Not who I was or why I began

Was it the fault of my English Language teacher and slightly dissatisfactory home life that lead me to write?

For whatever reason, I was not completely happy.

My teacher liked the stories I wrote, I enjoyed writing and that showed, and she liked the fantasy and sci-fi that I did so our stories met.

So that is probably why I started writing this novel, as yet unfinished.

It was first written on my Mum's old typewriter. Banging out the keys and crossing through the mistakes or trying to type over them with a harder push.

That's how I learned to touch type and was also probably the start of my repetitive strain injury.

When I first wrote the story it was about 12 pages long.

A very long story for a 9-year-old. And very immature.

A set of rogue wanderers looking for treasure, finding a hidden princess with magical powers and taking her with them. And then, of course, the lead barbarian falls in love with the princess and. they, eventually, ride off into the sunset. I still have those pages.

I read them with humour and embarrassment.

They are clearly influenced by the 80s cartoons; the dungeon and dragons, She-Ra to name two. Hands that can launch killer lighting bolts at their enemies and a bunch of cliches that do make me cringe now.

Then I got an electric typewriter and started again. I still have some paragraphs that I wrote in turquoise ink whilst sitting in the college library. I remember the booth well, it was small but enough space to lay out the paper and put down the words.

The story evolved then. It became more about me.

Gone were the evil sorcerer and the rogue barbarians and the magical powers. In their place was a disgruntled and untrusting young woman who had no interest in the world except just surviving.

That was me at that time. I find it interesting that even though I was that untrusting girl I still had the love interest. The rogue barbarian was now the married son of the king of the mountains. The mountains that she had to go to to help her homeland.

He loves her. And in all other versions of this tale, he always loves her.

That writing has more maturity and I like the path that the story takes. But it is the immature writings of an 11-year-old. I had no experience in anything and it shows.

Those writings are now the path on which I see the story taking. And now, for some unknown reason, I have found a new impetuous to write and I am starting to like the story that I tell.

It is not a story of a lost princess seeking to reclaim her throne, she is not interested in the throne or the kingdom but just wants a quiet life. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen and she is forced to go back to a life she tried to leave behind.

All the characters have matured with me. Her mother, who was always the atypical evil mother, is the same however there are quirks to her character that almost make her sympathetic and the father who was the hero is twisted almost to the point of being hateful.

It has to be my experiences that have lead to this new impetus, to even writing this blog about writing, as the characters had deepened, the story twisted, and finally, I am here with something I want to write.

So I shall write.