How I Started Writing

So this story starts in February 2013.

I was in middle school (a time that I don't remember clearly), and there was a new girl that happened to have the same health class as me. To be quite frank, I really didn't like her at first, but I soon realized it was only because we didn't know each other. As quickly as we had met, we instantly became friends.

She was into the pop band One Direction and would talk about them whenever I asked about them. The more we talked, the more I grew fascinated by this new world of "fandoms" and boy bands. It was within the following month when everything changed (for the better, of course).

Most of you reading this article have probably heard of the term "fan-fiction" at least once.

Fan-Fiction: fiction written by a fan of, and featuring characters from, a particular TV series, movie, etc.

When the two of us began talking more outside of class, I decided that we should write a book that starred the both of us and One Direction (A very bold thought that I'm thankful to have spoken up about). At the beginning of writing, we went back and forth on writing chapters in our own perspectives (so one of us would have the notebook for a few days and then would give it to the other person to continue the story). In hindsight, and looking back on the moment, it wasn't the best system of writing or planning. Adding onto that, neither of us was the best at writing anything, so the mutual effort we put in was surprising.

However, we never actually finished that story... but it did inspire me to create a writing account on a popular writing website called Wattpad. After creating an account in March of 2013, I literally could not stop writing; my imagination was literally running wild with freedom after being suppressed for so long. With this writing website, you can write a story and publish it chapter by chapter.

I was completely oblivious to the grammatical errors, inconsistency in detail, and the many, many, many Mary Sues I had created. Eventually, I took a small break from writing in 2014.

This was also around the time my mom passed away from cancer.

Very soon after, I fell into a dark state of depression, and I couldn't find a way to continue living with myself. It was an awful period of time on my physical and mental state. A few months after she passed and I began going to therapy once a week, I decided to get back into writing.

Finding a way to cope is definitely different for everyone. I couldn't express how I felt out loud because it sounded really stupid, and it still sounded stupid when I wrote it on paper. So I decided to go down a different route of writing to get better.

Instead, I went back to the stories I had written and published on Wattpad. I wanted to claw my eyes out (figuratively, but close to actually doing it)– My writing was horrendous. For the next few years, and even now, I have not gone a day without writing something– even if it's just a few sentences.

A piece of advice to anyone looking to write, but can't find the inspiration to do so:

Write about anything. Who cares if you can't spell, or don't have the right grammar skills. You can always go back and correct it later. Ideas tend to slip from our heads, so it's best to just get it out on paper so you're not banging your head into a wall later on.

You can't become a great writer overnight. It takes a lot of practice and revising to even come close to something like that. I hope my story today has inspired at least one of you to try something new.