I always liked writing stories. The first story I have was written when I was 7 about a fox and a chicken. When I was in junior high I was a loner, had very few friends. I used to write so that I could have a "life" to live vicariously through. I wrote myself as popular, beautiful and witty/talented/funny. I could have slapped the title, "Twilight" on it and sold it for a few million. (snicker) So full of angst! When I got serious about it, I wrote character backgrounds for characters I would enjoy writing. I have dozens of them. Most are fantasy based, sword/sorcery types, but they were fun to piddle around with.
Fanfiction! The first story I ever completed was Lord of the Rings fanfiction - truly awful stuff but I fell in love with writing and have loved it ever since. I think the feedback I got on FanFiction.Net really spurred me to try writing original stories. I don't write fanficton any more but it holds a special place in my heart for getting me into the whole wanting-to-be-an-author thing.
Haha funny you say this, because that's what got me into writing as well. It's slightly embarrassing to admit. I wrote soooo much Naruto fanfiction when I was younger. Not anymore, of course, but it is for sure what got me to love writing. I was always a big reader, but never a writer before fanfiction.
How I got into writing is actually very strange, to say the least. Through my first years of high school (when I was a handful), I failed both my English courses. This led to me having to take three English courses for each semester my senior year. I took very different courses (such as creative writing, the bible as a piece of literature, and tech writing) and fell in love with English. That was two years ago. Now I'm fully immersing myself and am eating up as much literature knowledge as possible, trying to make-up for all my lost years. My family found it to be one of the largest shocks of their lives because all of them had spent at least half theirs in field labor jobs and expected me to follow. Half the them disowned me for being a "useless artist", but I at least have some support now. Anyways, that's a little glimpse into the strange person known as Mingo. =]
In class I always enjoyed writing poëms and essays, but I had never really written a story... At 11 I stopped going to a public school and was home schooled. It was then that I actually wrote my first story (however bad that one was ).
My first actual memory of writing was in first grade, when I wrote a poem about fall: "I am a leaf that is falling from a tree. You see me on the ground - that is me. I come from an oak tree way up high, and when fall comes I float down through the sky." It's painful now, but my teacher loved it and pushed for me to read it over the elementary school intercom. When she finally convinced the principal I hadn't copied it, I was allowed to read it and my love of writing was realized! Throughout elementary school I wrote poems and short stories, participated in the county's Young Author's Program for two summers after third and fourth grade, and in fifth grade was finally "published" in a collection of what was deemed the best stories in the school district. That story was about a boy whose dead father came back to him as a ghost on Halloween. In high school I joined the staff of the literary magazine, had a few short stories and poems published, but mostly concentrated on short non-fiction features. I won a couple of awards from the Pennsylvania School Press Association (including the Keystone Award - the highest you can get!) but pretty much realized that non-fiction wasn't my thing. I took every creative writing course that my college offered but eventually moved away from short stories and poetry. I started a few novels but none ever lasted longer than the first few chapters. Then, in late 2007, I got an idea for a historical romance. I began writing it in January 2008, found a local critique group that summer, and have been working on it - and working with my group - ever since. I'm 65,000 words into it, shooting for a rough draft of 90,000, and can't wait to finish it so I can get started on my next idea!
in college about 2 years ago, i was sitting in my accounting class and my 5 main characters just hit me. i scribbled them all down on 21 pieces of scrap paper
When I was ten I was given a beautiful diary as a birthday present. It had Betty Boop on the cover and a locket. At the same time I read Ann Frank's diary. That was pretty much it. I haven't stopped writing since.
