There's probably several of these, but I couldn't find any recent ones so I guess I'll make this thread. So, as the title says, what got you into writing? When did you start writing? Where do you get your ideas/ inspirations? I'm really curious. Well, I made this thread so I might as well answer some of these questions myself. Well, what got me into writing was, I would get so bored, since I had no television, computer or any form of entertainment in general, so I would make my own entertainment. I started writing when I learned a bit about grammar, so I'm guessing around age six or seven. Ny inspiration comes from other books, TV, movies, cold showers, mowing the lawn and my pup.
When I was a lot younger, I read a lot. I mean, a lot. I read the first few books of Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series at about age 10/11. And I always dreamt of creating captivating stories like that. Then one day, I thought why not give it a go? So I did. And it was probably utter ****e, but I kept doing it, and still am. As for where my ideas and inspiration come from, they don't come from any one place. I find inspiration from everything from TV shows and books, to dreams, the news and what I see in everyday life.
Many years back I promised myself that I'd write a novel some day. Years passed, and I figured I'd better get to it. Thus, I started writing with an eye toward publication, around 1999 or 2000. Ideas come from everywhere--reading, television, conversation, observation, research. Usually it's taking some of this and combining some of that, asking, "what if?" Terry
When I was a baby, my parents always read to me, and at a young age (not quite sure exact age) they taught me to read. When I was about six, I found my older brother writing stories of his favorite book. I decided to try this and for some reason, wrote in blue highlighter in terrible handwriting about a bunny who gained magic powers to fly and all of his adventures. Feeling proud of myself, I showed it to my parents who made about five copies of it on our printer and binded it before handing out a copy to some of our family members. I was so proud of myself that I kept writing and to this day, I still remember that bunny.
lol It seems everyone has a book to work on, but most don't work on it. I'm glad you decided to write and keep your promise. That's awesome, I wish my parents read to me when I was a kid, but I guess they were too tired by the end of the day. Say, would you mind possibly letting me read that story you made? I just love reading stories made from young minds.
Well, I credit my mom with introducing stories to me. She taught me to read when I was three or four, so I was introduced to the idea of stories and their magic when I was really, really little. I always made up stories in my head when I was a little girl. I would watch movies like "The Lion King" and then want to keep the story going. So I did. I would act them out with little figurines with my best friend at the time. My favourite movie as a little girl was called "Harriet the Spy." I liked to pretend I was Harriet, which meant I had to find people to spy on. Which meant I had to dream up reasons they needed to be spied on. So I have always naturally dreamed up my own stories. I didnt get the idea to actually put pen to paper until I moved to where I live now. The first girl I met, a little six year old my age who lived across the street, wrote stories, and I wanted her to like me, so I started taking the stories I had made up in my head and acted out with toys and put them on paper. And voila. I became a writer. My first story was about a little six year old girl with brown hair and brown eyes and a purple dress who liked to figure skate. Interestingly enough, I was also a six year old girl with brown hair and brown eyes and a purple dress who liked to figure skate. I think I've gotten a little better since then...
If I can find it (somewhere in my house), I'll type it up and send it to you. Just don't expect too much...
What a coincidence, I used to play with figurine as a child too, but it's a little unusual for me since I'm a boy and we don't really play with stuff like that, but I was raised around females, so...Yeah. Harriet the spy, I remember that movie, when I saw it as a child it made me want to spy on people and I did and I eventually stopped. lol I don't know why but I feel compelled to say, how cute. Don't worry, I always expect very little, that way I'm never disappointed. ^^
My God, it was not just me!! My mother used to read to me when I was young, and I was about five she taught me to read. I started and couldn't stop. I read mostly books by brazilian authors, but I loved it so much and read all the time. I started reading Harry Potter when it was released here, but then I stopped and almost didn't read for years. I couldn't find something that I liked enough. Just when I started reading in English that I found good things again, and after reading so much, I have stories in my mind that I need to write.
lol I always knew I wasn't alone, but I still felt a bit alone. Hmm, I wonder what Brazilian books are like... I wonder what kind of stories you have in mind.
Well, the regional books I used to read were mostly about children that were detectives, discovering some crime, conspiration, etc... I think these kind exist in any language I have many stories in my mind, every day a different one lol
I've made up stories in my head as far back as I can remember. Every time me and my sister played with our ponies or dolls it fell to me to come up with a story for them to act out. When the story played out I thought up a new one. I've always loved reading and just imagining things. I have a wild imagination and I enjoy letting it run free. Writing was a way to do this. What made me get more serious about it was a sudden spark of inspiration for a novel when I was fifteen possibly fourteen. I forget. There's a lot I don't remember about that time. It became a form of escape when I started having severe chronic nerve pain. I lived with it for years before we found the cause. Writing was a way to get my mind off the pain. It truly was the only way I could engage my mind thoroughly enough to forget about it for a while. I lost my creativity for a time due to a lot of extenuating circumstances. The desire to write never died out though and now my creative spark is back and I'm writing again.
I suppose reading in general. I always had the ideas present in my head, but I think it was reading that would make me think. "Hey! I could do this!" Also, having a particularly boring life, and needing a bit of escapism...
