Poll #17: When Did You Start Taking Writing Seriously?

[Andy]

Poll idea by Shaun. It's a little different than the last poll, which was about when you started writing for pleasure.

You can probably define "seriously" as the point when you started critiquing and doing research. :D

[Nyx]

There should be an option for people like me who haven't started taking it seriously yet:P

[Lykaios]

Hehe, I can give you an approximate date too! 2nd of August 2006. I had this idea for a story and spent the next six months hand-writing it. *It was awful!* But I have been writing ever since and I am still trying to fix the mess my 13-year-old-self left my story in . . .
:D

[Tncowgirl]

I started in a class my mom forced me to take. I hate writing before that, but now I can't stop. It is my escape valve too. :D, but I read the books I wrote back then and choke. They are so bad. But I write most of my stuff on paper and then if I like it enough I put it on the computer. :D.

[Shaun]

I actually didn't want to be a writer until the latter half of my senior year when I realize that making up fantasy worlds and telling stories about things that don't exist is actually a lot of fun.

[Imelda]

About a week before my 20th birthday. Best year ever.

[Alex]

This is hard for me. Like I said before, I'm not sure I want to pursue writing as a career unless I go into sports journalism, but I've been writing constantly on RPG's and such since I was 11. I first started writing serious poetry when I was 13, although it paled in comparison to what I write now. Its hard, but I'll say 13-14.

[Carraka]

April 3rd, 2005.

I was a Neopets roleplayer back then, and an elaborate character background turned into a brilliant plot. (It turned out not to be so brilliant, but at least it wasn't cliche.) Anyway, I spent the next two years trying to write my first novel, and when I finished it, I decided it was horrible. Then I spent a year or so writing and discarding first pages. I also tried to rewrite my first novel, but I've given up.

So now it's EC. Who knows where my writing career will take me next? Plop!

[Zaphkiel]

I took it seriously three years ago

[random_writer]

I just began taking it seriously last...November, maybe? When my mom and dad split up. I started writing, and it (IT. That's what I'll call it.) never got finished. I still have the original documents, so I may attempt to salvage it someday. At the moment though, my computer keys are screwed up, so I can't even get to my documents. :( It isn't fun, because I was finally getting into my groove with 'Sense.'

I'm going to do a little shameless publicity here. If anyone would like to read 'Sense,' it is posted in the Members-Only Stories forum, and constructive criticism is needed...

Sorry about that. :D

[Phantom]

I can give a date also December 12 of last year(2007). Someone(WITHOUT PERMISSION) read through my story book.

[DreamChaser]

This is my first year of taking writing seriously....but I think that since I'm only 12 and on this site it counts for something....

[Simmi]

I started taking writing seriously at 9-10... I was really into writing, plus my teacher was the one who kept me going so I took it seriously from then on.

[Melo]

I got a lot of encouragement from my mom really early on, so I took it pretty seriously from the beginning. I was looking for publishers at nine. Even though what I was writing was absolutely horrific. The plot was amazing back then and the characters had depth and I had sequals coming out all over the place but... you know... you grow older, and you start to realize that "Gosh, I sucked back then."

[Inkweaver]

I first got started with by best friend. We were reading the Edge Chronicles together in fourth or fifth grade. He gave up soon after, on both writing and the Edge Chronicles. I still do both! It was really my fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Scott, that brought up "publishing" and that really sparked the whole mess.

[Ace-Darkeyes]

I have been telling myself stories since I was 12 but I hated writing them down because my spelling was horrific and kept thinking I would wait until I got better before starting but when I was 15 I decided I didn't care and went ahead and began writing and have not stopped since :) (my spelling is a whole lot better now :P)

[FayGee]

I love writing but I don't take it seriously.

[dragonheart]

I have been writing for two years but I've only writen 12 pages. :blush: I'm extra serious about it though because I plan to make a living out of it.

[Clawfire]

When I was 7-8 Years old I started thinking of becoming a part time author and that Idea's stuck to me for now...

[wutheringheights]

I love writing, but it's still just something to do for fun right now. I've thought about publishing, but I don't think I have the confidence to do that yet.

