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How did you start writing?
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Author:  Celestria [ February 1st, 2010, 1:03 pm ]
Post subject:  What's Your Story?

Everyone has a story. In the case of most on this forum, some may have more than one. ;) What I want to know if how or what made you want to start writing?

Ironically for me when I was little, my parents had to pay me to read. Now it seems they can't get me to stop. A few years ago I wrote a story for little kids and gave it to one of my cousin for his fourth birthday. His mom read it to him once and immediately afterward he asked her to read it again.

I think that's what first inspired me to write. Since then it has become my favorite hobby. Of course I find that once you get started, it's nearly impossible to stop. :D

Author:  Ana Mimetes [ February 1st, 2010, 2:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: What's Your Story?

So that's really how I started writing. Funny how God can turn something as horrible as jealousy into a wonderful gift.
Elisabeth AKA Ana

Moderator's Note: Fixed spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors and fixed run-on sentences.

Author:  Ciela Rose [ February 14th, 2010, 2:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: What's Your Story?

Good thought, Ana, I love how you finished that. It's true too, how God can take evil and use it for good. There's a testimony right there.

I think I started wanting to write when I was in kindergarten, I wanted to make picture books. After a while (years later) I seriously got into the drawing thing, I would still love to be an illustrator. My only problem with that is, I can't draw good people. Just animals. But anyway, I had a hard time finding really good books which I enjoyed. Always there would be questionable content, or the author wouldn't tie up the ending right, or I wanted to know something else about the characters.

Ok long story short, I decide to write the books which I would want to read, but I couldn't figure out how to get the stories out on paper or webpage. But I had the characters, and the plotline, and the characters themselves just seemed real to me (I know they aren't really, but I had that feeling). And I love daydreaming, so that helped a lot. But I never got past the first two pages of any of the five or six books I wanted to write.

Then I discovered Holy Worlds via the Rebelution forum. Thanks to this site and everyone on here, I am now further in my first book then ever I was before. Whew. So there's my story. If you've stuck with me this far, thanks for reading!

Author:  Celestria [ February 14th, 2010, 9:37 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: What's Your Story?

Wow Ana! Yes I would have have to agree. It's amazing how God works and most the time you don't realize it until you look back over past events.

Well, Ciela Rose, I didn't want to become a writer at that early of an age. At that point I wanted to do something far from writing. At the time it had sounded so... boring. Boy, was I wrong!

To be honest I only started writing a few years ago and even then it started with two pages of a story. I had no idea where the story was going or if I would even look at the writing again. But I stuck with it, and I'm thankful.

To be honest, my characters sometimes seem like my best friends. I like to tell my mom that I'm really close to my main character. In fact, we're "practically inseparable." :D

I also wanted to be an illustrator and like you was only good at drawing animals for a long time. Finally I got up the nerve to start drawing people. (Of course, my very first people always looked away so I wouldn't have to draw their faces.) :roll:

Author:  Arias Mimetes [ February 15th, 2010, 12:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: What's Your Story?

Well, I wrote a couple pages of a story or two when I was about 9, but it wasn't really very important to me or anything. I couldn't write well and couldn't really come up with any good story ideas. But I decided to try NaNoWriMo last November, because I always love a good challenge, and it really got me started in writing more. Then I found this forum and my writing slowly got better. I love writing in my spare time, though I haven't been writing as much lately.

Author:  Strider [ February 15th, 2010, 7:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: What's Your Story?

I have an odd story on why I write.

I highly dislike writing school papers, so you may think its odd I am on a writing forum. Well my Language Arts class for the year is a unit study on Lord of the Rings. While reading it I found out I highly like elves. I got so interested in elves I found out in Iceland that they have a college called the Icelandic Elf College. So my mom assigned me a project to write a one page fantasy elf story. The one page story turned into a seven page report called Quest of the Elves. After I have read it again and I see so much I want to change so I have started writing a book called Quest of the elves.

Author:  The Wolverminion [ February 22nd, 2010, 11:37 am ]
Post subject:  Re: What's Your Story?

My story is short. I hated English and writing and all that stuff until about the time I turned 15. Then I wrote a story about an epic camping trip I went on.

Three years later now, I have written well over 320,000 words in various novels, lots of short stories, and a few non-fiction stories.

Author:  Neil of Erk [ February 24th, 2010, 12:04 am ]
Post subject:  Re: What's Your Story?

I started out by writing my auto-biography at age eight or so. Needless to say, I didn't have much material to work with. ;)

Author:  Taiven Knight [ June 9th, 2010, 2:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: What's Your Story?

Well, I have always loved reading, so I never had a problem there. I actually read over 62 books in one summer (2006 maybe?)

Anyway, I just liked reading about other characters and would get mad if a series stopped, so I make stories to go after the real Authors books. After that, I made my own characters and daydreamed alot about their world and such... then I had issues, and still do, with some of the people I hang out with and they don't treat me and my love for reading and knowledge nicely... so, I kind of stuck to my writings, characters and stories to pull me through.
Then I finished a tween-ish 128 page story with my sister and self-published it. My 'friends' ignored me even more but my two younger cousins read it and brought it to school with them. Now they have done reports on it, read it in class and put it in their school library.
That really helped with my passion for writing. :)

Author:  Lady Terra [ June 9th, 2010, 2:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: What's Your Story?

