When you were 16, what stage were you at as a writer?

Have to say, I had the same experience. It doesn't even stop at high school. Actually, it was WORST in college. The required english courses involved a professor picking random pieces of writing from a thick anthology tome. Barely anyone enjoyed them and no one understood them fully until it was broken down with explanations of ancient references in order to squeeze meaning out. Entirely useless and yet the extent of the required literature. The electives were fantastic at least, but also sort of useless. English professors don't seem to understand that people would like practical knowledge in college. If I wanted a reading club I'd have joined a free one at the library. My scifi/fantasy class introduced me to amazing stories but offered little else in the grand scheme of things. I don't even recall writing essays in that class.

 

I came from a family that could read, but didn't. Writing was something I did just because I did it, but I didn't tell anyone about it.

 

Here, an excerpt of something I wrote when I was 15 years old:

And here's a snippet from my favourite scene that I wrote some time last year: (context: narrative character is a dryad, and her sisters are fellow dryads - tree-creatures)

I dare say I've improved But I think you can see echoes of my old writing in the new - only it's much, much better now.

 

I wrote a lot of poetry and emo journal entries about how crappy my life was and how mean girls are. Also theological or philosophical essays as I was a fairly deep thinker but still obviously had a lot to learn.

 

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I had considered getting a MA in English at one point, but then discovered that the schools I would have attended required an ENTIRE YEAR of studying John Milton. Seriously, what? No way was I putting myself through that.

 

What's the issue with John Milton?

 

Yes, exactly. I actually read some Milton (voluntarily) when I was younger ...my dad had a series of books that included Milton. (Can't say it galvanized me, though.) He was worth a bit of study, I suppose, but I don't consider him a literary giant worth a year of my precious life time. I would have struggled to work up something to say about his work in the dissertations I would have been required to do. Just ...no.

 

He seems interesting. Wrote paradise lost. A Renaissance writer. Couldn't have been that bad.

 

He led an interesting life, and had a lot to say (and a certain degree of political influence during his day in England), but I still don't think he's worth a year of intense compulsory study for a modern American English MA candidate.

Milton was more of a philosopher, really—both religious and political. I don't consider his writings themselves to be all that pertinent to today's concept of literature—and I read quite a large portion of Paradise Lost. When I think of all the other great, influential authors out there I'd love to be studying in depth for a year—including Shakespeare—Milton just doesn't make it for me. Milton had a lot of impact on writers in the 18th century, and a few later on. But his influence has waned since. A lot.

Interestingly (I just checked) the course requirements have changed a lot in the past 45 years since I was considering making this move. Milton is no longer required at the university I was considering applying for. So he's definitely not the flavour of the month any more.

 

I'd study his work.

 

Weird considering Milton wasn't even English. I had to do a year on Shakespeare, as well as all the Shakespeare I had to take in most of my other classes, so I'm very much Shakespeared out, but we really didn't do a lot of Milton other than when we were studying sonnetry.

 

Yup. My bad. For some reason I thought he was Italian. Brain's gotta wake up some days.

 

I stopped reading paradise lost, when he compared himself to Homer, but like "Well, I'm better, though!"

As for reading stuff for classes, well ... sure, 14-20 year olds might not always understand or like what they read, but you gotta have them read at least some of it, or they won't even know these books exist. I'm not sure I would've read Faust or The State if it wasn't for school. And I was 15 then. And sure, I didn't understand everything, but I actually liked both. That's what the teachers are for: They can incite genuine interest in their students.

 

Well, I'm probably fonder of some of the old classics than many of my generation ...my parents had a collection of them around the house, and I read quite a few outwith school (like Paradise Lost ...or most of it, anyway.) I was quite fond of Victorian-era writing in general. BUT I was already a voracious reader before I even started school, so 'boring' books wouldn't put me off reading. I'd just go read something else instead.

Funnily enough I disliked many modern writers more than the classical ones. I could never stand Hemmingway, never got to grips very well with Faulkner either. To be honest, I've never tried reading them again either, since leaving school. I just got so fed up with them.

I hated Dreiser's Sister Carrie when we were forced to read it ...yuk. BUT I've read it again since, not that long ago, and think it's fantastic. A real piece of Victorian American history as well as a damn good novel. But I wasn't ready for it, back when I was 16. It just seemed dreary.

I've had so many people tell me that they never read any books outside of classwork, and they haven't tackled a book since. They weren't encouraged to read at home, and school seems to have put them off reading altogether. That's the real downside of this. We have a few members of this forum who have claimed that they don't read and don't like to read ...yet they want to be writers!

Obviously there will be many reasons for a person's aversion to reading, but I'd hate to think that some of it was caused by school itself and forcing classics on pupils who simply aren't ready for them. Not all teachers are able to make classics interesting. =

 

@jannert -- I, too, love Dreiser's Sister Carrie. It's one of my all-time favorites. I don't think I would have really known what to make of the story or gotten much from it if I read it as a teen. But I read it for the first time not that long ago. I really enjoyed it. Yes, a damn good novel.

 

Oh wow. I really like this. The improvement is so clear,,, and your writing style is so pretty. Thank you for sharing this.

 

At 16 I was close to zero.
Just mandatory highschool essays.

 

I had a pretty decent pace going with a Super Smash Brothers Melee novel I wrote for a popular fanfiction site. I was 15 when I started, and worked on it throughout high school, if that counts. 60 chapters in......and then I quit. The story remains unfinished as of 12-13-2009, and the longest fanfic I've ever written. Haven't been able to finish another long fic since. I guess was more confident and wrote more than I do now. I want it back!

 

I wrote a lot more than I do today. I miss the days when I could write crap in volume without critiquing myself.

 

I started my book when I was about to turn 16. So when I was 16 I had a very cringy short version of it that bears no resemblance to what it is now. No one will ever lay eyes on that but me. Also, I was pretty new to writing seriously, but I was not new to crafting stories.

 

I had been writing as long as I could remember. When I was sixteen, I was publishing stories on wattpad and finished two books. I was actually better back then than I am now because I took such a long break, I became rusty.