[umbreon2000]

I wrote my first full novel (though it really DID suck) when I was seven but I had started writing it when I was six. I've always wanted to be a writer :)

[snow_yuki]

I took writing English novels and stories seriously when I was fourteen.

[Schweet-T]

I'd probably say around 13-14. There was a girl I liked, and I wrote her poems. She still has them, actually. XD

[rania]

At the age of fifteen, when I'd written my first short story and my friends said that I should develop it into a novel. I'm still working on it :D

[thekingsguard]

I've wanted to write since the third grade. Didn't get good at it until aorund the time I was finishing high school. Didn't take it seriously until I started my blog, and got involved in freelance writing.

[Rurikredwolf]

I started to take it seriously after I reached the end of my first series, when I was 15. I loved how I felt at the end and I immediately started on the sequel. This was about three years ago and I remade the series with The Ceremony, which I started to post on here.

But although I want to become an author, I don't want it to be less fun. Hence why I came here instead of going to a creative writing class in college.

[Alaera]

When I 1st saw my cousin after many years, she inspired me to start writing again. But I never took it seriously until the year later (aged 11) when I found out how much you can enjoy it!:D

[Georgy]

There should be an option for people like me who haven't started taking it seriously yet:P

That's absolutely right! How can we take seriously such a useless and eccentric occupation as the writing?

[Artmis]

I would say about 10-12 I guess :P

[Georgy]

When my uncle saw me writing, he asked me: " Why so serious?"
Since then I've been writing nonsense for fun.

[Infinity_Man]

I've been writing for a long time. When I was seven I started writing a Fantasy novel which was actually pretty original considering I was seven. I spent a good amount of time going back to that one novel until I was twelve and realized, looking back at the first chapter, that I could easily map out my writing improving throughout the book and moved onto something a bit more... serious.

The first time I finished a draft of a novel was when I was 13 or 14. But I don't think I started taking writing seriously - and in my case I mean I never looked at it as something I could seriously get into the business of - until this year, really, when I realized I had something that might be publishable.

[Georgy]

I never looked at it as something I could seriously get into the business of - until this year, really, when I realized I had something that might be publishable.[/QUOTE]

Let me get it straight: did you published some works, or you just going to do it? Have you any experience in dealing with publisher? Are they such goblins as rumours describe them?

[Infinity_Man]

I never looked at it as something I could seriously get into the business of - until this year, really, when I realized I had something that might be publishable.

Let me get it straight: did you published some works, or you just going to do it? Have you any experience in dealing with publisher? Are they such goblins as rumours describe them?

No, I've not had anything published yet. However, I've also had a very critical eye of my own work (I like to think) so this is the first time when I've looked at what I've written and thought, yeah, this could be a book. My beta readers have been generally positive about it as well, and I have a strong sense of where the book is strong and where it is weaker (and have been working on the weaker parts). I do not have experience with publishers. I am first trying to get an Agent. I've not really heard rumours about them being goblins - at least, not the real ones. Always look up anything you intend to sell to to make sure they're legitimate. There are whole sites dedicated to this kind of a thing.

[sakiyana]

I started writing young- I was already writing short stories and flash fiction for my class. Last year, I started writing a fantasy novel and am still working on it. I haven't given up.

[Sky]

I've always wanted to be an author; I don't remember a time when I didn't. I had a book when I was in fifth grade called "Writing Magic" and that went a long way towards making me more serious about writing.

I wouldn't have called myself truly serious about writing not just as a dream, but as a goal to actively seek until this summer when I started writing my first novel.
I started working on the story in January and really began writing it on June 25th. Since then I've been on a daily writing schedule and am about a quarter of the way done.

[Albino Squirrel]

I started when I was nine

[mooopsy]

I started getting into writing when I was 6 or 7, I would write little stories about dogs and cats and all that stuff. Now that I'm older, I'm learning to love writing in a different way. I take it seriously now.

[Tamara8flo]

4th grade, I was 8 years old. But my writing from that age sucks

[BookSquirt]

This summer. One of my friends convinced me to do Camp NaNoWriMo, and that's what started me. :)

[RoseJohnson]

I was 12 when I started writing. I got 9 chapters into the book before I lost it :(

[Something]

Well I don't really. But my teachers keep bugging me about becoming an author
so it's only a matter of time