On Becoming a Writer

[Monica Poling]

Do you remember what book made you want to become a writer after you read it? Was there an aha moment of "I could do this," or maybe "I could do this better?"

Was a series of events? Did it start from childhood or were you older?

Monica

[Vickie Britton]

Because one of my sisters is also a writer, I believe that influenced me to try my hand at it, too. I read a lot as a child, and though I couldn't pinpoint my desire to write to any particular book, I think reading a variety of books influenced me quite a bit.

[Cathy]

I've always loved to read, but I can't say there is any one book that influenced my desire to be a writer.

I started two stories when I was in high school. Neither got past a chapter or two. Hand writing is slow and I think that is why I lost interest. That was the last of my writing outside of class assignments.

In the fall of 2001, I discovered fan fiction. I loved the old TV western series, so I looked up some of my favorites and read all of the stories that were available. Some were pretty poorly written, and I thought, "I can do that!" I started my first story shortly after that.

My first story (based on Lancer, a western from the late 1960's) was posted to the Internet in March of 2002. I got several nice comments, so I started another story and posted it. A short while later, I learned of a Lancer Yahoo Group and joined. I became even more excited about writing, then.

Once I got started, I couldn't stop. I'm still writing Lancer based fiction. I have also rewritten old nursery rhymes into Lancer rhymes, written some original cowboy poetry, and a few Christmas poems. My latest item was a poem for my parents' 60th anniversary.

Cathy

[Christopher Scott Silva]

I think for me it may have been - The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe. I loved this trilogy and wanted to write books like that too. I was nine I guess, that's when it started.

Chris

[Feria_Fairy]

The Chronicles of Narnia is not a trilogy, there are seven books in all.

[Martin White]

Mine really wasn't a book, it was my writing. I really never was a reader, I was a writer. I would write
stories and clever papers in school. I wrote everything with a flair, even book reports. In high school
I did take a wrting class. I guess that is what turned the table for me.

Martin D.White
Living the Simple Life
www.livingthesimplelife.com
Publisher:
Poetic Monthly Magazine
www.poeticmonthly.com

[Miranda Mayer]

I liked to write from the moment I could. A set of pens and lined paper were a superior gift for me than any other gift. I was a weird kid, and my barbies weren't fashion dolls, but were a collection of characters for epic stories that spanned years.

However, I can tell you for certain my desire to become a writer was fostered mostly by my fifth grade teacher by the name of Wendy Pamay. Ever the creative person, she had many ways to generate creativity in her classrooms (so much so, it often caused problems for her because she apparently didn't push sciences and math enough)... either way, she encouraged us to write stories, had us format them neatly on fine paper with fountain pens, illustrate them, bind them into books. We performed abridged versions of shakespeare plays for other classes, made mobiles to understand homonyms, had a 'book nook' in the back of our classroom where we were encouraged to read at anytime during the day, performed chorals of books like Beowulf, and studied the vikings and the gauls and romans using really cool comic books.

It's sort of amazing now to know how easily one person can have such a profound effect on your life.

[Barbara A. Barnett]

I was always a big reader, but it was my mother rather than a book who who got me to start writing. I was about 8 years old and had made up some little adventure with my stuffed animals that I wanted to show her. She was busy, so she said "Why don't you go write it down?", probably not thinking that I actually would. But I did, and the result was a little 3-page handwritten play. Ever since then, writing down all the wacky stories that pop into my head has seemed the logical thing to do.

[GentleWind]

In our house, the Reader's Digest came every month and I would make a beeline to the vocabulary section, so I could learn more words to express myself (I was 9 yrs. old). My dad never got the magazine until I was finished! I believe I have always had a love for words and their potential beauty. I have written poetry most of my life and loved using words to help people see the beauty of God's creation. Several books of poetry was always at my side as I wrote. I just wanted to experience the many places the writers wrote about and see through their eyes and hearts.

[Diane Watson]

My mother taught me to read before I started to school. Ever since I have been a voracious reader. She encouraged me. We lived in a very small town in Louisiana and she would tell me of a whole other world outside of where we lived. I have always had a book or magazine with me. The past several years have been difficult for me. I am now disabled after working 23 years as a nurse. I wondered if I could put feelings down on paper and have been trying. My work is amateurish and can't seem to find the mixture of feeling to paper but I keep on trying. Writing is very important to me. I may not ever get published but I am working on a dream when so many others have been lost. Reading teaches me things and takes me places where I could never go and hopefully one day I can write something that others won't be able to put down. For now I just keep on writing.

dedelite1

[Gray]

The "aha" moment for me started when I was 17 years old and in my last year of high school. Back then, I was primarily interested in the sciences with a vision of medical school. My school was not so advance for its time and other than the usually English classes, I was not interested in anything literary. My English teacher had us, as a creative writing exercise, keep a weekly journal for creative writing. I took off, realizing a latent talent for writing. I even wrote a novelette that year in installments. She greatly encouraged me. For four years after that I continued with my writing but then stopped. I have only recently picked up the pen (or keyboard, now) and continued with a passion.

[Christopher Scott Silva]

Gray, after reading your poetry. We're all happy you started to write again.

Chris

[Sheila Deeth]

No book really. I started telling stories before I could write, then learned to write because the pencil was less scary than the big bad microphone that the teacher was threatening to record me with.