I've been writing for as long as I can remember. However, most of what I've written so far has been for my eyes only.
My first "novel" was written when I was an awkward, sticky-thin (I wish I were sticky-thin now...) 9-year old. It was called "Hetty Brown's Diary". It was about this girl who discovers her aunt's diary (couldn't bear to kill off her mom or gran) in the attic, and through its pages, discovers who her aunt really was, and even comes to identify herself with her aunt (Hetty B.) and ends up needing therapy. So what happened to it? When I was a (somewhat) wiser 15-year old, I came across my manuscript (written in a notebook) while tidying my room (which I do once every decade or so). I forgot about the cleaning, and sat and read the whole novel. I was so embarrassed and ashamed of what I'd written that I grabbed a pair of scissors and chopped my way through the notebook until there was enough paper in the waste bin to fool mom into thinking I'd done a LOT of tidying and cleaning.
The second novel I attempted was called "The Daring Dozen" and was written two years after I wrote Hetty B. The name itself proves that I was reading a lot of Enid Blyton at the time. That I was certainly older but by no means wiser when I wrote it can be ascertained from the name of the book's chief character - Yakov Androvsky. I made it up. He was courageous, honest, honourable, resourceful...perfect, and I had a crush on him. The "Dozen" he led consisted of 11-year olds from all over the world, who lived in the same village, and had all kinds of adventures during their summer holidays, as they tried to earn money to visit an amusement park. There was Victoria, Eileen, Graham, Wasim, Kepler, Courtney...I've forgotten the names of the rest, but I think that the names of several cricket players of the time featured among the dozen. Anyway, halfway through writing, Yakov hooked up with Eileen and I killed him off in a fit of jealous rage by throwing him under a train as he tried to save a 4-year old, and made Graham (my next crush) the hero. I regretted killing Yakov the very next day and decided not to continue with the novel. I threw away the sheets a few years ago.
I moved on to write a set of short stories (at age 16) - not fiction, but real-life incidents that happened to my grandparents and parents during their younger days. This is still with me, and I still like what I've written. Someday I will muster up enough courage to send it for publication (Do you find an agent first or send it straightaway? I can't decide for the life of me).
Then followed a romance novel during my stormy teenage. I refuse to give more details. People whom I actually see everyday might be reading this, and I couldn't face them if they knew I wrote a novel with steamy scenes. I'll just say that 1) the hero is based on someone who really exists and 2) therefore it will never see the light of day.
My university days saw me write several opinionated articles and features, some of which saw publication in class/local magazines. Some were too radical and were disposed of promptly.
Incidentally I won prizes at school and inter-school and university levels for poetry, essays and short stories. And no, they've never been published and will probably never be. I have to find a lot more confidence, courage and self-esteem before that happens. Am I writing even now? Of course! I need to write to keep myself sane. What has changed is that now I write about what I am familiar with, and try to keep the plot, characters and dialogues as realistic and simple as I possibly can. And my latest project/novel? Watch this space for more details. All will be revealed at the right time.
My first "novel" was written when I was an awkward, sticky-thin (I wish I were sticky-thin now...) 9-year old. It was called "Hetty Brown's Diary". It was about this girl who discovers her aunt's diary (couldn't bear to kill off her mom or gran) in the attic, and through its pages, discovers who her aunt really was, and even comes to identify herself with her aunt (Hetty B.) and ends up needing therapy. So what happened to it? When I was a (somewhat) wiser 15-year old, I came across my manuscript (written in a notebook) while tidying my room (which I do once every decade or so). I forgot about the cleaning, and sat and read the whole novel. I was so embarrassed and ashamed of what I'd written that I grabbed a pair of scissors and chopped my way through the notebook until there was enough paper in the waste bin to fool mom into thinking I'd done a LOT of tidying and cleaning.
