Wednesday, January 08, 2020

IWSG: Beginnings

Welcome to the January 2020 post for the Insecure Writer's Support Group! You can learn more about the IWSG on their website, Facebook, or Twitter accounts.

Our hosts for the month are T. Powell Coltrin, Victoria Marie Lees, Stephen Tremp, Renee Scattergood, and J. H. Moncrieff.

Our question for this month is appropriately about beginnings. Here's the exact wording: What started you on your writing journey? Was it a particular book, movie, story, or series? Was it a teacher/coach/spouse/friend/parent? Did you just "know" suddenly you wanted to write?

Given that I was always a bookworm, it may be surprising that I didn't always want to be a writer. I was more interested in science when I was younger, but communication (writing) was always a secondary option. I would say part of what pushed me to write was being dissatisfied with the characters/tropes I read. In particular, although I enjoyed Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality series, I thought he could have done a better job with the heroine of Being a Green Mother. Fast-forward a few years to the mid-90s, when I became a diehard Beatles fan. Impressed with their four-fold synergy, I was inspired to create a group of female magicians who had to work closely together to save their country from a magical weather storm. Thus were born my Season Avatars. I'd written stories before then; I even wrote a trunk novel back in grad school. But with the inspiration of the Beatles, writing became an important part of my life. While writing hasn't brought me fame or fortune as I originally and naively imagined, I still believe in the power of stories and intend to keep writing as long as I'm able.

What's your writing story? Feel free to share it (or a link to your IWSG post) in the comments.

5 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

That's really interesting where your Season Avatars came from. Music is very inspiring!

James Pailly said...

Wow, that's really interesting how the Beatles inspired you. For me, I guess I started writing because there were stories I wanted to read, but it seemed like no one had written them.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

From the Beatles to four witches - now that proves you have a vivid imagination.

emaginette said...

I loved the Beatles' movies. I snicker when I think of them all walking into separate doors and saying hello once they entered the huge entrance way. I have no idea which movie that one was.

Anna from elements of emaginette

Sandra Ulbrich Almazan said...

Yes it is, Alex!

James, I don't remember the exact quote, but a famous author once said that if there are stories you want to read, you must write them yourself (this is paraphrased).

Thanks, Diane!

Anna, that's from Help! It may not have aged as well as A Hard Day's Night or Yellow Submarine, but I still enjoy watching it.

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