Serena Knight wrote:
Then I finished a tween-ish 128 page story with my sister and self-published it.


That's us :D The Writing machine team ;) (We're twins if you didn't know)

I'm the EXACT way as Serena... we liked to spend hours as little kids, creating all kinds of stories that happened after we finished a book we liked. And I still do, but now with my own characters :D

Author:  Calenmiriel [ June 9th, 2010, 5:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: What's Your Story?

I've been a lover of reading since..well since I learned how to read. XD And I've been drawing since I could pick up a pencil. I had written poems in school (back in 2nd grade before home-schooling) but I never wrote anything really serious..

One of my friends, who was 12 at the time, was writing a horse story, and I was inspired to write one myself. (I really looked up to my friend.) I was 11 years old when I started my story, and I have written several unfinished ones. Not counting the ones up in my head that don't have enough of anything to start a story right now!

I write off and on when I'm inspired otherwise I don't produce anything that reads well. I actually think I should be praying more about it and God may give me more words to complete something. <3

Author:  Reueldreamseer [ July 7th, 2010, 1:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: What's Your Story?

I've just loved to write since I knew what writing was. :D I'm a storyteller at heart, when I was only 3 or 4 years old I dictated a story to my mom about a prince and princess, and I ended it "Look for more adventures of the beautiful princess and the handsome prince coming soon!" Guess it's just in my blood. ;)

Author:  Varon [ July 8th, 2010, 6:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: What's Your Story?

I started writing short sci-fi stories in third grade while I waited for other students to finish their work. It was somewhere between Star Wars and Star Trek with the space/ground adventure ratio. To be honest, the writing was terrible. Now I'm revamping it into a collection of short stories entitled "The Anglymna Campaign."

Author:  Armorbearer [ July 8th, 2010, 8:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: What's Your Story?

I used to HATE writing, but I loved stories and reading. Then I began to write a story idea I had, and found that writing was kind of fun. I wrote three or four versions of a an introduction to a story that was pretty much terrible and cliche and never got past a chapter and a half. A couple years later I decided to write a different idea that I had, and I wrote maybe four chapters of that before letting it drop for a while. When I picked the story back up, I started back at the beginning and finally got something that I liked. That's the story that I'm working on now, The Armorbearer. I've also had a few story ideas that I've written a little of to work on after this one, and I wrote a script this April for Script Frenzy. The funniest thing about how I got started writing, is that I am using two names I came up with in my first, terrible story in the one that I'm working on now, so I guess that story was worthwhile after all. :D

Author:  Phillip Emunah Mimetes [ July 9th, 2010, 1:05 am ]
Post subject:  Re: What's Your Story?

I, like ArmorBearer, hated to write, but somehow I was drawn to writing, I would think of one thing and write it down into my stories. I am very thankful I found this forum! :)

Author:  Elanhil [ July 9th, 2010, 1:10 am ]
Post subject:  Re: What's Your Story?

Once I was thinking that someone could make a really awesome movie, and was lamenting that it hadn't been made yet, so I started to write it into a book. Needless to say, being my first piece of writing, it wasn't very good. XD But now I'm working on another story that's a bit better, hopefully. :D

Author:  Manda Kondrael [ August 6th, 2010, 8:32 am ]
Post subject:  Re: What's Your Story?

::brushes dust off thread::


I started writing because my sister was. :) I must have been about 8 or nine, and as she was my favorite and only big sister, I wanted to do everything she did--write, play piano, etc. (Also, I really loved the stories she was writing...) I started one story, then gave up, as it didn't have a plot. About two or three years ago I started writing again, just little scenes that didn't fit into any big story, except for one Narnia fan fiction which I actually completed. Then I wrote a full story in my ''scribble notebook'' and that inspired me (though the story was horribly lame) to write a story with a complete plot and deep characters. :) (even though I think that it's still lame)

Author:  Rachel Newhouse [ October 26th, 2010, 5:54 pm ]
Post subject:  How did you start writing?

When did you start writing? What caused you to get into it? How long have you been a writer? When you first started, why did you write?

And how has your perspective changed since then?

Author:  Rachel Newhouse [ October 26th, 2010, 6:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How did you start writing?

I think I've always had writer characteristics. When I was younger, I was an avid reader (then I grew up and figured out that there wasn't much worth reading ;)) - and I was always "rewriting" the stories in my head. I was always thinking up stories, whether for Legos or dolls or Hot Wheels or just in my head, but it wasn't until I was 14 that it actually occurred to me to WRITE some of these fantasies down.

I first started writing on - promise not to laugh? - the Lego club online forums. There were some fanfiction threads going around, and I thought "I've got an idea... might as well try it!" So my first "real" stories were, in fact, fanfiction for some of the Lego lines. Really, it is okay if you laugh - it's pretty ridiculous. But the other clubbers loved my story, so I wrote another, and another, and my style rapidly developed. I grew out of the forums - my stuff was simply getting too long to post. It didn't take me long to realize that I loved to write, so I moved away from fanfiction to original ideas. And the rest, they say, is history.