How I started writing? Well, that's a story in itself. I always wanted to write but never believed I have the ability to do so. Something somewhere like a newspaper article or even a sad looking person on TV always sparked my imagination and I would think up so many stories just lying in bed, but as I said I never get it down on paper. In the mean time I was also carrying the burden of being a closeted gay (I still am).... guilt, loneliness (despite being a fairly popular guy), heartbreaks etc were all bottled up inside me and I desperately needed to get it out of my system, but I didn't know how. Then one fine day I read about blogs and immediately started a blog of my own, sort of an online diary where I could pour my heart out about my life as a closeted gay in a conservative society. Never thought anybody will read it. But it started gaining popularity and within a few months people sent me emails and stuffs from all over the world, telling me they really like my writing. Still, I never thought my writing was any good, I just thought the readers just identified with my situation and nothing more. But then in 2008, SanDiago Readers asked me to write two 800 words articles based on my blog. I wrote it and the editors there really appreciated my piece and told me encouraging words. In the same year, a writer included my blog as one of the best 10 blogs in her compilation for Irish radio station Talk Radio. They even ask me for an interview but I freaked out and said no. So, I finally realized my work was appreciated not because of its theme but because I was doing something right as a writer. I finally found the elusive confidence to write. I know it's just the beginning and I have a long way to go specially as a non-native English speaker, but I now know I at least have a chance to succeed in something I always wanted to do.
It's something that I have enjoyed from an early age. I remember a time in school, when I was about 12, I was asked to write a story as part of a school project. I did one about Vampires. It was about a group of three hikers who somehow managed to stay in Dracula's castle. During the night the hikers figured out who Dracula really was and managed to escape. It was a bit lame, but I enjoyed writing it. During my time at college I was introduced to the wonderful world of word processors. While I was supposed to be studying for my IT qualifications I was actually writing stories and other stuff like that. A lot of the ideas were rubbish, but through trail and error I have been able to hone my skills. I worked for several years since leaving college, unfortunatly I am now unemployed and I am working on my writing until another job comes around. I'm quite glad I've got something to focus on otherwise I would go mad.
I guess my beginnings are less romantic. I read constantly when I was young, but I don't remember any books in particular, and while I wrote stuff for school like most kids, I didn't have any aspiration to be a writer. Then I got to high school and started studying literature, the great books by the great authors, and I was hooked. But it wasn't an obsession with stories or anything like that (one of the first things any student of literature learns is that plot is ultimately unimportant), but with the mechanics of language, the technical aspects of writing, the analysis of how something as banal as language could produce these life-changing works of art. And so I began to write, not really to tell stories, or to deliver some kind of message, but to try and capture some of that beauty and inventiveness and mastery over language that I've grown to love.
Since birth my head have been boiling with stories in an almost explosive manner. I jumped to every venting possibility as possible, writing, drawing, larping, roleplaying, computer games...
I always liked the idea of writing, and I've always been a reader: I just love reading. Even as a child. I remember stealing and reading my sister's Stephen King collection, and my dad's Wilber Smith collection before I was out of my first decade. And when a small-time novelist visited my middle school it became a desire that as stuck with me, even after all this time. I guess my first ideas came from when I was at my grandfather's house. I never liked football, and that was always on: so to entertain myself I used to daydream, and make up stories; mostly about submarines to be honest, and wondering around large forests. Those kept me happy for hours. Ideas now come mostly from books and my expierances in life, and some video games, music, and sometimes the TV too. Though, I don't watch TV much.
Well all my life I've loved to draw. I would draw comic book heroes and characters from TV when I was younger and eventually I made up my own. When I finished a drawing I was proud of, I just couldn't stop myself from coming up with a story to go along with it. However, it wasn't until recent years I started to take writing more seriously. I'm still pursuing art as a career, but eventually when I feel confident in my writing abilities, I hope to pursue it as well. As for inspiration, it comes from anywhere really. I guess it depends on what I want to write. I really like science fiction so I like to see what NASA is doing or planning on doing, which can lead to some interesting ideas.
You expect me to remember THAT far back? lol I started writing screenplays and novels as soon as I could get my hands on interesting books (i.e. military hardware and military campaign books).
I've always enjoyed reading and was a book worm when I was a kid. When I got to college I took an intro to fiction class that really got me interested in fiction in general, then I decided to take a short story writing workshop class and really enjoyed it and have been writing ever since.
Other than reading, the first thing that really got me into writing was when I was in fifth grade, I loved this show called Jackie Chan Adventures (I'm sure of the younger people here know of it). My first "story" was basically just that show with different character names and more dragons, but over time I kept making up stories and stuff and by high-school I already knew I wanted to be an author (and filmmaker). Since then I've pretty much become obsessed with storytelling and art in general, and I believe that I was basically born to write. I can't imagine ever doing anything else with my life. My inspiration comes from literally everywhere. I kind of have the advantage of not sticking too much to one genre, and I've written and/or plan to write at least one novel in every major category. Mostly though my inspiration just comes from life in general. I love watching how people behave in social situations and then applying that to my work. I don't think I could ever run out of ideas of things to write. At any give time I have at least five possible stories going, not to mention all the things I've been working on for years (mainly an seven-part hard sci-fi and an epic fantasy series).
