...something reminded me about how much I used to write, used to being the operative words. I haven't written anything in a long time. So I was going over the stories in my head and since I'll never do anything with them I thought I might as well explore them here. I can look back and see how big of a weirdo I really was. Though I actually enjoyed reading them as much as I liked writing them. Only a few people ever read them and in my imaginary published book is a dedication to Charlotte my first and best fan. On a side note that could also read only fan but we'll just over look that part. Still I think it will be fun and sad to see how I've changed and mostly to see if I can figure out what in the world I was thinking when I wrote that.
I guess I'll start with some honorable mentions. Not everything I wrote made it to the computer. Remember, I'm old. Computer life is so much different now than when I was a kid. My first major story, meaning more than twenty pages is just a memory. It was in seventh grade, which is where most of my writing originated. I had a teacher who enjoyed and encouraged my writing. I don't remember much about the stories I wrote except I thought they were funny. One of my favorite accomplishments was a which way story. I really enjoyed reading those when I was a kid. Don't even know if they really exist anymore. All I can tell you about it is the characters where "friends", people I wanted to be friends with but they didn't really care one way or the other about me, and it was funny. I can't tell you a plot. I just remember that it existed. Now that was actually a rabbit trail. The major story that I wrote was probably 50 or more pages and I did actually get it typed but... that computer was the first we had. You couldn't save anything onto the computer itself, only onto the square floppy disks. Not even the little square ones that I still might have around somewhere if I looked, these were the really thin ones about twice the size. It also didn't have autosave. All I can remember is that I was going to hand it in for a grade, extra credit I think, and the electricity went out. I think I lost over twenty pages or more. That was horrifying. Now for the story itself I can only remember a few plot points. The main character was a girl. She was somehow trapped on an island, probably a plane crash. There were bad guys with bad guns. She was being helped by a man in a mask who would later turn out to be the long lost love that she thought was dead. So...what was I thinking... Well there was no polar bears so I wasn't ripping off that particular show. Though that would be impossible because long time ago and never watched. Anyway, I do know where one part came from. The mask idea was borrowed from Guiding Light. Roger returned to the show in a mask and called himself Adam, I believe. I did love my soaps. I don't know if I ever finished that one or not. I know I never finished typing it.
Other honorable mentions: There was one about abused animals fighting back. It was a little morbid and raised a couple eyebrows. There was one about a spoiled prince who ran away and made friends with a poor boy. They were both taken by bad guys and at some point the boy died and the prince put his ring on the boys finger as a goodbye token. The knightish guy who was looking for him found the hand sticking out of the ground in a mass grave, recognized the ring and thought his prince was dead. The prince grew up as a regular Joe and later ran into the girl he had once looked down on and teased in his youth. Of course there's the love interest. Don't remember how it ends. Pretty sure I wrote it before I watched Kevin Costner's Robin Hood. I must have liked that royalty theme cause there was another one about a more modern day princess who was thought to have died young. She was part of a scam against her own family, that she did not remember, but figured it out and saved them. I actually liked that one and I do have the hand written version somewhere. Most of my writing has a lot of over the top moments. In that one, they crash in the woods and she has to kill a cougar that ends up having a cub and she keeps it. I think if I edited it now I'd make it a bobcat. It's a bit more feasible to keep a pet bobcat. I've always wanted a big cat for a pet but the fantasy world is the only place that will ever happen. Hey, I held a baby white tiger in my lap, that'll do.
Seventh grade was a great writing year for me. Some of the stories I may still have in a box in a closet but most I think are gone. I wrote non stop in seventh grade, had a horrible eight grade, then picked up writing again in high school. That will lead to my next entry, which is the first "book" I ever wrote that is typed and rewritten several times and in my possession. Of all the stories I've written that one has the most versions of me in it. The first draft was written in my junior and senior year. Then I picked it up and did an edit/rewrite during college. Then again a couple years later. I probably should have kept a copy of my first draft. I read and I could see how young and dumb I was. I tried to leave some of that in there just for memory sake. Each time I edited it I could see a difference in who I was then verses now. Its one of the possible reasons I stopped writing. Eventually I discovered that I liked the past writer more than the present one.
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