I started screenwriting in a similar way, testing the waters on an online forum. However, I can explicitly blame Melody Kondrael for getting me into screenwriting. She talked about it, sent me scripts, showed me websites... and finally I caved and tried it. Since I was already a writer, screenwriting accelerated rapidly. My first script is in production this week, praise God!

All along the way, God has perfectly timed writing in my life. He first sent it when I was bored and friendless, recently moved to a new state, and He's since used it to teach me and guide my life in innumerable ways. I don't think I would be the person that I am spiritually if I hadn't started writing.

Author:  Willow Wenial Mimetes [ October 26th, 2010, 6:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How did you start writing?

Awwwwww! That's so cool, Philli! And it's awesome how God has used that in your life. I've found that's often the case with writers, me included.

I know I've used writing to cement my beliefs in my head, and just by going through them in world view papers and such.:D

But I can't remember ever not writing. When I was like three, my mom says I'd make books out of stapling paper together and drawing and putting single words together along with illustrations.

And I can remember trying to take Bible characters and writing down new "Bible stories" using them.:D

And when I was eight I filled up a bunch of notebooks with TERRIBLE stories. About faeries mostly.:D And then I liked poetry for a while...and I don't know. I've always lived like that.:) And my siblings were forced into saying their lines so I could see my stories acted out. LOL! (thanks siblings!)

What kinds of things do you screen write? (You can pm me if that's too off topic to answer here. :D)

Author:  Aragorn [ October 26th, 2010, 8:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How did you start writing?

When did you start writing?

I was eight.

What caused you to get into it?

Some of my friends and I had made up a story at the beach about being shipwrecked, and I turned it into a short but crazy book about some kids who face pirates, sharks, cannibals, and even a tidal wave. It was terrible, but it got me started.

When you first started, why did you write?

For fun.

And how has your perspective changed since then?

Now I'm hoping God will allow me to use writing as both an occupation and a ministry.

Author:  Rachel Newhouse [ October 26th, 2010, 10:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How did you start writing?

That's wonderful, both of you, and very interesting to read. I'll PM you, Willow. :)

I think most of us wrote stupid, childish stories in the early stages of our writing. Now we think they're idiotic, but we liked them well enough then to get started, and that's what's important.

Author:  Kiev Shawn [ October 27th, 2010, 7:57 am ]
Post subject:  Re: How did you start writing?

When did you start writing?
I'm not exactly sure. I made up lots of VeggieTales stories in my head when I was little (I'm not alone!), and I wrote stories for school. I wrote a LotR rip-off or two as well. I started writing "fan fic" Adventures In Odyssey scripts with a friend recently, and they are a great challenge (not to mention they're fun!).

What caused you to get into it?
I've always loved reading. I really started loving to tell stories in 3rd grade, thanks to my amazing teacher who had a story for every occasion.

How long have you been a writer?
I think I started becoming a more "serious" writer in 3rd grade. It became something I wanted to do, not just school.

When you first started, why did you write?
My first "real" and horribly lame story was an LotR rip-off taking place on Atlantis, where the stakes were non existent and none of my shallow 12 characters were going to die. I started it because "I wanted to write books for children." It was a good building block though.

And how has your perspective changed since then?
Now I am writing with a completely different focus (That's the beauty of "Do Hard Things!"). I'm pouring out my heart for God in my writing, and asking Him to guide me and give me the words. I'm writing A Slave's Song because of a passion God has laid on my heart, a passion of fighting modern day slavery. I'm not sure what purpose God has for Shattering the Dark, but I am excited to see what that is.

Author:  Melody Kondrael [ October 27th, 2010, 8:16 am ]
Post subject:  Re: How did you start writing?

I don't really know how I started writing. I have memories of making up wild and crazy stories in my head as a 7/8yo, but I never did anything with those. (they were usually suspiciously based on my favorite Odyssey and VeggieTales episodes. ;D)

I also always read tons of books, mostly above my age level because I ran out of books aimed at 7yo's.

My first actual writing was when I was...oh... probably about 11 or 12. I made fanfiction of the Lone Ranger (believe it or not...) and thought I was the only one who had ever thought of doing it, lol. It consisted of putting myself and my siblings into an episode. Pretty lame, lol.

My friend who lived down the street had just started writing too (a little more originally, lol.) and we left each other notes in a bottle on the porch to tell each other how it was going, IIRC. That was a long time ago, lol! Calenmiriel, whenever you find this thread, do you remember that? :)

But I didn't get seriously into it until Castalia, until RP and I were penpals. That was about four, four and a half years ago, I believe.

Ever since then, I've been hooked on writing. ;D Must. Write. Or. Go. Insane. (Which I read is actually pretty normal for writers...)

Of course, I've matured.... and developed allergies to copying other works or cliches... and I also got into screenwriting. :)

Screenwriting came about a year and a half ago. I was so oblivious then... lol... I'm surprised Calix and Kim and the other older screenwriters on christianfilmmakers.org put up with me. I'm glad they did -- they've taught me a lot.

And I dragged RP into it and now she can write screenplays better than me. ;)

My latest writing escapade is manga. That was about 2 months ago, and RP, you're DOOMED!!!!! ::insert evil laugh of doom::

The main way my perspective has changed is that I don't like to write things that I have no passion for. I understand the difference between moral and theme, and have gotten highly opinionated about them. ;)

Author:  Airianna Valenshia [ October 27th, 2010, 8:50 am ]
Post subject:  Re: How did you start writing?

