In order to be a writer, you need to be a reader, so that's what I did all the time, ages 3-12. Then, once I reached the age of twelve, I started running out of books that I had any interest in reading, so I wrote instead. I always had, just normally it had been 90% reading and 10% writing, opposed to 90% writing and 10% reading.
Some of my most distinct memories of being a writer were in first and second grades when I would get called up at assemblies to receieve reading awards that were beating out the fifth and sixth graders for the same books read. In second grade pariticularly, I remember writing a story every week, that encompassed spelling words. The stories always were about animals, I can honestly say... I have never wrote a story based on animal characters since.
The year my writing really started occuring more and with better quality, some would say was second grade, but I would say was eighth grade. That was when I wrote the inital story in my first series, and it was a long story that actually got completed. In seventh grade I wrote stories that were more than twenty pages single spaced, but... I tended to get off on tangents and not end up finishing them. Those were really valuable to me because it taught me what NOT to do, and helped me develop my writing style further. My main advice? Just write!
---Know your characters just as well as you know your self... or even better!---
---Do NOT read books on how to write. They will just confuse you and make developing your own style even more difficult---
---Baby name books are great. If you go to a used books store or a garage sale, look for them because they'll definitely help you with your characters.---
This is my preferred notebook to write in, although right now I'm using a different dog (it tends to change every school year). This year it's a Beagle, whereas last year it was a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, as shown to the right.
I don't use these notebooks because I'm obsessed with dogs; I use them because their covers are cardstock which means they're far more durable.
Program:
Microsoft Word
Font: Trebuchet MS, size 12, color purple
Page Outline:
Single spaced
Print View
90%
