Ask A Wench: Young Wench Writers

Susan here. For our usual AAW (Ask-A-Writer) feature, we asked each other -- Were you a young writer? What was your first story? Was there a book (or books) that made you love stories so much that you wanted to write your own?  Here's what we said . . .  

Anne says:

I don't remember writing stories when I was a child. Most of my childhood memories are about being out of doors, with a dog or some other animal in tow. Even if I had written any, we moved so often, and so much was thrown out between every move, that if I had, it wouldn't have been kept. School reports? Gone. Special projects? Gone. Favorite clothes? Gone. (I was growing, and I was the youngest, so . . . )  I was lucky to hang onto my teddy. But I might have been a storyteller back then. Family legend has me sitting in the sand pit telling long involved stories to the dog, the cat, the horse and any other animal I could entice. We left that place when I was four, and moved every year or two after that until I left home to go to university, moved into a student share house, and settled down.

But throughout my childhood I read, insatiably. Every new town we moved to, one of the first things I found was the local library, and I joined up and devoured the books there. So I probably absorbed a lot about story structure and writing techniques just by reading. When I was older and travelling overseas a lot (backpacking) I wrote letters home and to friends all the time, and people used to say they found them very entertaining. I think I was storytelling then, too. And when I went backpacking again, many years later, I still wrote lots of letters home, but other stories started to spin in my head as well — fictional stories.  I bought a large A4 notebook in Quebec and started writing. And I haven't stopped since.

Andrea here.

I was definitely a young writer, and my mother saved one of my early manuscripts to document it! I wrote this particular one at age five, and had quite a thing for horses and cowboys, as you can see by the photo of me with my trusty steed! (Clearly I have a thing for Men in Boots as I moved from Westerns to writing about Regency England!) And yes, I am still a terrible speller. “Horeses” was a family joke for a number of years.

I’ve loved books for as long as I can remember. I remember early on that Dr. Seuss and his clever play of language and funny drawings really amused me. Tales of adventure—Robin Hood, King Arthur—also appealed. I became a voracious reader, and I think that my parents were at times a little concerned at how happy I was within the world of imagination and storytelling. Those two things still give me great pleasure to this day.

Nicola says:

I started writing stories when I was quite young and by the time I was 11, I was contributing to my school magazine. I must have had a very strong imagination as I wrote one story about having a quarrel with my brother; it was very vivid but totally made up as I don’t have any siblings!  As an only child I had plenty of time and solitude to read and write and I wrote at first in coloured crayons in a scrap book on different coloured paper before progressing to lined writing pads. My godmother, Auntie Joan, was an author and it was mortifying when my mother made me read out my scribbles to her, but she was very kind and encouraged me by giving me a “how to write” book.

Mostly I was influenced by children’s books about magical gardens, castles and history. The Castle of Yew was one of my early favourites. I wish I still had a copy! If the books had timeslip elements, so much the better. I wrote my first timeslip story about the Princes in the Tower when I was thirteen. I didn’t realise it would be another 40 years before I wrote about them again in The Last Daughter!

Pat here:

I was a young reader, teaching myself so I could read the books no one had time to read to me. But I don’t recall any writing tendencies until I was about nine and scarfing down Nancy Drew mysteries. Back then, my neighborhood was surrounded by farms, and I was fascinated by an abandoned farmhouse in a cornfield. That became my first mystery novel. I scribbled short stories and poems for extra credit in sixth grade, for a wonderful teacher who encouraged my idiosyncrasies. In middle school, my IBM-employed father brought home the Holy Grail—a Selectric typewriter. I taught myself to type and started a fascinating saga based on a horrible song called Little Runaway. I wanted to know why she ran away and what happened, so I made up my own romantic tale. Because ink ribbons and typing paper were rare, I wrote almost everything by hand—in turquoise ink and backhanded because that looked prettier. I wrote what I read—romance and mystery. And I’m still writing them today. The last of my contemporary Psychic Solutions mysteries will be out Tuesday, and I’m now diving into a new historical mystery series called the Gravesyde Priory Mysteries. And they all contain romance, naturally!

Christina says:  

No, I didn’t write stories as a child either, although I did do a lot of daydreaming so perhaps that counts? I would invariably invent scenarios where I was a princess being rescued by a prince. Yes, I was obsessed with fairy tales and romance even then, so I guess you could say that the Brothers Grimm are responsible for me being an author?