*rubs hands together* I’m so glad you did this Philli! How did it all start…

Raise of hands, who knows how much I love words and when I started using them? Well, that’s when it all began for me.

I loved words and I loved making up words. I had a very active imagination to the point of being scary (although I never had the typical imaginary friend that most kids do). Anyone who’s read Anne of Green Gables and remembers when her imagination went wild and got her into trouble in the woods will understand me as a child. I created creatures before I knew what dragons and fairies and dwarves were.

I’m a veracious reader, who here isn’t? I now love to exercise my God given dominion over Literature. But I wasn’t always that way. As a little girl with a well developed imagination and vocabulary I loved being read to. I had my parents and grandparents read everything I could find, including cereal boxes. I loved it! Then I started school, and guess what, they actually wanted me to read for myself!
That simply would not do. I quickly cut my ties to literature and said “Be gone with you!” I never figured on taking the old pastime back up. I mean, I liked being drawn into other worlds where anything could happen, but it just took too much effort to do it myself. My imagination still soared unhindered by the world and I still created words out of thin air, so what was the problem?

Then something happened. I watched an animated version of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. Wow! I was now eight and utterly deprived of books. I was hooked. Now my mom is a smart woman, and I know she was cooking up a scheme in the back of her mind when she oh so casually mentioned that there was an entire book series about the Chronicles of Narnia. Really? So my parents ordered the books and when they came in I promptly sat down to read them. My world quickly turned inside out. I went from reading being a form of torture to reading being a source of punishment (as in my parents would ground me from reading, no kidding). Ever since that moment of reawakening I have been addicted to the written words of great men and women throughout the centuries.

My passions slowly began to mingle together, and by the time I was ten I had started a fully fledged series of books. They weren’t actually that bad for a ten year old, although you can tell I tried to use every unusual and culturally forgotten word I knew. They didn’t really have a purpose back then either, they were just a portal through which I could unload my imagination and desire to use crazy words (which weren’t always in context).

My parents recognized the talent the Lord had instilled in me and decided to gently begin channeling the passions and desires I was displaying. I then began to study the writers I most admired. Not their books, but them. I placed myself at their feet to learn all I could.

My perspective has changed a lot over the years, as has my worldview and personal convictions. At first I fought against the changes I slowly began to have in my writing. I was quite the good little secular writer at the age of 13-14 (for that age I mean). When I turned 16 I ended up in the ER and would spend the next two years bedridden. The Lord turned my world and my life upside down, however, He also began to solidify my writing into what He desired, not what I desired. I was slowly, but miraculously healed by my 18th birthday at which point the Lord brought a miracle baby into my life. Suddenly I had to take my writing skills and be a tool in the ministry of a little boy who never spoke but affected the world. It was at this point when I really realized how powerful the written word was. It was also at this point that I fully dedicated my writing to God, including my fantasy writing. I’ve never looked back.

All that to say it was a slow process getting to this point and I have no doubt that the Lord isn’t finished with me yet.

Author:  Rachel Newhouse [ October 27th, 2010, 11:52 am ]
Post subject:  Re: How did you start writing?

That's beautiful, Lizzie!

Mel, I am not listening to you. NOT listening. Nope, nope, I can't hear you... Though it does make me feel a bit better that I might, just might, be able to take credit for getting you to be serious about writing. Hmm. Never thought about it that way. :D

Airianna, that is fascinating and moving. I know exactly what you mean about shifting from being a "good little secular writer" to dedicated to the Lord. For a while my stories were simply sanitized versions of secular literature. I don't know how it went with you, but I think God used writing to force me through a lot of spiritual changes. I knew I had to listen to His guidance, but I desperately wanted to keep writing. He would point out things that needed changing in my writing, and I would do anything, fix or change or revise anything in a heartbeat, just to keep writing. I was especially attached to a particular masterpiece; I trashed several versions and eventually ended up with an over 300-page draft that was nearing completion. And that's when God finally said - Give it all up.

At which point I literally deleted or tore every scrap of writing I had, including that 300+ page masterpiece, except for two stories.

It was a slow process to find my footing with writing again. God has given it back in pieces. For two years I didn't have a trace, not one single word, of that masterpiece, though occasionally a pondered the idea of revising it from scratch.

Then through some interesting twists, God gave that draft back to me. I have the PDFs of my entire draft in my hands again. My precious words, still set in stone. And I have since been able to seriously pursue revision, which caused the story to expand from one book into three...

That story is Alaidia, which I have posted a bit of here.

God works in mysterious ways...

I don't know if you want to post it here, Airianna, but I'd be interested in talking with you more sometime about what God taught you through writing. I understand if you don't, but I think we have a lot in common and could edify each other, just judging by the PMs we've already exchanged.

I'm done rambling now...

Author:  Airianna Valenshia [ October 27th, 2010, 12:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How did you start writing?

I don't have a problem sharing Philli. I believe that God imparts things to us as a gift and we in turn are meant to share that and pass it on bringing glory to what He has done through us.

I am willing to share with you through PM or we can start a sister thread discoursing this subject. It doesn’t matter to me. I just wouldn’t put it in this thread because I think it would distract from the purpose of this particular thread. That doesn't mean it can't be done in another one though. You decide.

