The Early Writings Tag

'Morning, Dragons! A couple weeks ago, I wrote about finding your voice. Today, I thought I'd do Abbiee Emmons's Early Writings Tag and share some of the weird stories I wrote long before I started to discover mine.

1. S.O.U.L., WRITTEN AT AGE TWELVE*

*I GUESS I LIED A BIT ON THE GRAPHIC? Maybe it should've been "by the age of twelve" or "until the age of twelve"??

The scoop: I'd just finished The Hunger Games trilogy, and was reading Allie Condie's Matched. Thanks to a series of dreams that meshed The Hunger Games, Matched, Harry Potter, and The Heroes of Olympus, I produced a near-hundred-page dystopian with three magical schools, a government-organized matchmaking system, and some breed of brick-hurling bad boys?? There was also an elementary-school-sized playground at each school. (FORGET THE FACT THAT THE KIDS ARRIVE AT THE SCHOOL WHEN THEY'RE EIGHTEEN.)

S.O.U.L. was set in the distant future, in the year... 2015. 2015. It was like, 2013, when I wrote it. TALK ABOUT BAD PLANNING ON MY PART.

And you see that acronym? Do you know what it stands for? GOOD, BECAUSE I DON'T. (I don't think I ever figured out what to make it stand for. Maybe I just liked the ring of the title or something? Honestly, twelve-year-old me! You could've thought of something much better than that!)

What I learned:

• PLAN. Don't just name a race with an acronym IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT STANDS FOR.
• Plan some more. Because 2015? Really? *hysterical laughter*
• Don't found your story upon other authors' ideas. Sure, letting their ideas inspire you is nice, but dear young, innocent me, DO NOT COPY OTHER AUTHORS' PLOTLINES.

2. HEART, WRITTEN AT AGE ELEVEN

The scoop: So this one was a medieval, Irish novel/novella (approximately sixty-some pages). The first third or so was an attempt at a dramatic display of just how wise children are (I was so wrong, yo), and the latter part was a comedy. But, of course, the only insults I knew how to use were "beast" and "fat-so", which were totally accurate for the time period.* The whole book was littered with those words.**

*Not.

**If you're curious about Heart, here's the link to a tweet thread I made back in May while I reread the comedy section.

What I learned:

• As to the writing style itself, it actually wasn't that bad? 😂
• Be careful with allegories. Do not display God as fictional -- even if it's by accident.
• THINK OF BETTER TITLES.
• THINK OF BETTER INSULTS.
• Writing comedy is hard. *admires all the comedy writers*

3. DUCHESS, PRINCE, MANOR, WRITTEN AT AGE TWELVE-ISH

The scoop: This was my first ever fairytale retelling -- and the first ever entry I wrote for a Rooglewood Press contest. It was a Beauty & the Beast retelling, my submission to Five Enchanted Roses. The main problem was that it was a retelling of Disney's version. I never actually bothered to read the original fairytale. *blushes*

Basically, the beast was not a beast, but actually a handsome, immortal fellow named Draven and heavily inspired by Draco Malfoy. The only reasons the heroine was at all interesting was because (1) her name was Phoenix (epic, right?), (2) she wore a pretty blue dress, and (3) she was a duchess.

What I learned:

• Read the given sources.
• Don't retell. Reimagine.
• Ask for / accept help.*

*My dad offered to help me edit DPM. I did not accept. Thanks my middle-schooler mindset that I knew best, I turned him down. Shortly after I sent DPM off, I discovered a horrid, humiliating array of typos. I WILL NEVER NOT ACCEPT HELP EDITING AGAIN.

4. NARA LI JOJO: JORDAN'S ARMY, WRITTEN AT AGE NINE

The scoop: I was on a Percy Jackson high. So I basically retold the entirety of books one through three as the story of a pre-tween warrior lass who could turn into a deer and communicate with animals. I set it up for a sequel that would retell books four and five, but it never happened (THANK GOODNESS). Jordan's Army was written in a purple Pirates of the Caribbean notebook over the course of a weekend, and quickly handed off to our congregation's preacher, who was sweet enough to indulge baby-me with a book review. Last I remember, I'd handed it off to a curious soul.

What I learned:

• DO NOT COPY OTHER AUTHORS' PLOTLINES. (Hmm, this sounds familiar...)

5. HARRIET POTTER, WRITTEN AT AGE TEN

The scoop: This was a Harry Potter fan fiction, following the life of Harry's second daughter and fourth child, Harriet. I don't remember much about it, other than the expression "moldy macaroni". *makes a face at younger self's lack of insults/exclamations*

What I learned:

• Think of better insults/exclamations (wow, this one sounds familiar, too!)

~

So I hope you enjoyed reading about some of my weird first stories. 😅

Did you write any horrendous stories as a child? How did they go? 😁

❤,

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