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arthurian legends, author, doctor who, editing, fantasy, fiction, novels, robin hood legends, science fiction, star wars, steampunk, story dynamics, writer, writing
The prompt was “What was the first thing you wrote of your own free will?”
Simple answer: I started when I was nine, writing a compilation (it was not a novel, too haphazard) of Robin Hood stories. It was poorly written, with choppy transitions, and too pleased-with-itself, and the humor was just shoved in randomly, not integrated.
Nevertheless, I had some fun with it.
Rewriting it today, I would have done it from Will Scarlet’s point of view, left out extraneous material I’d thrown in, and done a lot more research. (Watching Doctor Who has made a good impression on me. At least in that respect.)
The second thing I started to write, when I was eleven, was a complex and dedicated effort at overhauling the young people’s side of the Star Wars mythos–namely, I wrote about a Padawan Learner (different one in each trilogy.) It was essentially Jedi Apprentice, but much more ambitious. (I was eleven, and already writing at an eighth grade level. That might be hard to believe, but if you ignore the poor quality of the content and the horrible, choppy, obvious dialogue, it’s true.) This story had no central arc, being merely a series of short adventures (mind you, I had not started watching TV shows back then, so I had no real idea of how to write a story which could stand alone but also played into a larger plot. Kudos to you, Bad Wolf.) The first of these stories, in the original trilogy, starred an OC–not a Mary Sue, I am proud to say, but still horribly awkward. (I am considering rewriting some of the adventures into a separate novel that has no Star Wars affiliation, because some of these characters would fit ironically well into a steampunk setting. I recently discovered that I love steampunk, and science fiction, especially science fiction that takes its science seriously. Such a treat!)
I started a third novel a few years later about a mythical country and a young woman who had been kidnapped. This is the story that would eventually teach me that less is more, because her backstory got painfully complicated very quickly. Rewriting it today, I would make her less of a victim and more of a dynamic character with something to actually bring to the table (maybe she likes making shoes? That would be useful to the rebels!), and make her actually a real, honest-to-goodness peasant who had just been raised by her aunt and uncle, rather than a noble in disguise. Self-made nobles are far more interesting than born ones in many cases.
After that, I began work on a different angle on the Arthurian legends, which spun off into a novel about Mordred–my Mordred is a bit more like Batman, only with some anti-hero thrown in, a temper, and a vulnerable side–he desperately wants to be accepted by Arthur’s court, but he wants to be accepted for who he is, not as Arthur’s long-lost (illegitimate) son, and his best friend, Gawaine, can never find out that Mordred is really his half-brother (Morgause, in this story, is Mordred’s mother, but he was raised by his aunt Morgan.) Of course, it gets a bit violent–Mordred gets angry with Morgan and walks out on her when he turns fifteen, and of course it was acrimonious. Mordred decides to change his fate and is totally loyal to Arthur (he explains to his confidant Lady Lynnette, who is married to one of his half-brothers and found out Mordred’s secret by accident, “I don’t think of him as my father. That would be weird. I think of him as my king.”) but ends up having to make the choice between saving Arthur and stopping Morgan. Add in a bit of a dark sense of humor and there you are.
It’s not always been an easy or comfortable journey (bits of it were positively embarrassing,) but I’ve been glad to go on it, if it means improvement. Allons-y!
Thanks to Rosalie for starting up this alternative blog chain. She might think it’s awkward, but she deserves lots of hugs. You can find the launching post here.
What is it with first books and historical/medieval fiction? My first book was about a Viking captive girl who said all her thoughts out loud and ended every sentence with an exclamation point. She also had a dog who seemed to be able to read her mind.
Of course, this is not counting my picture books I wrote. “The Ginent: A story ov faith”, “Rosey and the bere: Part 1” (a lovely story about me getting kidnapped by a bear), “Adventures in Veggietown” and “Kidnap in Veggietown!” (liberal use of chloroform).
Oh boy. X-D That sounds HILARIOUS…
And no wonder her dog could read her mind, if she said everything she thought out loud! 😛
Yeah, I guess that was his trick. But then they both seemed to completely understand what each other were saying as well, which was strange. He barks and she’s like “Oh, I agree.” XP *facepalm* Yeaaaaaah…
Sounds a bit like “Castaways of the Flying Dutchman,” which I very highly recommend. It’s targeted at young adults, though, not juvenile; the reading level is, I think, slightly above eighth grade, and it deals with slightly more complex themes than “Redwall,” Brian Jacques’ other series.