Author:  Arias Mimetes [ October 27th, 2010, 12:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How did you start writing?

I always loved to read. I was reading by the time I was three, and I still look for good books all the time. I was probably about 8 when I started writing (meaning, I don't remember when it was, so I'll say I was 8 because that's when I did all kinds of stupid stuff. I blame everything on being 8 :P), but it was extremely lame. It was fun though, although I always got rid of stories about a month later. Not that I wrote a whole lot anyway.
After I found Holy Worlds, I really started writing more, and after NaNoWriMo last year I was totally hooked. Like Melody said... it's Must. Write. Or. Go. Insane.
Although I'm already insane. But still. :P

Author:  Melody Kondrael [ October 27th, 2010, 12:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How did you start writing?

Listen, oh Leah, to me dragging you into yet another writing escapade... have I ever steered you wrong? ;D

Sorry, I'm off-topic. :D

Author:  Kiev Shawn [ October 27th, 2010, 12:49 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How did you start writing?

Yes! Another early reader! (My Mom says I could have read at age 2.) :book: *high fives*

Back on topic... :D

These are all really inspiring (and entertaining) stories. That is all I can say, except wow. God is amazing.

Author:  Hannah Marie [ October 27th, 2010, 1:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How did you start writing?

*laughs* Fair warning to all who are reading: this will definitely be a rather lengthy post.

The beginning of my writing years does not receive an actual pinpointed date, but more of a general time frame. Ever since youth (by youth, I'm looking at elementary school level), reading any book I could lay my hands on became a rather large fascination to me. In fact, come twelve to thirteen years old, I had completely read and absorbed every single book deemed a 'classic.' I developed such a love for the fluidity of the old writing style that modern books gradually became rather distasteful actually. But, when I entered my high school years, I hungered greatly for fantasy, science fiction, historical biographies, and theology to no ends. I read numerous, piles upon piles, of theology books and fantasy books and science fiction and historical biography books, falling in love with the writing style and feeling drawn to the very worlds these authors created and/or depicted. Within a year, I added Dekker and Peretti novels to my collection, intrigued by the darker side of fiction as well. With my yearly quota of books reaching about a book for every day of the year, sometimes even more, I had pretty much exhausted my interests and left with little to read and soak in that attracted me. Thus, I turned to writing. Freshman year of high school marked the beginning of my writing period, starting out with essays for school deemed amazing and slowly increasing into novels. By the summer after Freshman year, I had set a goal to write two full sized novels (80,000-150,000 words) every single summer of my high school career. And accomplish that goal I did.

I began to fall in love with poetry, seeing as I had wore out my fictional references. Seeing as my Mother is actually a poetry writer (she has a collection of over three hundred poems, all written throughout her adult years), I decided to try my hand at that. And, believe it or not, I succeeded, developing over one hundred poems of my own written over the past three years. Around Junior year, I began an official editor for many of my classmates and teachers, thriving in learning and perfecting the art of grammar. About this time, I really feel in love with writing, head over heels in fact. I would write something every single day, whether it be an essay, article, tutorial, forum post, or chapter of a novel currently being developed. My life became one of fantasy worlds and drowning out all noise simply to write anything and everything. I soon joined several teen-lead magazines and publications and started a blog. Unbeknown to me, my articles were circulating the internet with people I did not even know. But, I simply continued to write, always accepting and adoring any new critique on my writing from all who gave it. It became my greatest desire to simply improve and hone my writing skills above all else.

About Senior year, I sought chose a career field that I wanted to enter in and start college for. Since I possessed such a passion for writing, I wanted to become a journalist, a writer as my first choice. But, as I got to thinking, I realized that writing is more of something I do all the time. While I wanted a career that used my skills for God's glory, I also wanted to seek a career that would challenge me and combine a number of my skills. For these reasons, I decided to pursue a career in law, utilizing my writing, speaking, memory, and people skills all in one. However, I can firmly say that while law is a huge passion in my life, I do fully intend to become a writer, a published author of novels. And I will put my heart into that because it is a very monumental goal I hope to achieve for His glory.

My perspective on writing has greatly changed, as I no longer see it as something I do simply for my own benefit. I now recognize it as being a way to speak to people, to reach the hearts of many whom I may never meet. With this in mind, I still continue to write, with much more purpose and resolve than I ever have before I might add. If you must know what I have written in the past, here is the list: fictional novels, non-fiction books, tutorials, essays, articles, reflections, reviews, critiques, poetry, short stories, and posts on forums of course. I hope to add to that list as I continue through life, as I hope to add to my knowledge and skills in the field of writing. Even if the career in law does not pan out, I firmly believe that God will continue to direct my heart in the path of writing, as He has continued to do it for many years now; though, I am always subject to change. :)

And I think. . . that is it! I'm sure many of you are glad to have reached the end. ;)

Author:  Lady Eruwaedhiel [ October 27th, 2010, 1:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How did you start writing?

When did you start writing?

I'm still laughing about Arias's '8' comment. :rofl: When did I start...well, at a New Year's party one year, when I was about 9.

What caused you to get into it?