Rather than write things down, though, I used the plots I came up with when playing with dolls. Mostly Barbie dolls, which were my favourites. I think the situations I dreamed up for them, and acted out with them, must have been the precursors to my writing. It certainly made me use my imagination! I was a rather (OK, very) bossy child who more or less forced my best friend to enact the little dramas I thought up for our dolls. Luckily for me, she didn’t
mind, so I had free rein. And again, there was always romance. Barbie’s wedding dress was the most frequently used item in her wardrobe, closely followed by the ballgowns.

To this day, I still collect dolls – mostly Barbies, but also recently Monster High and Ever After High, which really appeal to me. And my favourites are those I could potentially see as having a starring role in one of my books. What do you think of this guy for example – wouldn’t he be a perfect hero?

 

Mary Jo here. 

I never wrote stories as a kid.  For one thing, I'm lazy. For another, growing up in a farm area of Western New York, the life of a professional writer was unimaginable.  

BUT--I had a vivid imagination.  I created whole worlds in my head.  A major world was smart, brave young friends fighting Nazis in Europe.  I had names, relationships, and settings.  My actual writing life began when I bought my first computer so I could do copywriting and invoicing for my design business. Shortly after the Mayhem Consultant showed me how to use the word processing program on my Leading Edge, it occurred to me to see if I could write a story.  I wasn't a great writer, but I could tell stories--and three months later, I was offered a three book Signet Regency contract based on a partial manuscript.  The rest is history. <G>

And you know what?  I wrote my daydreams of groups of young friends fighting the Nazis in my young adult Dark Mirror trilogy.  Who says dreams can't come true?!!

 Susan here:

I was a young writer too, though first I scribbled drawings—mostly to express my obsession with princesses and princes, having soaked up the archetypes and tropes of fairytales early on. As a toddler, I drew pictures wherever I could find available paper, and being a resourceful little thing, I discovered that most books had blank pages in them--wow, perfect places for my art! This included my dad’s childhood poetry book (see my princess drawings at age two or three)—and the family Bible, which I happily decorated. Luckily for me, my parents took it well, gave me more drawing paper, and eventually paid for art lessons and later art school. Then I learned to write the alphabet and words, got some fat lined paper and pencils, and set to writing stories featuring lots of princesses. 

In second grade, my teacher wrote on my report card “Susie is a great little storyteller”— I just hope she meant it kindly! And in middle school, I wrote a novel by hand, filling the pages of a spiral notebook and drawing the illustrations. I titled it “My Lady Elise,” and all I remember now is that it had something to do with an overturned carriage and said Lady Elise crawling out to the road just as a handsome guy rode by on a white horse (seriously) and rescued her, her maid, and the coachman. There was plenty of Sturm und Drang and the wringing of hands, I suspect. That notebook disappeared long ago, alas; I'd love to see it again!

And like Christina, I also played with Barbie dolls, creating ongoing stories and adventures for Barbie, Ken, and friends that took place in an elaborate house and village that I constructed across our basement floor using things I found around the house, including my dad's chess pieces for matching lamps. Then they'd all take off in Barbie's car, zoom around, and return to their villa to begin another adventure. 

So there you go, our childhood writing adventures -- how about you? Did you write stories as a kid, setting the stage for reading or writing later? 

Comments

[Katja]

Fascinating, and somehow very similar experiences.
Really makes me wonder what the missing spark in me is. Since:
Early reader and voracious reader. Check
Telling stories in my head. Check
Enacting elaborate stories with Barbie doll or in fact even crayons, glass stones, cutlery. Check
Loving romances, fairy tales, fantasy settings. Check
Telling stories - albeit more funny ones about a mole and ones about a little gnome - to my little cousins, brothers and later nephews and nieces. Check
But sadly I never felt the urge to write anything of this down.
So something is missing, I'd really like to know what.
But in the meantime I shall keep on enjoying reading all your stories and thanking you for them

[Kathy Lynn Emerson]

I wrote newspapers for my dolls (pre-Barbie) and an 8 page epic using characters from TV shows I watched in the 1950s--all mixed together so that cowboys, space rangers and regulars on Mel Torme's variety show had adventures with a kid my age with (what a surprise!) my name. Then there was a long gap except for some failed efforts at short stories and plays before I figured out how to write novels in my early 30s. And of course I was always a reader.

[Denise]

Thank you for this, I love these insights into your formative years and how it influenced your writing. Can’t wait for the next AAW. (In our house that stands for the American Association of Woodturners and I was confused for a second.)