Hmm, I’ll have to look that up. What I was actually going off of was Lois Walfrid Johnson’s “Viking Quest”. And HTTYD. She *cough* trains a giant eagle. *headdesk*
Okaaaay?
(Wow, you’re making me feel old here! I grew up watching Toy Story. TOY STORY. -_- HTTYD came along much later. Don’t worry, though, I’m a legal adult but I can’t drink legally :-P)
No, I mean that was my first book like in a word document. I wrote it when I was 12. Don’t worry, I grew up with Toy Story, too. 😉
Ah. 😛 Wait, HTTYD came out when you were 12?!
No, we got the soundtrack when I was 12. Pretty much that whole book was written to the HTTYD soundtrack. 😛
Oh. I see. 😛
HTTYD has one of the best sound tracks ever.
I KNOW. That’s why I wanted to rip it off in a book. That was basically my writing style pre-oyan. Anything I liked from anything else… just take it and stick it in my book. No one will ever notice…
*stuffs hand in mouth and snickers*
I steal settings from other stories. Like, Mirkwood, the Misty Mountains, and then I wrote one story which took place in a natural rock maze and another which took place in partially-collapsed lava tunnels…
Those actually sound pretty cool. Stealing settings isn’t as bad as stealing the storyline… 😉
Question. Mirkwood. Is that a Lord of the Rings thing? I’ve always wondered about the name of a cafe in town: Mirkwood and Shire. I think it’s a LotR reference, but I’m not sure.
It is indeed a LotR reference! X-D (Privately owned?)
Also, the setting of “Up”? It’s real as well! X-D That is so cool. ^_^
Thought it might be. 🙂 Yeah, it’s privately owned. We don’t go there usually though. Kind of a druggie hangout and plus there’s a tattoo parlor upstairs. They don’t attract a friendly crowd. 😛
Oh wow. That’s kind of creepy.
Yeah, I know. Though I give them creativity points for calling it “Mordor Tattoo”. 😛
*head desk* And they wonder why they come out looking like freakin’ ORCS. 😛
XD
X={P
Dost liketh my mustache? :-{P
I dost love thy mustache, Lady Kenobi. •<|:) Dost thou liketh my party cap? •<|;)
‘Stache emote. I love it. X-{D
I started writing at the same age as you, but my first story would most likely make yours look like a literary masterpiece. I’m fairly certain that I did not, at that point, understand that characters were not just names on a page. The concept of personality didn’t sink in until I was twelve. And my second one wasn’t much better . . . particularly that scene where the main character’s father teaches him to use a sword by hanging up a bunch of old sheets and having the kid slash them. (To this day, I’m still confused as to what he was going to achieve by swinging a weapon in the general direction of a bedsheet.) But there was a lot more plot. That random rustling in the bushes? Truly terrifying.
I actually started with a very bad mockery of “Chronicles of Narnia” at six, but that doesn’t count because I only started it because I had the exactly same notebook as you, the pictures were horrific, and it was only three pages long (and very rushed.)
X-D I love the idea of your main character cutting bed sheets to shreds. Mind if I borrow that? One of my characters has a bit of a temper, and I can definitely imagine him slashing bed sheets to strips and rags because he’s mad X-D
Hey, the pictures in my story notebook thingy weren’t recognizable as humans half the time . . . And the stories didn’t make much sense. I vaguely remember one where two girls went to the moon and then had blackberry cobbler for dessert. Random? Yeah….
That sheets thing….I may have been an oddball at age ten. (Not that I’m not still weird.) But if you see a way to make that idea seem reasonable? Go for it. Could be interesting….
Heh…. My lion looked more like a lump of shredded yellow rose petals! 😛
Absolutely! Thank you X-D
Allons-y! And I actually know what you’re on about!
Wow, yeah, that JA project does sound ambitious… and if it’s any comfort, I’m pretty sure I still haven’t quite grasped the concept of arc.
X-D I’m glad you do. Let’s go allons-y-ing. ;-P
Yeah, much too ambitious… They did give me the concepts for half the younger characters I came up with, though.
Well, your stories show some pretty well-defined arcs. And character development. All those lovely things. 😉