1. Leatherworth Featherfist

    Leatherworth Featherfist New Member

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    The "What got you into writing?" Thread

    Discussion in 'The Lounge' started by Leatherworth Featherfist, May 8, 2011.

    What got you into writing?
    Was it a book you read?
    Was it an innate interest?

    Have you been writing your whole life, or are you fairly new to writing?

    I used to write a lot as a child, though I never really realized the significance of my interest until about two years ago.

    I think the book that really got me inspired to pursue writing was Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. This was the first time I realized how powerful writing could be. I haven't looked back since.
    I also had an English teacher in my first year of college that made writing really appealing to me.

    I get frustrated when I can't express myself correctly when I'm talking to someone. Writing a more effective way for me to express myself, and it has helped me express myself more clearly when I talk.
     
  2. Trish

    Trish Damned if I do and damned if I don't Contributor

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    Haha.. actually? The same thing that got me into reading. My sister could read and I couldn't (she's 2 years older than me) and it ticked me off. I read constantly and have since the second I could. My sister could write and I couldn't, I learned and I wrote everything I thought, lol. If it popped into my head I wrote it down. That led to stories, poetry, etc. I'm mildly competitive :p
     
  3. funkybassmannick

    funkybassmannick New Member

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    When I was little, I was always folding and stapling together paper to make little books, and then I'd write a story and illustrate it. The earliest one that I can remember is a story I wrote when I was 4 or 5 about a pilgrim hunting a turkey for thanksgiving, and how he had to chase him all over the countryside, up and down a mountain and through a corn field. In the end, the turkey outsmarted the pilgrim, but I forget how.

    I started my first novel in 6th grade, or attempt at a novel. I only got 10 pages and then was frustrated with how bad my writing was so started a new project. The same thing happened, I got frustrated with how bad my writing was so I kept starting new projects before getting too far into the old project. I think my writing skills improved much faster than I could complete a story. It took me a long time to figure out you can just start over from scratch and re-write the whole thing.

    I always knew I was a writer, but it was hard for me in high school when I started to do essays. I thought essays would come as naturally to me as storytelling, but they proved to be very difficult for me. I went through a brief time when I was convinced I was a terrible writer because I could barely persuade anyone to believe anything in a two-page, five-paragraph essay. Then I realized non-fiction and fiction writing are not the same thing and I was like, "Oh yeah, I am a writer, just not with essays."
     
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  4. dizzyspell

    dizzyspell Active Member

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    Great thread!

    My Mum actually got me into writing - appropriate for Mothers' Day, no?
    She wrote me stories and poems as soon as I was born, and as soon as I could (around 2 or 3) I joined in. My ideas were hardly masterful, but I had them! Soon after that, I had her transcribe stories I came up with. They were pretty bad, haha.
    Then she taught me a bit of reading and writing before I got to school, anf I started writing proper stories on my own at about 5 or 6. They were unequivocally about dogs. My school banned me from writing about dogs because I did it so much. Cool kid, ay?

    But yeah. Go Mum! :D
     
  5. Killer300

    Killer300 Senior Member

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    I got into it from reading 1984. George Orwell affected the world with that book, and I guess I wanted to do the same thing. I want to profoundly affect my reader, both emotionally and intellectually. That started me down the path of writing, which I came to love. Fanfiction helped too, but that's another story.
     
  6. Yoshiko

    Yoshiko Contributor Contributor

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    Fanfiction. I was impatient in waiting for Insomniac to release the fourth Spyro the Dragon game. Turns out they sold the franchise and the next developers completely ruined them (IMO). My stories were way better.
     
  7. Youniquee

    Youniquee (◡‿◡✿) Contributor

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    My brother when I was 9/10, he wrote so it was natural of me to copy~ But then in Nov 2010, we got media coursework that involved making up our own movie. I used an old story of mine and I developed it further for the coursework. Then randomly out of nowhere, my heart said. 'You're going to write a novel and finish it.'
    And here I am today.
    I'm fairly new to writing, the stories I wrote when I was 10 don't count lol.
     
  8. hiddennovelist

    hiddennovelist Contributor Contributor

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    That's so funny because that's kind of how I was, too! My sister is one year older than me, so anytime my parents would try to teach her something, I was like "seriously? Pay attention to me!" and I would learn how to do it.

