Sunday 21 February 2010

seven years

Lately I’ve been thinking about my history as a writer. Past novels, past writing groups, past critique partners. What kicked me off was a comment on last week’s teaser from my old friend John Zeleznik, better known to me as Ebenstone.
"Your writing has gotten so good. This was beautiful and so well written. I'm blown away!"
I’ve been lucky enough to stay in touch with many of my old writing friends. I’m still swapping chapters with Dystophil the way we did three years ago. But Ebenstone is hands down the oldest writing friend I’m still in touch with. How old? I joined our then writing group in late 2002, when I’d just turned fourteen. So -- seven years and counting.

In those seven years, I wrote:
  • Some embarrassingly terrible stuff ripped off from Tamora Pierce.
  • Some embarrassingly terrible stuff ripped off from Robert Jordan.
  • Some embarrassingly terrible stuff ripped off from George RR Martin.
  • Three hundred pages of world-building for a projected multiple-book series I had to tear up.
  • Fanfiction in several fandoms.
  • My first novel, an epic fantasy I have since thankfully lost.
  • My second novel, a monster novel I have unfortunately not lost, because it is saved on my writing LJ.
  • My third novel, an urban fantasy I often wished I’d lost.
  • My fourth novel, an epic fantasy I love too much to lose.
Objectively I think, and Dystophil often tells me, that my writing has improved a metric truckload since the early days. But only Ebenstone knows the truth.

So I’m glad to hear that I’ve learned something in those seven years. :)

7 comments:

  1. I hear you about massive improvements over the years! I guess that's one of the the good things about writing - it's all about practice, and if you're willing to learn from your own mistakes it can only get better. :)

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  2. You totally did. And still rocking and getting better and better. It's been/and still is a fun ride, isn't it?

    Man, I got all nostalgic now. Like...that first time I went on a plane to meet "those Brits that I met on the internet" Man... *smile*

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  3. Kind of an accomplishment thinking of all those, huh?
    *ponders*

    Keep going, Para!

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  4. Tee hee hee...

    And BTW, you were a good writer back in the day!

    Another thing: did you know Tamora Pierce is a fellow Syracusan? She's on my list of people I'm going to ask for a blurb from. I read her first two books from The Song of the Lioness and LOVED IT!

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  5. How on earth have you written so many novels, woman?! I've only just started my first one and I'm 20 >.< though I've been writing since I was 16, it's pretty much always been short fiction o.O

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  6. Hm... I started at 14, myself. I've ditched one sci-fi novel, stopped another before I quite got to the end (I could tell it was too messy then, and now I read it and wince at the melodrama), I have one epic fantasy novel that's on major revision #4, one urban fantasy that's finishing it's first draft… and I technically have 2 fantasy NaNoWriMo novels that are drafted, but they need more work.

    It's been 9 years for me, I think as of next month.

    I have a few other novels that are in various stages—mostly with a few scenes written—but that's the bulk of it. And some vignettes, short stories, a novelette…

    I'm not counting the fan fiction.

    Most of my embarrassing stuff is in the fan fiction, short stories, and projects that never found plots and therefore never reached completion.

    So 9 years, that many projects… and I've only recently started to be able to tell when I have a situation and not a plot.

    Yeah.

    Feel better yet? ^_^ *offers a pat on the back*

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