At said party, my friends and I were playing wolves. One other girl was very dramatic and kept saying things that triggered something in my head. Finally I started paying more attention to the 'plot' that we were working out. Of course none of them intended this, but the story held elements of tyranny, betrayal, love, loyalty ... the list goes on and on. By that time I had been reading for six years (I started reading at age four and was reading Laura Ingalls by age five) so I already had down some of the principles of story, as shaky as they were. I decided to make a story out of it when my best friend at the time said, very earnestly, in wolf form, "I came back to say goodbye." I knew I had to use it somewhere. :)

When you first started, why did you write?

I wrote to get down the things that were bouncing around inside my head. Later I wrote for the satisfaction I felt when I finished the story (as short as it was). Now, I write because I feel like it's my calling. I'm not sure if it is, but it's fun, and enlightening, and very satisfying, although at times it gets frustrating. :D

And how has your perspective changed since then?

Wow. Well, when I was nine, ten, and eleven, not much happened to change it. Then when I turned twelve, I wrote a short story for a contest that I saw on http://homeschoolwriters.com/default.aspx. After that, I was hooked on fantasy. I had just read Eragon and was looking for something like it, with cleaner values ... so I started writing it. Needless to say it was quite a rip-off at first, but I think as it has grown it's gotten much better, although I still find the occasional cliche. ;) I've learned so much it isn't even funny, and *gasp* I joined this forum! Woohoo!!

Author:  6stringedsignseeker [ October 27th, 2010, 1:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How did you start writing?

I used to love writing stories when I was a child... I seem to remember one called The Attack Of The Gobbly Goop Toothpaste, when I was in grade school for some kind of school assignment. I only wrote when I was required to by the teachers though lol. When I was in my teens, and played a lot of role playing games (the old fashioned kind) I used to create my own games from scratch, and would write out large pieces of the history of the world and people involved, campaign settings and quests, and all sorts of stuff like that just to make the game interesting. I started to write a fantasy novel, I'm guessing when I was 18, but I don't think I got past the 2nd chapter before I just didn't have time for it and came down with a case of writers block. I think that's what happened anyway. Years later I began writing my blog, and I guess that's what inevitably re-sparked that love and passion for creating stories. And now I'm writing To The Valley Of Dragons and enjoying every bit of it. I was afraid I would lose interest or come down with writers block, but now I'm working on chapter 8 and I have no plan to quit. :)

Author:  Seer of Endor [ October 27th, 2010, 2:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How did you start writing?

I merged this with Celestria's thread "What's Your Story?" since they both ask the question of how you got started writing. It was hiding on the last page of this room, so it's not Philadelphia's fault for not seeing it. I just figured that it would be prudent to tie the two together so that we're all on the same page.

Author:  Rachel Newhouse [ October 27th, 2010, 4:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How did you start writing?

Thanks, Seer!

I am very much enjoying hearing everyone's stories. It's wonderful to hear how God worked on and through each of you in different ways, yet so many of the stories have familiar rings to them.

But Me-el...!

Author:  Andrew Amnon Mimetes [ October 28th, 2010, 8:02 am ]
Post subject:  Re: How did you start writing?

Quote:
I first started writing on - promise not to laugh? - the Lego club online forums. There were some fanfiction threads going around, and I thought "I've got an idea... might as well try it!" So my first "real" stories were, in fact, fanfiction for some of the Lego lines. Really, it is okay if you laugh - it's pretty ridiculous. But the other clubbers loved my story, so I wrote another, and another, and my style rapidly developed. I grew out of the forums - my stuff was simply getting too long to post. It didn't take me long to realize that I loved to write, so I moved away from fanfiction to original ideas. And the rest, they say, is history.


LOL! That cracked me up (So I did laugh, but only because of how similar it is to my story)

I first started The Two Fathers (probably the only significant writing I've ever done) as a chronicle of a game with LEGO pieces my siblings and cousins and I played. We created nations and governments and races and all sorts of stuff...and then I decided to make a story out of all the 'history' I had recorded. (The first version of Zacire ended up being about two thirds of the book Zacire reading out of this old book that was basically the LEGO game. (Oh, and Elanhil's guilty for the LEGO Game too, so I'm not the only one. :D)

That wasn't the first writing I'd done, however. I'd been writing those elementary school style stories (about a page long) since third grade, and in fifth grade I attempted a historical fiction novel about WWII Germany. I wrote it, and actually still have the original text (in my handwriting), but I wouldn't ever show it...it's seriously pathetic. :)

Then I moved on from that and in seventh grade started attempting 'Onulas' which was going to be a three-part series about seven kids that got taken into a magical land called Onulas accessed by a doorway. Sound familiar? ;) Yeah...I condensed the whole story into one seven page short story...and abandoned that.

Enter Zaciré in eighth grade, which is about all the writing I've done since. :) Other than some non-fantasy short stories.

What caused you to get into it?
Well, I guess I was inspired by two teachers. In fourth grade I had a teacher called Ms. Cassie that really got me into writing short stories. In sixth grade I had a literature teacher named Mrs. Sudo (one of the only Christians in a secular school...that was really a blessing) who stretched my personal life with faith and connected it to my writing. I studied the Screwtape Letters during lunch period with this teacher, so that year of literature class (and creative writing) really influenced my writing ideals.