    I don't really remember "getting into" writing, I just always remember doing it. All the way through school, I got into trouble because my teachers would bust me writing when I was supposed to be listening or taking notes. :rolleyes:
     
  9. Eunoia

    Eunoia Contributor Contributor

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    I have no idea. My parents say that I've always been scribbling away as far as they can remember, so I guess I was born to be a writer. ;) Or something. :p
     
  10. Jayyy1014

    Jayyy1014 Jerrica Contributor

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    I've been writing practically all my life, and what got me into writing was actually just life alone. I constantly have mixed emotions in my head Either sad/depressed and occasionally maybe happy, but Instead of keeping them bottled up (which I found out you should not do) I picked up a pen and Started writing.. So yeah lol. :)
     
  11. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

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    no clue... just seem to have been 'born' to do it, though it took me till my early 40s to be able to do it seriously and full time...

    i was a voracious reader of anything and everything from when i first learned how, so that may have had something to do with it, but don't know if that was the egg or the chicken...
     
  12. Melzaar the Almighty

    Melzaar the Almighty Contributor Contributor

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    Also been writing since before I could hold a pen thanks to my parents helping me out when I needed something written. :D I actually started as more of a poet, but I was writing short stories by age 6 or so, and I had plenty of finished novels under my belt by the time I was 10 :p
     
  13. Mercurial

    Mercurial Contributor Contributor

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    I've always preferred my own, made-up world over reality. I always made up little games or liked to retell Disney movies the way I would have written them... I was read to as a little girl like every other little girl, and I remember being two or three and being frustrated that my mom knew how to translate the symbols and I didn't.

    I also think being bored contributed to it. I was an only child growing up in a neighborhood that was pretty dangerous until I was around 6, and so staying inside and being quiet lends itself to only a few things, really.

    We moved into a different neighborhood when I was about 6, and the neighbor girl (who became my best friend for a long, long time) showed me the joys of putting words on paper. :) We read each other's stories and wrote joint stories and would act them out... It just always seemed more fun to be someone else.
     
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  14. Taylee91

    Taylee91 Carpe Diem Contributor

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    ^Haha, this is a very good question!

    The number one thing that got me started -- was a very, very bad movie. You don't know this about me, but I can't stand lame movies. Nothing aggravates me more than wasting two hours of my time on one that just plain sucks.

    So after watching this certain movie back in '08, which I will not name in case any of you guys did like it ;), I decided I'd write my own story, my own version of it. My story of course didn't have the same characters or anything but had the same scenario.

    Sad to say, I have yet to finish it. But I know someday I will.

    Haha, so that's what go me started :rolleyes:
     
  15. Demented_Thoughts

    Demented_Thoughts New Member

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    What got me into it was in 7th grade they introduced a creative writing class in my school. Out of curiosity i joined it and i fell in love. Writing poetry and short stories it was the best and it was something i was good at. After 7th grade i quit for a very long time. Moved to NJ and the schools here had creative writing classes. Joined back in the class and was in love once again.

    During the class we were given a book to read towards the end of the year. It was my 1st Stephen King Novel every read (Carrie). It intrigued me and i thought i want to write stories that make people feel that way. I want to write and have people look forward to reading my work.

    Poetry was mostly my interest. i was good at it and could make poetry fit into anything. But as i got older the poet in me kinda died and wanted more than just that. I began writing shorts and now it's all i love to do.

    I'm not new to writing i've been published (Got stiffed and should of sued but didn't) I still have alot to learn on the story writing and things though but the learning is fun and i'm learning something new daily :)
     
  16. Jessica_312

    Jessica_312 New Member

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    What got you into writing?
    I'm honestly not exactly sure? I know my mom used to have "reading nights" with my brother and I when we were young, when we'd sit together and take turns reading books out loud. We used to read a lot of the RL Stine "Fear Street" series, so from a young age I really liked the supernatural thriller type books (which probably explains why the first "book" I ever "wrote" was an "illustrated" "novella" entitled "The Ghost at Gurnee Mills"... no joke - come on I was in like the first grade LOL). I also used to love the Babysitter's Club back in the day LMAO! But really I've been "writing creatively" since the first grade, I guess you could say.

    I remember in 3rd Grade we had a writing exercise (Halloween theme - haunted house), and basically we'd fill in the blanks of a story that was already "frame-worked" (eg the teacher would tell us to write, "I walked in the front door and I saw ____", and we'd have to fill in the blank). Well, naturally, I went off on a tangent and added a lot more to it. During parent-teacher night, teacher told mom about my "in class" assignment and said she strongly believed I'd be a published author one day. Man, if only that were true right now LOL (Still working at it!) But that teacher's encouragement (and my mom's) made me more serious about being a writer.
     
  17. DeNile

    DeNile New Member

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    When I was little I always used to play pretend, it started with my sister and our dolls in the bathtub, and later moved on to a game we used to call 'crate kids', which was about two little girls trapped in a train car going to China and their escape.

    But what really keyed me into high gear was my friend, Ian. I met him in fourth grade, he was the weird kid, the one in the corner of the playground with the pylons marking his area. He played 'pretend' by himself, I thought he looked funny, moving around as he did, so I went to see what he was doing. I said hi, he was confused, he didn't have any friends.

