Welcome to my life. Told about me, by me.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

The Beginning

I get asked often how I got started writing. I'm going to put it rather frankly: I used to hate to write.

Yeah, you read that right. I used to hate to write. Why? I think it had something to do with the fact that I wasn't able to write inside the requirements for my school assignments very easily. My teachers would always give me assignments with little imagination involved, and therefore, very little to work with. And if I made the mistake of writing something on my own and showing it to an adult, they'd ask me "Why can't you write like this in school?" Not to mention that the constant critiquing of my handwriting made me rather self-concious about my writing.

Then along came the oh-so-wonderful-A.D.D. Suddenly, I couldn't do a lot of things I hadn't had a problem with previously. I was dropped down to on-level classes, and none of my friends were in my classes. I didn't have anyone to lean on as everything turned upside down. I was, characteristically of me, stressing out, and I didn't know how to release it.

That's when I started writing. I never realized before that I could write without absolutely hating it. It was even more foreign to me that I was able to ENJOY it. I began to use writing as a way of letting out my emotions, and eventually, I began to write for the heck of it, even when I didn't need to release an unhealthy amount of anger and frustration without seriously injuring someone. Whatever its faults (and it has many), my A.D.D. lead me to writing.

I used to be an avid fan of the Maximum Ride series, enough so that I decided to check out the website. When I opened up the page, I accidentally came across the "Blogs" section. Scrolling through it, I realized it was filled with what I now call "fanfiction".

I'll try to explain fanfiction as simply as possible for non-fanfiction writers: it's a story written by a fan about a story already published. For example, if I were to write a story about Harry Potter's kids, it would be fanfiction. I don't own Harry Potter, but I own the plot. Fanfiction isn't limited to books either. I've seen fanfiction written about movies, anime/manga, TV shows... even video games.

While I was reading these stories, I was hit with an idea. I opened up Microsoft Word, and began to type. Soon after, I had finished the first chapter of my "Luna Ride" series.

I don't know exactly why I did, but I decided to post it. I opened an account on the site, and posted the chapter. The next morning, I logged on again, to see that two people had commented, both positive. This doesn't sound like a lot, but I was ecstatic. I had fans!

Luna Ride turned out to be my first completed "series", with 5 installments consisting of thirty posts each. I have started another story on the site, but I may take it down, seeing as the Maximum Ride series has changed enough that my story's facts are no longer consistent with the series. Then again... since when have I cared?

I continued posting, and my fan base grew and grew with every post I wrote. It now encompasses several hundred people and almost every continent, the one exception being Antarctica. Through another author on the site, I learned about my current favorite site: Fanfiction.net

Simply put, it's the world's biggest fanfiction posting site. For people like me, who simply cannot resist meddling in the lives of fictional characters, it's more than that. It's heaven on earth.

I do write original stories, however, fanfiction currently continues to take up most of my writing. I write poetry also, even though some people don't consider it poetry at all (I have issues with rhyming things). I have a few original ideas stored up for my future award-winning bestselling novel, but I'm keeping them a secret for now.

I really don't know what would've happened if I hadn't decided to look at the Maximum Ride website. All I know is that I wouldn't be the same person I am today.

2 comments:

  1. It's ok, most good poetry doesn't rhyme, according to my creative writing teacher! :)

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  2. Thanks, Sarah! Now I have more evidence to use against the haters. :D

    ReplyDelete