What did you first read? How did you begin to write? Who were the first to read what you wrote?
The first "serious" book that I read was "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien. I followed that with the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I began writing at a young age. I remember winning an award at a Young Authors Conference in second grade for a childrens book that I wrote. My family is usually the first to read what I write. Now that I am an adult and write more for adults, I always let my wife be the first one to read my work before I even send it to publishers.
To be honest, I don't remember the first thing I read. I am sure it was something by Dr. Zuess though. I do love those Green Eggs and Ham! The first thing I remember writing was a short story about my father, I was ten years old and the story won first place in a contest. I believe my mum still has a copy of it somewhere. My family has always been the first to read anything I've written, even now.
I've been reading for almost my entire life. I began writing when I was 11 years old, about 5 years ago, after reading 'Eragon', by Christopher Paolini. It really inspired me and I wanted to do something that would allow me to be creative as well. The first people to read what I wrote were just people from around my community, and I have several pre-orders on book 2 of my series.
Lemony Snicket, I really got into that series. The books are funny, with a little bit of well backed story to it. Well, I wanted to write a book when I was really young, so I decided to go for it. It took a while to get it started, but I did it in the end. My family was the first one to read anyhting I professionally wrote. After that, my friends. But my family really encouraged me when I started.
My very first story was of a King who had to decide between good and evil and the well-being of his people. I can not remember the exact date, but I knew i must have been 8 years old because my second story I remembered dating it - 1988.
I don't remember exactly how I began writing, but my mother mentioned recently at a TV interview I did, that I was always writing and crumpling the papers and throwing them on the floor. My room was constantly messy with papers and books.
The very first time I believed sharing my writings was when my aunt visited from Canada and I remembered reading a story to her. I don't know if she was too impressed, but then again, I was still very, very young. I knew I wanted to be a writer, but I believed what deterred me was when my father told me I couldn't make a living just writing novels. He said that "Bill Cosby was a doctor and a writer." It may have made sense now, but when you are around the age of 8 years old, that can crush a child.
I didn't give up writing totally but I think that if I weren't told that, it would have set the course of my life and I would have published my books earlier.   | | |
My first memory of creative writing was in grade school. The story was about a cricket who was captured by a little boy and put in a cage for luck. I vividly recall the emotions of the characters and the imagery of the setting. When I found the words to translate this to the page, I was ecstatic. I've loved this medium of expression ever since then. It's like painting with words!
As a writer I have always been interested in poetry so my stories are done in this format. I started to write in High School and as an adult I enjoyed writing a blog and my new children's book series "I Love You So", one book currently published, the next will be complete in July and two more are written and awaiting illustrations. I have entered a contest and received placement in The Children's Institute of Literature which accepts 35% of all applicants.
It has been so many years since I read my first book. I remember avidly reading the newspapers and listening to the radio for World War II news when I was a boy.
I started writing after I retired after more than 30 years in the business world, received my Ph.D, and tried teaching in a university. I decided to write a book about the American landings in the Philippine Islands in October 1944. The book's title was Afternoon of the Rising Sun: The Battle of Leyte Gulf and published in 2001.
I finished and published my second book, Morning of the Rising Sun: The Heroic Story of the Battles for Guadalcanal, in 2007. The first readers of both books were military veterans and devotees of World War II history.
My first memories of reading are of the "Reader's Digest" magazines that my family used to get. They were quite advanced for a six-year-old! I was interesting in writing throughout school, but never imagined it wouild earn me money or be my profession.
It's been 20 years since I left university and I've maintained a career (for a decade as a freelance copywriter) throughout that time through writing.
Oh, my, that is difficult to answer. I was a voracious reader by age seven and read anything I could get my hands on.
My school had the "Pope Pius Club" where you listed the books you read each month. I recently found my certificate for reading 60 books in one month. I remember that within my list of books, everything from information on bees to stories about Paul Bunyan were mentioned.
I began to write at age nine, mostly short stories about a little girl who found a lost dog and got to keep her. No one got the hint.
My teachers were the first. I always got good grades for my compositions. Maybe they were trying to comfort me because I never got my dog.
I first read novels for children- The Little Princess, anything by Roald Dahl. I began writing in 5th grade when my teacher asked us to create a different ending to a story we read. I couldn't finish writing, I was having so much fun. I asked my teacher, "When should I stop?" He answered, "Whenever you feel like stopping." I haven't stopped writing since then.
Don't remember the first book I ever read. But I do remember reading "Goosebumps" books. I started writing "Through The Eyes of A Rookie" with a idea. The idea that I wanted to share my story about the history behind my physical impairment, and the idea that I wanted people to know what the transition was like for a civilian to a rookie police officer with a physical impairment. My first reader was actually someone at the publishing company.
I read comic books at first. When I discovered I actually enjoyed reading I went on to read the Nancy Drew mysteries. In high school I read the required reading such as, Jane Eyre, Ivanhoe, Silas Marner and the Ancient Mariner. Some I enjoyed however; I became an avid reader and leaned toward mystery "who done it" type books. I prefer non-fiction genre.
I can't really say how I began to write. It's simply an impulse. I believe most writers share that concept. It's a gift although at times it's a curse. With ideas spinning around in your mind, you have to relinquish them to the written word. I refer to that as literary purging.
I wrote several poems as a young adult and frequently submitted them to the local newspaper to be read in "The Poet's Corner" of their publication. Several were printed so I suppose the general public was the first to read my early writing.
Grace Livingston Hill books were the first real book I ever read. My mother loved the stories in Mrs. Hill's 100 + titles and I read each one of them aloud to her. She felt that the lessons in grace, manners, and faith within those pages was great teaching for a young girl. I still love to re-read those books.
As far as my first attempts at writing, I would say it was in junior high school English Literature class. When everyone else moaned at the writing assignments I grew excited. I wrote a short story about my best friend and the boys she and I secretly admired from afar. My friend declared me to be a writer then as a seventh grader. I owe a lot to her for that.
The earliest thing that I can recall reading was a collection of fairy tales. I might have been seven or eight, I remember reading aloud and having trouble with the word "unique."
When I was twelve, I lived in a town on the outskirts of Ocho Rios (Jamaica), named Exchange. I remember my best friend's name was Carolyn. One day I told her about a book that I was reading. I forget what that story was was about, but it was awful and I told her as much. She said that if I knew so much about stories I should write them myself. Before that moment, it never even occurred to me that I might want to write but I have ever since.
I was in elementary school at the time, so my friends from my class were first to read my stories. |
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