[Patricia Rice]

We are grateful for all the readers who just prefer to read, not write!

[Patricia Rice]

I think the gap falls in when we realize we're not good at writing in our teen and maybe college years. We're so busy doing other things, learning, maturing. And then whammo, one day, you realize... hey, maybe I can do this now

[Patricia Rice]

LOL!

[Kareni]

Thank you to all the Word Wenches for a fun post!

I was an avid reader as a child, but I honestly can't recall if I ever wrote down stories. I do recall my grandmother regularly giving my sister and I each three words and asking us to tell her a story.

[Binnie Syril Braunstein]

I was a voracious reader, even as a kid. Talk about scarfing up Nancy Drew...there was also Cherry Ames, Ginny Gordon. Of course, those books were never in the library. In the library, I discovered the fairy tales and classic myths. But I have to say my favorite book as a child was Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, which I acted out (behind closed doors) many times. And I always re-wrote the end so that Jo ended up with Laurie. But I never had the "chutzpah" - the nerve to ever believe I could write. Until one day, on the way to work, words came into my head. I started writing them down. Eventually, short stories and books followed.

[Constance]

Voracious childhood reader seems to be a prerequisite for Wenches and Commentors, doesn’t it? Also like others, I was more of a storyteller, altho the stories I told to the other children (started babysitting for neighbors when I was 10!) were very similar to the fairytales I’d read or been told, except that there always had to be horses included, too! I was encouraged by a 6th grade English teacher to write plays and skits for our drama club, and did that for several years. As an adult, I’ve written a lot of copy and marketing materials, but only since retiring about 18 months have I started writing fiction - shout out to Anne’s wonderful classes!

[Karin]

It's very entertaining to read these stories about how the Wenches started writing! I think the urge to tell stories must be innate. I never wrote fiction, but I was a voracious reader from a young age. One summer my best friend and I put together a little newspaper which her dad was kind enough to make copies of at his office(with a mimeograph, it was before Xerox machines!) which we hawked around the neighborhood for 5 or 10 cents. As I recall, the newspaper included local gossip and news, recipes which we got from our mothers and neighbors, and a little crossword puzzle that we invented, among other things. I'm so sorry I didn't save a copy of it. Then I worked on the school newspaper in high school. I wish I had the imagination to invent stories, but it seems I don't.

[Annette N]

I read books - tons of books. My father got a lot of WWII books and I started reading them by second grade because there wasn't anything else except cereal boxes.
I made up stories with paper dolls. I made the dolls and their clothes so they could be as glamorous as I chose. I loved movies, so in my head we all lived on the MGM movie stage in technicolor.
I didn't really write much except letters to pen pals until high school. And I have never been a real fiction writer. Essays and feature stories for a couple of small town newspapers are about all I could manage.
I loved hearing about all of you and the talent which was evident at young ages. Y'all seem to be "distantly related" to one another. Or as my children would say "brothers from another mother". Yes, I know it should be sisters, but that did not sound as right.
Thanks for the post. It was interesting, entertaining and educational. I did not realize there was more than one way to spell horses.

[Teresa Broderick]

Reading was a life line for me when I was young. I went through Enid Blyton's books as fast as I could and then went back to them again. I had no access to a library so I had to re read a lot. I did write stories for a while when very young. They were mostly about fairies and pixies and then horses. I went to work at fifteen and life got in the way after that for a long time. I'd love to have been a writer but still there are enough of you out there to still keep me enthralled with books :)
Great post.

[Janice J.]

When I was in grammar school, I had almost nothing in common with my brothers or my parents. I stopped talking to them about what I read or saw because space travel, adventures and alien friends were not "practical" and I could see them crossing their eyes and shaking their heads (where did we get this one?) How do we get born into families with whom we have nothing in common except biology?

I drew and painted and wrote and I'd put the pages under my mattress where I thought no one would look. I don't think they ever did. I left the horse drawings out. Horses were okay, relatively normal to my mom who was raised on a farm. Something I would grow out of.

But I didn't think my efforts were very good or very interesting and eventually I gave them up.

I think I was before my time. Until Star Trek, I was the only female science fiction fan I knew. After Star Trek, I saw women writing the kind of fiction I had done and getting published and, for all I know, getting paid for it :) I noticed also that the pressure to get married, as the only possible and proper career for a woman, eased up considerably. Now I mostly see that theme in regencies :)

[Anne Gracie]

Thanks Constance. And best of luck in getting that story — and others—out into the world.