My mom pulled out a book I had started in the sixth grade but never finished. I had totally forgotten I had ever worked on it. It. Was. Bad. But because it was so bad, I couldn't put it down! It made me laugh, and made me groan. I was really into Animorphs, and even though I tried to do something really original, it might as well have been an Animorph fanfic. But reading it was a surreal experience. Even though I had completely forgotten about it, I remembered more and more about my emotional state at that age. It got intense. It was almost like I was really eleven and had traveled through time to where I am now, like some kind of deja vu gone haywire. It was really cool seeing how far I've come as a writer and all that. Even though the writing was terrible and derivative, the first few pages were pretty unique. I've already re-written them and I'm going to use them for a new book idea (staying clear of anything resembling Animorphs). I think it could make a really cool MG sci-fi, directly from the mind of someone in the target audience! Anyway, what were your first stories like? Have you gone back and re-read them? What was that like? And if you ARE in the sixth grade, save your work! Save everything you write. You might be able to make something really cool out of it now, but if it doesn't go anywhere, you can always revisit it in the future.
My first stories generated so much laughter from my friends I ceased writing for a while. Who would have thought naming your main character Peter like every other child's fantasy would garner such hysteria? I loved unicorns and fairies and elves. It all was a mash of fluffy pinkness, totally girlie as though something just vomited pepto bismol.
I used to read so many Goosebumps and Animorphs when I was a child. I had an addiction; I would literally stay in from recess to read. I have thought about collecting them all--but have yet to take the plunge. If I remember when Welcome to Dead House first came out does that make me old? I was seven or eight when that came out, and I was eleven when Animorphs came out. Time sure does fly.
I've only got vague memories of the stories I wrote in sixth grade, but my sentences were probably horrifically long and obscure at the time. :0 Anyway, if I remember right, one of them was this bizarre sci-fi story based on animal-human hybrids, space pirates and rediscovering the Earth after it was abandoned by the humans for some reaaaally long period of time. There was probably a new civilization in there as well xD The supposedly 'original' names kinda made me giggle when I reread it (I do still have it, but I don't know whether I wrote in in sixth grade or maybe one or two years later), and I did get quite a laugh from seeing what my writing used to be like - unfortunately I didn't experience something as strong as you did (errr, as in original poster, I dunno if I should call you by your whole name or a nickname or what, sorry). I got the same basic reaction though - it's stuck in my head since then and I'd really like to make something of it x3
I've lost most of my first attempts unfortunately. One of my first stories was about a female astronaut. I have a notebook of a half-finished mystery story. I was around 16 when I wrote it and majorly into Agatha Christie. It shows! Except I of course I wasn't able to easily create all those twists and turns... so basically, I gave up at some stage and turned to music. Fascinating to sometimes look back at my old stuff though!
I've found stories I wrote at that age... they usually make me laugh and cringe in equal measures. The most memorable one, which I've never been able to find despite continuous searching, involved a protagonist with a dead mother and a drug addicted father. However, I knew absolutely nothing about what I was writing, leading to such scenes where the father plops a sack of cocaine (think the size of a flour bag) on the table, despite them being dirt poor. I was trying very hard (and failing miserably) at being 'edgy'.
