Happy New Year!
Okay, so were you born to write? Did you know when you were a little tyke that being a writer would be your life?
I remember reading books when I was a kid, discovering language and stories. I loved it and always did well in English. I wrote a post about it a while back that some of you may not have read:
I'm lucky enough to make a living using words. I write TV and radio commercials, even though I am sick of it, which I have mentioned more than once.
But I always knew I would be a writer. Only in the past two years have I really gotten serious though. I used to write a lot of literary short stories, but never had them published. Discovering YA books recharged my dreams.
Speaking of writing, do you feel one can be taught to become a fiction writer? I think one can, but if you have a natural inclination for it, it's a lot easier.
It's like the first time I picked up a guitar. I could immediately play it. Not very well, mind you, but I could do it. My brother, on the other hand, can barely press his finger on the fretboard and pluck the string at the same time.
So, the question for the day: when did you know you would be a writer?
14 comments:
I was born to be a computer programmer :)
And yes, I think one can learn to write. It may takes years and plenty of manuscripts and lots of work, but definitely it's possible.
I knew from age 7 I wanted to write. I just didn't know what. Now I do. Now I just got to get it published. =)
Always. Really. I have written for as long as I can remember and I always knew I would write novels someday. I just didn't know when that someday would be.
Well, since I am a reading/writing teacher, I think 100% yes, you can be taught to write and write well. I tell my students the entire point of writing is communicating effectively.
However, writing a novel is a whole other realm of writing - very different from poetry or narrative or persuasion - so very different. Not that one can't be taught to write a novel, its just that one better have a true love of writing, in addition to a tremendously strong base of the language. The great novelists also respect the wonderous mysteries of language and its s rules.
I knew I wanted to be a writer after I finished my first novel in April 2008 - it was the single most incredible experience I've ever had as a human being (brain-wise).
When did I know I wanted to write? Hmm, I'd say around sixteen or seventeen, when my English teacher made us write a poem. I'd never written a word until then, and never thought I'd be good at it. But I gave it a try...and found I enjoyed it.
I studied poetry in my spare time with the best creative writing teacher ever (but I majored in Math/Computer Science, so it sparse). I wrote poems for several years after that, knowing I loved writing but not having any idea what to do with it. The idea of writing a novel terrified me.
Then, about six or seven years ago, I realized what I wanted to do with my writing: novels for kids. I've been writing them ever since, with the dedicated goal of getting published. :)
Wow, great responses, guys. Everyone's a little different but still with that desire to write.
Thanks for sharing your stories!
I've known I was 11, right between reading the Chronicles of Narnia and James and the Giant Peach. I think you can be taught to write well, but you can't teach greatness. There is something above and beyond competence that the truly great writers have.
It's ironic that you mentioned the guitar, cuz I was always convinced that I'd end up on MTV (back when they had music and stuff).
I think my writing is an extension of the elaborate stories I created around my He-man action figures. Which I played with until I was well into my freshman year of high school.
So are you giving out awards for biggest dork? Cuz I think I just won it.
Yes, my family says I was always writing as a little girl. They remember more about my stories than I do. I didn't think I was a writer until 11th grade.
Great question, because I often wonder. And thank you again for stopping by Balthazar. I can't wait to read your bestselling book!!
i started writing in elementary school. what does it mean to be "a writer"? just someone who writes? i stopped all through my twenties. i guess i didn't know until i finished my novel a few years back?
thanks for entering my ARC give away, ron! =D
Good question...and the answer is yes...always...for, like, forever...I have a vivid memory of me--aged eight--sitting in front of the typewriter in the South of France, writing short stories about talking animals...and I was in heaven :)
I have always written. My first story, at age 8, was called Me and my Dog Buster.
But I didn't know I was going to be a writer until a couple years ago. And the idea only strengthened and catapulted me forward with every stroke of the keys since then. I love everything about it.
Ok, I lied.
I don't love the query letters.
Absolutely. I knew by the time I was 12 that I was a writer. Nothing to do with wanting to be a writer, or getting published; I write because I have to, because it is how I approach life.
Ever since I was about 6 or 7 I knew that I wanted to be a writer and up to the age of 14 I followed my heart.
Then my whole family decided that I should get a "proper job".
Unfortunately I have done a proper job for the last 23 years and I have been utterly miserable !
Now I am going to follow my heart and prove them all wrong.
Can you learn to be a writer ?
I would assume so but you have to have the desire.
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