 11 yr old that i was, i decided i was going to rewrite the ending myself. I ended up writing a lengthy alternative ending that was just a huge mash-up between various other books and movies (i guess you can call it a bad fanfiction)

It was my dad who suggested i start writing an original piece. At first i used a lot of elements from Harry Potter, since i was basically obsessed with it at the time, but over the years it evolved until it became an entirely different story all on it's own. Since then i've developed a full cast of characters i've grown to love and appreciate. I find it very fun and relaxing to write about them, about their stories and the world they live in.

@NotSoBeautifulDiseaster group

I first started writing Yukkuri fanfics, I even have one still in my drive (it's really bad), along with other unsavory books (let's just say they'd make Evaxephon cringe), I guess I started writing to explore worlds though writing

@ToWorldsUnknown group

I first started writing when I was 6-7 years old. I always enjoyed reading and wanted to tell my own stories, but I thought that I was too young at the time to do that. The thing that changed my mind on that was a short PBS Kids block that I can no longer the name of; it showed stories on TV that kids my age had written online. Seeing this made me think: "if those kids can do it, then so can I".