Why did you write?
Well, to finish a story...to publish it. :D Hasn't happened yet though. Around sixth to seventh grade my perspective did start to shift in the way I wrote, but it was definitely subtle, and had more of an impact on my short story writing.

--

The Lady E wrote:
I had just read Eragon and was looking for something like it, with cleaner values ... so I started writing it. Needless to say it was quite a rip-off at first, but I think as it has grown it's gotten much better, although I still find the occasional cliche. ;)


If this is the Carseld Chronicles I'm visibly impressed. :D

--

eruheran

Author:  Lady Eruwaedhiel [ October 28th, 2010, 5:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How did you start writing?

'Tis, eru. Impressed? Why?

Oh, and I'm not calling it the Carseld Chronicles anymore. It's now Andun's Victim, after the invading country. I figured out I didn't want it to be the Carseld Chronicles because all of the future books aren't in Carseld.

Author:  The Wolverminion [ October 28th, 2010, 8:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How did you start writing?

When did you start writing?

I helped my brother with two stories before I gave up at age 13. One of them reached a grand total of about 200 words, the other barely topped a thousand. But then I picked up writing at age 15.5, in February/March of 2007. Before that I hated English. My favorite subject in school was Science. Now, I'm pursuing a PhD in English and sending novels, novellas, and short stories to publishers, editors, and agents. Science is now my least favorite subject.

What caused you to get into it?

A really crazy camping trip I went on the previous September, during which the temperature must have stayed below 45 degrees F, and it rained almost the whole time. All in all, it was a great trip. My main influences were the Lord of the Rings (I wanted to create something epic), and the short stories of Patrick McManus (I've always had a knack for humor.)

When you first started, why did you write?

I wrote because I wanted stories to send to people. I didn't have hundreds of ideas bouncing around, and I never dreamed I'd actually finish a novel. I just kept typing away, probably somehow knowing subconsciously that this was what I was meant to do.

And how has your perspective changed since then?

Well, after my first four novellas and numerous failed attampts at stories, I finally finished a good novella, a novel, and two collections of short stories that people really like. NOW I have hundreds of ideas bouncing around and a multitude of characters sharing my mind. I've written around 625,000 words and I get in about 60,000 more every month. (Note: At the beginning of 2010 that count was only about 350,000 words. Thanks to Daniel Schwabauer and his OYAN curriculum and forum and all the great writers there, I've learned a lot and consequently writing comes much easier to me.)

Author:  Arias Mimetes [ October 29th, 2010, 1:37 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How did you start writing?

Lady Eruwaedhiel wrote:
I'm still laughing about Arias's '8' comment. :rofl:


lol okay, so maybe I need to mention I don't find writing immature :P

I was going to see if I could figure out when I actually started writing, but there's nothing that old on my zip drive and even if I dug out the original writing (do I still have it, come to think of it? O.o) I don't think it has dates on it.

Author:  Lady Vilisse Mimetes [ October 31st, 2010, 12:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How did you start writing?

I started writing, hm..... I think it was around 2001 (at 9-ish) though I have found some evidence that proves I wrote before then. (a short story -1.5 pages- and a picture book my mom helped me make)
In 2001 I was really into Redwall and had just watched the first LotR. Apparently that was all the inspiration I needed :cool:
My first idea was mainly a rip-off of Redwall. All the characters were animals and such, but I thought I still had a good story idea. (That idea has actually stayed and solidified over the years and I still hope to write it.)

I've dabbled a bit into poetry, but (as my mom says) I'm very 'novel' minded, in the sense that I can't write anything that might be under 1/2 an inch thick :P (it's a curse, I know it!) I just have to have complex stories *sigh*

Author:  Elly [ November 1st, 2010, 2:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How did you start writing?

I started writing stories when I was about 6/7. :) I had always loved to read and I liked making up my own princess/knight/adventures. :rofl: Now I'm more serious now. Last year I did the YWP Nanowrimo for the first time, getting 23,594 words. When I read that story this year, I realize how much my stories have improved. :roll:

Author:  Caeli [ November 1st, 2010, 3:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How did you start writing?

My sister is the one who first started me writing, and sometimes I wonder if she is ever upset about giving away some of her secrets, but then, she is the one who is always telling me that she should just give up and let me be the writer while she edits. (She wants to be an editor, by the way) Coming from a much older sister, who has very, very good taste in books and knows when do be harshly honest, this is great!

The funny (and please pardon the pun) thing is that, even though I love serious stories and poetry, my humor is what really shines in my writing. If I write something funny, chances are the scene will be great. This makes it interesting when a character dies...Oh yes, that's something else I do. I kill characters only to yell 'gotcha!' before they show up again, very much alive. :D

A hobby right now is 'helping' my little brother write some stories--involving giant grapefruits, pirate brothers, Superhuman-ducks and a queen named Muffalunasalashina.

Author:  Aemi [ April 20th, 2011, 10:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How did you start writing?

I started writing when I was...nine. That's when I wrote my first story of substantial length. The setting was: my house. The characters were: me and my sisters. But I changed our names and appearances.
I actually finished that story two years later, and intended to write a sequel. Of course, the writing is not near as good as I thought at the time, but it's not too bad.
However, it really started before that, when I would play games for hours on end, by myself, or with my little sister. I would let her be the main character, and I would be everybody else, and tell the story. (We usually played that we were riding horses, or were horses ourselves.)
When I was about fourteen, I think, that little sister started writing stories. All the time. I read them, and I kept thinking, "I think she should have done it that way," or "Why is she stuck here? I could think of three more pages." And story ideas of my own kept coming to me. So, finally, I started writing. And I love it.

