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Monday, May 16, 2011

Putting a Question To Bed.

I’ve been hit with this question more than once in the past two months, so I’m going to answer it for you all here.

How did you get here (regarding my writing)?

I wish my answer had roots in my childhood, but sadly it does not. My mother wasn’t the type of parent who encouraged anything to do with reading or writing, aside from what was necessary to get through school … and even then, it was more of suggestion that I do my school work than anything else.

So I can pinpoint the exact month and year, and book that threw me into this fantastically crazy thing we call writing.

April of 2009 I was all set to attend the University of Washington’s civil engineering program and then I read New Moon, by Stephenie Meyer. Take a minute and breathe. Go ahead and let your chin rest on the desk top, just don’t let it sit there too long.


Pick it up now, or I won’t continue.


I started on the second of the series because I’d already seen the movie. After finishing the last three I read the first book. I always do things a little fucked up and backward, but hey, that’s me and it works.
Upon completing the series, I decided, well, fuck I can write crap like that. So I set out to write my first novel. I also changed universities and majors: now majoring in English. 

But the novel is what we want to hear about. It's about Vampire Half-breeds...because we write what we know...blah, blah, blah. And of course I pantsed my way through it. Finished the thing in eight months, found an online critiquing website and started submitting.

Where I met JW Parente who is now one fourth of my writing group. *waves*

This is the first three lines EVER written by me in an attempt to formulate a novel:

The sun hadn’t broken the horizon and there I lay, awake. Another day awake before the alarm had a chance to sound. How I longed for that antagonizing beep.

Down, people. Put your red pens away; nobody wants to ruin their computer screens by correcting those lines. Put. Them. Down. Trust me, I know it’s bad, the rest of the novel will NEVER see the light of day, or the dark of night. I've thought, and not just once, about printing it out and burning it in the backyard,  but I value trees more than my own satisfaction of destroying my fledgling attempt at perfection.

You tell anyone how bad it is, JW and I will…well, you can guess what I’ll do ;-)

And there you have it: the catalyst that jolted me into the game, and the first lines of creative ever written by me. The rest is, well, history in the making.

Do you remember your first…

Book?

or

Lines?

I mean J

Happy reading. Happier Writing.

J

8 comments:

Melissa said...

I'm editing my first book right now. That being said, I've 'written' lots of stories before. I used to make up elaborate stories for my friends. I am a storyteller. Problem is, it's really hard for me to remain on subject when I talk... so writing is the best way to express that.

Thanks for sharing your first ever lines with us!

Summer Frey said...

I remember my first book. I was 9, and it was a romance. The main character, Raine, was 14 (because that seemed very old and mature at 9), and she was going back to public school for HS after having been homeschooled, and she was concerned about finding a date for a dance.

Are you riveted? ;)

Stephanie Lorée said...

The first book I ever wrote was an autobiography. It says, "My name is Stephanie and three years ago, I was hatched." I even did my own illustrations wherein I drew a small stick-girl jumping out of a cracked egg.

My mother still has it.

Later on, I wrote emo teen poetry and a story about a witch named Bianca who turned into a white tiger. Get it, white/Bianca? I thought myself very clever. My first "real" novel started with: "The sky was an eggshell blue blanket pulled tight by powers greater than she even tried to comprehend."

Ouch. My love for metaphors knows no bounds...

Scribbler to Scribe

Michael Di Gesu said...

You and I are the same... 2009 launched my first endeavor into the writing world. My crashing business catapulted me into writing my first novel.


I hope you're doing well, jodi.

Stephanie said...

I started to write my first book when I was 15, intended to be the first part of a series about a family of witches. Never finished it, and in fact I had more fun creating the character profiles and world details for that particular story and the half dozen attempts that followed.

Here's the first paragraph of that first story:

<“I refuse to tell them now.” Louisa Teyon shook her head vehemently. She wound up the Christmas garland she was holding and placed it in a half full box of decorations, then began to carefully pack away a porcelain nativity scene. She ignored the young man who was leaning against a wall just a few feet away.>

Yuck!

Since then, my writing has vastly improved, not that it could have gotten any worse. I adore online writing workshops. Critiques give me the kick in the pants I need.

KM Nalle said...

I'm editing book #1 now and wow, I suck (but I'm working on it). Started writing late 2009, took it seriously in early 2010. Meyer is what got me thinking about it too.

Roland D. Yeomans said...

A loving neighbor taking care of me had me write (ah, actually dictate while she typed) a GREEN LANTERN adventure. Hearing her read aloud my story cinched it for me -- I was going to be a writer one day. Roger Zelazny's THIS IMMORTAL inspired me to write my own myths. And the rest is infamy, ah, history as they say.

Great post, Roland

Matthew MacNish said...

I can't remember how I ended up here originally, but Stephanie Loree reminded me how awesome you are on my blog today.

She rules.