Every Writer Has Their Beginnings

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Each story has a beginning. You can't start one without it. It wouldn't make sense for you to start your novel with the ending where the hero defeats the dragon, or saves the princess. Part of reading a book is becoming involved with the hero and their world before the action starts.
 
Take Frodo for example. You need to see Frodo in his beloved Shire so you can understand his sacrifices as he carries the ring to Mordor.
Or in The Chronicles of Narnia, you see Peter, Lucy, Edmund, and Susan interact before they set foot in Narnia, setting up their relationship and their personalities.
 
 
 
 
 
 
And in the same way, each writer has a beginning. There was a moment in your life where you suddenly became a writer. Maybe it was when you were young, and you wrote tales about fairies and princesses, or your family. It could be that you started writing when you were older, and started to think up plots and characters, giving them goals and missions for their life.

When I was younger, (think really young, here!) I loved to write. I have a notebook with stories on random pages, filled with barely decipherable handwriting and misspelled words. Here's one of my first:


_______________
 
Mommy Here are some.
Daisys for you.
thank you Katie.
You are Welcome.
the end
________________
 
Genius, right?
(And according to my illustration I was a giant when I was younger and flowers were three times the size as peoples' heads.)
 
But after that phase of short stories, I stopped. The 'school' writing started to take away the fun of the creative writing. There were no more stories in my world until January of 2014.
And that's when I started my first novel.
 
It's been roughly a year since I started that first novel. It pains me to read my first draft. Every other sentence is cringe-worthy, and the writing is terrible. But (I think) I've improved. My writing is not nearly perfect, but it's better, and with every sentence I write, and every article I read, my writing gets a bit better, and my knowledge grows wider.
 
Let's go back to beginnings. Just like you can't start a story at its end, a writer can't skip ahead to the part where they're published. Creating a novel is a tedious path and takes lots of work. Writing is hard work. It will take time to get your manuscript polished. It's not something to do quickly.
 
I think every writer has their moments where they feel like their work is worthless. I've experienced it. But before you toss it aside, or consider it 'garbage,' take a step back and look at how far you've come. Look at the bounds you've taken since the beginning. You've made progress. You're getting better.
 
Byeeeee!
- Katie Grace
 
If you're a writer, when did your journey begin?
 
 
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22 comments :

  1. Katie, this is a great reflection on the stages of writing. The sentence you highlighted is so true: Writing and reading. It's an important learning process. There is a final stage: When someone reads your story or book and says: I really like it! All the best, you will reach this final stage!
    Konrad aka Opa

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  2. I always wrote when I was little I just was never serious about it. Then in March 2014 my dad told me he would help me get a book published and that's when I started getting serious about writing.

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    1. Ooh, that's awesome. We started writing about the same time!
      What is your book about?

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    2. It was a picture book I've been writing on and off since I was six. Now I'm mostly focusing on YA contemporary.

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  3. I've been writing stories constantly since I learned to write, and I've definitely made it a long way. I cringe when I read some of my older, yet more recent stories, but the older the stories get, the more I laugh at them instead of get embarrassed at them. It's so much fun to see how much I've improved.

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    1. Yes. I'm the same way. I can laugh at the older stories, but the newer stories... Oh dear.
      Have you finished a lot of stories?

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    2. Hmmm...well I've finished tons of short stories one novel. However, beneath that there are also a lot of unfinished stories, and I'm okay with that as long as I finish some of my writing.

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  4. Hey, Katie, I have to tell you one more point: My journey began when I lived close to my two grandchildren. Late, late! But not too late. When my granddaughter helped me to get the book into a perfectly nice format, that was a the end of my first book of 100 stories and poems.
    Of course it's much better to start when you and your great friends started!
    Konrad aka Opa

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  5. I started writing my first novel when I was ten because I decided "it would be cool." Little did I know, I'd started a journey so strange and heartbreaking and profound that I can't imagine myself without writing. :) You can imagine how painful looking at /that/ first draft is. I lock it under my desk so I don't have to look at it. XD

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  6. Hey! Visiting from the GTW link-up.
    That's a cool thought. I'm not sure when my story started... I remember writing stories with my cousins back when I was about eight or nine, so probably around then. :)

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    1. I think it's always cool when people started writing when they were younger and kept it up for such a long time. Good for you!

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  7. This is awesome!
    Well, I've always loved making up stories and writing, but I just really got into writing last year or so when me and some friends decided to write a novel together. and looking back on that now and reading it, i can see how much my writing has improved since then!

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    1. Thank you, Hannah!
      Ooh. Writing a novel with someone is very fun. I've tried it with a couple friends, but never got past the planning stage. xP
      That's awesome! :D It's always encouraging to see improvement, especially when you work on something so hard.

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  8. This was very inspiring, and will be so helpful to remember next time I get down. I started writing as soon as I could spell *cough cough*, and I have any number of those genius short stories kicking around somewhere. :P I never stopped, but don't think I haven't been tempted.

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    1. It's easy to get tempted to stop. I'm struggling with that right now with editing. :p I have no motivation whatsoever.
      And by the way, your username/thingy is awesome. :D

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  9. What a great post! Great job.

    I have several notebooks like the picture you posted. I remember crafting worlds for my My Little Pony figures to live and play in. I drew maps of thier world, made up histories for them, and mythologies and everything else. Ah yes, I knew I would always be telling stories then. Then my love of ancient history bloomed and BAM! My dream came into being. I wanna be a historical fiction writer.

    It's really neat looking back over my journey of loving to tell stories, to committing to write, to dedicating myself to the craft of writing. Wonderful post! Thanks so much for sharing!

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    1. Your story is awesome. I always admire the writers who have stuck through it since the very beginning. And I don't come across many historical fiction writers, so that's cool. :)

      Thank you for your kind words!

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