The second novel I attempted was called "The Daring Dozen" and was written two years after I wrote Hetty B. The name itself proves that I was reading a lot of Enid Blyton at the time. That I was certainly older but by no means wiser when I wrote it can be ascertained from the name of the book's chief character - Yakov Androvsky. I made it up. He was courageous, honest, honourable, resourceful...perfect, and I had a crush on him. The "Dozen" he led consisted of 11-year olds from all over the world, who lived in the same village, and had all kinds of adventures during their summer holidays, as they tried to earn money to visit an amusement park. There was Victoria, Eileen, Graham, Wasim, Kepler, Courtney...I've forgotten the names of the rest, but I think that the names of several cricket players of the time featured among the dozen. Anyway, halfway through writing, Yakov hooked up with Eileen and I killed him off in a fit of jealous rage by throwing him under a train as he tried to save a 4-year old, and made Graham (my next crush) the hero. I regretted killing Yakov the very next day and decided not to continue with the novel. I threw away the sheets a few years ago.
I moved on to write a set of short stories (at age 16) - not fiction, but real-life incidents that happened to my grandparents and parents during their younger days. This is still with me, and I still like what I've written. Someday I will muster up enough courage to send it for publication (Do you find an agent first or send it straightaway? I can't decide for the life of me).
Then followed a romance novel during my stormy teenage. I refuse to give more details. People whom I actually see everyday might be reading this, and I couldn't face them if they knew I wrote a novel with steamy scenes. I'll just say that 1) the hero is based on someone who really exists and 2) therefore it will never see the light of day.
My university days saw me write several opinionated articles and features, some of which saw publication in class/local magazines. Some were too radical and were disposed of promptly.
Incidentally I won prizes at school and inter-school and university levels for poetry, essays and short stories. And no, they've never been published and will probably never be. I have to find a lot more confidence, courage and self-esteem before that happens. Am I writing even now? Of course! I need to write to keep myself sane. What has changed is that now I write about what I am familiar with, and try to keep the plot, characters and dialogues as realistic and simple as I possibly can. And my latest project/novel? Watch this space for more details. All will be revealed at the right time.
LoL...we are all ashamed of our works post scriptum...lol...funny part is when the work is in progress you experience such an adrenaline rush, and when you wake up the next day and see what you have written (LOL)...well you know what I mean ;)(luckily I was so clear...lawd)
ReplyDeleteWish all the best , A.
Wow, sounds like me...I have an entire bin filled with notebooks and folders filled with old stories that I can neither bear to go back and do anything with or sit there and read.
ReplyDeleteHetty Brown's Diary sounded cool. It's too bad you cut it all up.
Thank you for sharing the insecurity and vexed relationship with our writing that we all share. Fear of not being good enough pervades everything I write. (Blogging has been good for me in this way...at least I'm putting it out there!) I wish I could read Hettie Brown...it sounds wonderful.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this! I think it is hard to keep going when we have so many failed/forgotten projects. I have my fair share, that is for sure! I think it's important to realize how much work goes into a million things before ONE thing comes out exactly as we like. Kind of like taking a hundred pictures for that perfect one, you know?
ReplyDeleteAnd it's usually best to get an agent instead of sending your work to a publisher directly. Agents are a necessary step for most authors.
Now, ReNu...I want to spank you! I agree with Jen and Frankie...Hettie Brown's really does sound interesting. I got the chills while reading about it...You might want to revisit the plot...I think it was quite doable.... And stop throwing away your works of art!...(smiling and giving you a thumbs up)
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post...Do you mind if I refer and link to it on my Writer blog on a future post? Keep up the great work---oh, I with you on that sticky-thin point. lol.
Hetty Brown sounded pretty good - not that you're asking my opinion. I hope you stop throwing stuff out. At least save it to refer back to - to see how you've progressed!
ReplyDeleteVery nice blog ReNu - Thanks for visiting mine. A warning about the music should be posted. I have wheels on this desk chair & wasn't expecting the Rolling Stones. Took me 20 minutes to get the chair pulled out of the wall.....