    We ended up talking and I got to hear about his fantasy world with the 'Elementalists' based on bionicle toys. It was definitely the most fun I had, those recesses from 4th to 6th grade.

    We went our separate ways in 7th grade, and I was lonely. I didn't really have any other friends that would play with me like that, LARPing I think he called it. So I started writing. Characters, plots, random poems, everything started spinning together beyond anything I'd ever written before. I went through the dictionary, I Googled tutorials and tips for young writers, I read. And read and READ. It was during this time that I also discovered fanfiction, which I still read actually because I don't have a nearby library to go to.

    Ian came back in 9th grade, and by then I'd come up with another way to fill the void left by his departure, Farfetched City and Farfetched High. The first full out world I'd ever discovered. I kept writing, first Farfetched High and then beyond, above, anything and everything that came into my mind. It was with the encouragement of my new friends that I realized I was a good writer, and started making new worlds and stories. Now, now I am in the process of writing my first novel, my friends are reading bits and pieces of it as I want feedback on certain plot points, and I finally have an overarching plot.

    Though there is one thing I've noticed, I always write poetry off the top of my head, but writing anything else takes focus. Am I just a natural poet or something? It's interesting.

    So here's to you Ian! Thanks for making my world so much brighter, and for starting the inspiration I've held onto for 7 years, all the way back to our pretend worlds on the playground, back when we had no one but each other.
     
  18. Annûniel

    Annûniel Contributor Contributor

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    I've been writing for as long as I can remember. That isn't as impressive as it sounds as I don't remember much from my childhood, but I'm sure I've been writing since I started school. I don't really know why I started, why does anyone like the things they do?
     
  19. Dreamworx95

    Dreamworx95 New Member

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    It happened when I was about 9 years old and I read the Princess Diaries. I was a very avid reader before that, but when I read that book I thought, "I want to be just like Mia! I want to write all the time and be a vegetarian and an environmentalist and a princess too!"

    Haha. Fortunately I have developed my own identity. The only thing Princess Mia and I have in common now is the writing thing.
     
  20. Gigi_GNR

    Gigi_GNR Guys, come on. WAFFLE-O. Contributor

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    My 4th grade teacher used to have creative writing day on every Thursday, where the students had the opportunity to write & share their own stories. I spent the beginning of each week and the days after Thursday writing stories for Thursday -- one-segment stories, weekly installments, everything. Mr. Krueger (the 4th grade teacher) was super encouraging, complimentary, constructive in his criticism and generally my biggest inspiration to date along with my 7th grade English teacher. He also got me into the Artemis Fowl series. :D
     
  21. spklvr

    spklvr Contributor Contributor

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    I was always making up stories with my toys and stuff, and when I learned to write at age 5 I kind of just started to write them down. I wasn't even a big reader until several years after that (at around nine). When I started reading a lot, my stories got a lot more complex and no longer centered around me. At eleven I had written my first (horrible) novel. I didn't consider it done until I was 15 though, but I finished what I now call the first draft at eleven.
     
  22. Nightshade

    Nightshade New Member

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    I think we all did that with our toys! Or at least I hope we all did....

    I was addicted to reading as soon as I started to learn and used to take home and finish a book from school every night, I often had to start on the books from the year group above me because I'd finished everything the school had on offer for my year group when I was in primary school! I started writing around the same kind of age, usually little poems and stories that made absolutely no sense. I got a lot of encouragement from teachers, as most children do, so I kept at it. It lulled a bit in my first couple of years at secondary school because writing wasn't 'cool' but I got itchy fingers and had to pick up a pen again. I can't imagine a day going by when I'm not writing something now! A lot of my more serious novel writing started as competition between myself and my brother. He wrote a lot of fantasy books but he gave up on novels and now writes screenplays, radio plays and comic books whereas I dropped the angsty poetry I wrote as a teenager and got into novels.
     
  23. Gigi_GNR

    Gigi_GNR Guys, come on. WAFFLE-O. Contributor

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    My favorite teachers have always been the ones that were the most encouraging about my writing -- my 4th grade teacher, my 7th grade English teacher and my print journalism teacher this year. :)
     
  24. funkybassmannick

    funkybassmannick New Member

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    Oh wow, I hadn't thought of that! Yeah, I was totally making up stories with my toys. Especially with Legos. I made all kinds of starships and moon bases, and had a blast enacting Space Operas.
     
  25. laci-b

    laci-b New Member

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    I’ve always had stories in my head. When I was younger, these stories are what helped me sleep through the night or ignore my brothers on long car rides (they still help with that). A few years ago, I had an English teacher who forced us to write stories despite our protests. It’s all thanks to her that I discovered the joys of writing.
     

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