Café Session # 2Literate Beans Group: Here Hey all! I know we've been on a bit of a hiatus, but it's time to get this pot stirring. :B Anyway, as our last session focused on why we write and the motivations behind it, we figured for this session we'd go back to the roots of your writing experience. What was the first thing you've written? This can be a story, a poem -- pretty much anything creative that you've written. What inspired you to write this? How much time did you spend on it? What did other people say about it? In addition, looking back, do you feel you have improved? How did you grow as a writer from then to now? If you could, would you revisit your first works and rewrite them? Feel free to pull up a chair, stretch those legs and enjoy the chat. o;
The first thing I wrote was a Mr.Men story in year three. c': I have it around here somewhere, I'll update with pictures and such if I can! I like to feel as if though I've improved though it's very unlikely, my writing style is obviously that of a six-seven year old. Anyway, we had to write the story and illustrate it, I think it was for a School project or some such? My Mr. Men story was about a little madame, if I recall who got tickled by Mr.Tickle and then went back to her house and cried. I also drew birds that died on the house's roof. I was such a good child, obviously. My Mother, being a nice parent was very impressed with my work and placed the work on the fire place! Obviously the place where all great School achievements go! I was very proud of myself. If given the chance to re-write my Mr.Men character story, I would. I would make it all angst filled and humorous for myself.
Well, the earliest thing that I ever made was a story in Kindergarden about a penguin (which I probably just have to dig around for). It was all full of glitter and was illustrated with pictures made from construction paper and everything. If I can find it, I'll do the same as Kelly and post pics. I think I've definitely improved since then hopefully just because of the wisdom that's come from getting older and learning more, though I don't think I'd go back and redo it mostly out of fear that it wouldn't nearly be as pretty/kawaii.
The first ever thnig I wrote was a poem when I was in year 4 (about 8 years old) about a mean kid named Sid who liked "Hot cross bunnies" instead of hot cross buns (I don't know if Americans or other cultures have them but they were a bun filled with raisins with a white cross in the middle that we eat at Easter) and then the rabbits were sick of him and so made a "hot cross Sid". I like to think I have improved since then as it was quite a childish concept xD about satisfying revenge although I don't write poems at all now I only study them in an analytical sense. I have always loved writing stories though but barely find the time to do so any more. The first thing I wrote that I think is of worth was a story for our english class, the generic idea was your main character has to deliver a message to the King of Sutton Coldfield and it has to be 5 chapters long and contain a riddle. I decided, because at that time I was newly obsessed with a game called Kingdom hearts (you may have heard about it xD) and so my main character was Saïx who had a pet wolf and was sent by his ex-good friend Xemnas to deliver a message to the King of Sutton Coldfield without opening an reading it. On the way he manages to get in a fight and recieve a 'keyblade', help a pair of poor boys named Sora and Roxas in a small village of 'Stafford', meet a man called "Reno" who keeps popping up everywhere, fall down a cliff only to wake up in another villaeg called 'Walsall' (sadly his wolf didn't make it) by two friends called Vexen and Marluxia only to be locked in the city by Reno. Saïx then had to solve the riddle given to him by Reno in order to open the gate and go to Sutton to deliver the message to Lord Kadaj, only to be told the scroll was intended for Saïx. It basically tells him that Xemnas is his younger brother and that he is the rightful owner of the throne. So, he returns to his home and confronts Xemnas by stabbing him in the stomach to which no one reacts at all xD He then confronts Reno who basically tells him he has multiple personality disorder and that Reno was an embodiment of Saïx's anger. I really like to think I have improved a lot since this as none of the characters seem realistic as they don't interact as they should and the dialogue seems static and simple. I know I have written better things since then. Oh, my 12 year old mind came up with the riddle: "What gives the body form and opens doors?" To which I was very proud of at the time... now I laugh at myself. The answer being: Skeleton Key. I now really want to do some writing xD The most recent stories I have written were for English exams and coursework which produced good marks so I'm quite happy with them. I still have all the stories on my computer which I would totally pull up one day just to read.
It seems pretty common for people to have started with a school project or assignment. I feel like my first legitimate piece was one as well, but I went over that last time. So I'll go back even farther before that and talk about how I wrote out a short story about anthropomorphized representations of food products as super heroes starring Wonder Bread. Though the execution was a bit weak, I was between the ages of 4 and 7 at the time so that's to be expected. To answer the prompt: I wrote it because I'm a witty little ******* and I have always had a love of word play and puns. I spent maybe an afternoon on it. I never showed it to anybody. Of course. If I hadn't improved I'd probably be mentally disabled in some way. Though, the only growth I'm really able to quantify is that my vocabulary and sentence structure has improved as I've understood the English language better. I'd never touch, my first work again. There's no problem with being bad at any point in your progression. The point is, you did what you did and you cannot change what you did then even if you go back and change what it is now. So unless you feel that you know better what you were trying to say now than then you shouldn't bother changing any past works. I also obsessively save my work so I frequently have two or even three completely different versions of events in my stories. Very often only one of those routes ends up continuing but it doesn't mean I should delete the old version. It's worth giving past me some recognition or at least remembering her just to know where I've been. Perhaps this is silly, but it helps me know where I am now.
BUMP I've been meaning to post here, but I've been busy with orientation things for school. Anyway, the first piece I've ever written was in second grade. Each day when we came into class we had to write a little blurb or some such -- to get us in the habit of storytelling and practicing DA WRITEZ. Most of these, as youcan imagine, were poor quality, and often involved astronauts, space ships and fighting aliens. Eventually, it gets to a point where anime characters and sports stars join in as well. Very bizarre. I STILL HAVE THIS LEGENDARY NOTEBOOK but I just need to get it from home this weekend. :c In terms of improvement, I feel I've improved vastly upon how I used to write. I know more of the tools of the trade and have a better grasp on them than I did when I was young and might have still been potty training... Also, I do usually consider revising these works and making a rebooted version of sorts, but mostly I tend to look at them as a sort of "legacy" style; much like Jiku stated, it gives some form of recognition to the past me, "oh hey i did this this was a thing hahaha i was so young", and it does really put into perspective just how much you have changed in style, personality, command and the like.