Author:  Cadenza [ April 21st, 2011, 6:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How did you start writing?

It seems like I've always wrote, in a way. Before I could write, I would get my family to dictate fan-fic for House on the Prairie, and I did the illustrating. My older sister wrote absolutely awesome stories, and so I wanted to, too.
I love to mull over my stories - often times its just a way to recreate a book that I really enjoyed reading, and didn't want to finish. It's embarrassing to see how much some of my stories copied books I'd read. It's just that those writers had such good ideas! :P

Author:  Phillip Emunah Mimetes [ April 22nd, 2011, 1:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How did you start writing?

Aemi wrote:
that little sister started writing stories.


Is that the second oldest or third? (didn't want to say their names...)


Anyway, I started writing when I was around 10, and yes, like everybody else, I hate them now, they were all based off Power Rangers/Super Hero's/etc...


When I joined Holy Worlds I started writing my first Fantasy book, if you all remember it was called Dragon Wars :P.

After I finished DW, I did a Warrior Cats rip off from the Warrior Cats book series by Erin Hunter called Warriors of the Forest (duh! :roll:), I got to around 12k words and stopped.

After that I started a LotR rip off called The Elves of Valantria, which I am still working on :roll:, after I got to about 10k words with TEoV I couldn't think of anything more to put into it.

So then about one month ago, I started my first ever historical writing, and that blossomed into S.O.S Titanic, which I think is the BEST book I've ever written (Which I've only finished about 4 books! :P)

And now I've started a new book called The Keeper, I haven't written too much in it yet, but I'm slowly working on it... :dieshappy:

Be careful when you listen to music, it might inspire you to write something different :shock:


Thats how I started writing, ;)

Author:  Aemi [ April 22nd, 2011, 1:49 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How did you start writing?

Sir Phillip of Valor wrote:
Aemi wrote:
that little sister started writing stories.

Is that the second oldest or third? (didn't want to say their names...)
That would be the third oldest. :D
And Justin, I was very interested in The Elves of Valentria. Fascinating premise.
And seriously, your stories are getting progressively better.

My earlier stories were mostly inspired by things that I want to do, but know I never shall. My first book was about a girl (me) who mysteriously shrinks to 3 inches tall.

Author:  Lady Elanor [ April 22nd, 2011, 2:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How did you start writing?

For me well, Mother says I started reading at a very young age. Then I never put books down, I collected them, I had stacks and stacks of them in my room! I have no space for more now so I have bought a Kindle! Well, I was homeschooled and Mother always let me write my own stories, she always encouraged me to use my imagination and creative writing. I was writing stories at a young age, I used to write stories for Mother and leave them on her bed! :rofl: Now when I find them in her Bible or tucked into her desk I laugh so much at how cute and silly they were and oh the misspellings! But my love of writing grew and at 12 - 13 I was writing a book. I have never stopped writing, reading and I love it so much, it is like escaping into my own world.

Author:  Phillip Emunah Mimetes [ April 25th, 2011, 8:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How did you start writing?

Aemi wrote:
Sir Phillip of Valor wrote:
Aemi wrote:
that little sister started writing stories.

Is that the second oldest or third? (didn't want to say their names...)
That would be the third oldest. :D
And Justin, I was very interested in The Elves of Valentria. Fascinating premise.
And seriously, your stories are getting progressively better.



Thanks! I haven't been doing good on TEoV, I'm still trying though... :dieshappy:

Author:  Celestria [ May 1st, 2011, 10:01 am ]
Post subject:  Re: How did you start writing?

I can't believe I forgot all about creating this topic! Silly me.

I love hearing about how everyone started writing. Aemi, I started much like you even down the the horse part! Except I was twelve and I always wrote little unfinished excerpts about me and my cousins.

My cousin asked me why I like writing so much the other day. I couldn't figure out how to respond without sounding like I was completely insane.

"It's like watching a movie, only you're one of the characters and can switch to a different MC's POV."
"MCPOV?"
"It's like mind reading."
"Oh."

:D

Author:  Emilyn [ February 15th, 2012, 12:19 am ]
Post subject:  Re: How did you start writing?

It began on a Christmas night when I was five or six, I think. It was before we left to go to a Christmas party, and I didn't have a gift to give anyone.
I sat down with a pile of small squares of paper a few inches tall and wide, and I drew pictures telling a story of a hero saving a princess(lol).
I stapled the pages together with my Mom's help and brought it to the party and gave it to a girl a little older than me.

After that I began drawing more pictures that told stories, stapling them together into little books. Now my drawings weren't that great. lol, they were like stick figures wearing clothes, and then I would color them afterwards.
My mom would write the words for me as I dictated them to her, sometimes on one side of the page, the picture on the other page.
When I got to be ten, I started typing stories into the computer(but I never finished them, lol).
Then I got more serious about writing around eleven or twelve, after I had read my first favorite fantasy books(The door Within Trilogy).
And now I'm fourteen(almost fifteen), working hard on my books.

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