3 Lessons I Learned as a Young Writer

By Grace A. Johnson

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Grace A. Johnson, and I’m a homeschooled junior who first started writing misspelled words in a big notebook with a dull pencil at the age of nine.

My first written story was a “mystery” concerning a girl’s crush at church, solved by the girl and her older sister, but my first real story came to be the next year and was about four thirteen-year-old girl spies (because, yes, there is a monumental difference between a story you jot down and a story you actually think of as a book). Now, nearly eight years later, I’ve self-published two novels, a novella, and a smattering of short stories, and I’m currently working on my third novel, an epic at over 200k words.

There are still misspelled words, yes, and I still have notebooks (they’re smaller now, and I use a pen), but a lot has changed, and I would like to share with y’all a little bit of my writing journey and the lessons I’ve learned!

Lesson #1: You’re Not Alone

You know, when I first started writing, I thought I was the only one. No, not the only writer, but certainly the only young Christian writer. No one in my small circle of acquaintances (which was comprised of fellow homeschoolers and kids at church) at the time read voraciously like I did, let alone wrote fictional stories. And in a world where the market is dominated by traditionally published novels written by adults in the thirties or older, the concept of a teenage author would be strange to anyone, especially a ten-year-old girl.

As crazy as it sounds, it wasn’t until mid-2020 (for context, I was now fourteen) that I discovered a wealth of teenage Christian writers…and self-published authors too! (The world is crawling with them; they’re everywhere. I’m serious. Like, I can’t turn around without virtually bumping into one. *turns around* *runs into someone in the comments* What’s this? You write too? And so does your cousin? And your brother? And you have a Discord group with twelve other writers? NO WAY. *turns back around* See what I mean?)

When I found Kingdom Pen, it was like stumbling through the wardrobe and entering Narnia. Here were other kids who had similar lives, the very same interests, read the same books I did, understood the struggle of being a teenage writer. Here were other people who wanted to create stories that stood out from the crowd, change the world with their writing, and further the Kingdom of God by heeding His call.

Not only did I find helpful articles and discussions, I found family. I found friendship. I found some of the most amazing people on the planet, and I get to call them friends. Not friends like the ones you hang out with every now and then because you go to the same church, but friends you choose and who choose you, friends you connect with on a deeper level, friends who build you up and inspire you and draw you closer to God. Friends who share your journey, from the first story on a napkin to the first piece posted online to the first novel to the first publishing deal to the first bestselling list.

I wasn’t lonely (I mean, what writer is ever lonely? What writer isn’t opposed to the hermit life, just them and their characters?), but I was alone…and now? Well, now I know I’m not.

And you’re not either. All you have to do is reach out and you’ll find a community, on a forum, a blog, Facebook, Goodreads, maybe even in your hometown at school or church, that is full of writers just like you, who will inspire you and help foster your writing.

On top of that, you know what? Even if there wasn’t a single literate person on this planet penning stories, you still wouldn’t be alone, because God is an author too…the Author of the universe, the Author of love, the Author of your story…and there isn’t a better friend to have!

Lesson #2: It’s Okay to

Break the Rules

Fun fact: I don’t like school. I absolutely abhor being told what to do, what I should know, how I should learn it. Having a textbook shoved in my face and a list of questions to answer goes against my mental makeup–I must learn on my own. I must learn what I want, when I want, how I want, or else I won’t be able to retain it or grasp it (hence why I still don’t know how to do long division). I am a self-taught individual in more ways than one, and my independent American self is rather proud of that.

But that tendency of mine to do everything myself also means that I never follow the writing rules. In fact, I didn’t even know there were rules until *cough cough* a couple years ago.

You’re supposed to draft–y’know, write out your book quickly and painlessly, just getting the skeleton down, and then come back two or three more times to flesh it out. I don’t draft. I didn’t even know that was a thing apart from wind until 2020. (I’m pretty sure I had to google it.)

You’re supposed to plot your stories, fill out templates, edit fifty times over, never start a sentence with and or but (or or, for that matter), and not have over five first-person perspectives in one book. (And I’m pretty sure that sentence wasn’t grammatically correct either.)

You’re also supposed to indent your paragraph, but I didn’t figure that out until my third story…on the computer. (And at first, I did it with the spacebar…which, as you can imagine, took forever. I finally figured it out, but you can’t tell for how slow I write.)

Have I mentioned I don’t know how to type? Taught myself that too.

The list goes on, people, from chapter length to writing speed to consistency. It seems like there’s a rule or guideline for everything.

So many writers get stuck on English 101 grammar (believe me, your novel does not need to read like one of my college papers), accepted word count, or everyone else’s step-by-step writing process. Worse, some writers go so far as to base their personal success on how closely they can model others–whether that’s writing 2k in thirty minutes (let’s face it, that’s something only Superman could do) or getting up at five in the morning every day to write for three hours on end. 

But, you know what? You can’t do what everyone else does. You aren’t supposed to. The rules, my friend, were meant to be broken, and so were the guidelines and norms and accepted practices.

If you wanna write your whole novel in one take over the course of three months or three years, do it. If you wanna begin a sentence with and, go right ahead! If you wanna write only once a month because that’s all you can handle or feel up to, please, do your thing! If you wanna follow your own plot structure or outlining technique, do it! Not everyone has to “save the cat” or have three acts. Not everyone has to write consistently or only when inspired.

It’s creative writing, folks, and it’s up to you what and how you’re going to create, so don’t feel pressured to conform to the norms or follow all the rules. Write what’s on your heart, how you see fit to best write it, and let God be your guide, not any other book or writer or obnoxious relative (we all got ‘em)!

Please note, however, that this advice does not apply to every other aspect of life. Be that as it may, the common law must be followed and those rules were not meant to be broken. No, you shouldn’t drive blindfolded, let your donkey sleep in the bathtub, or keep a couch on your porch. (And, yes, these are all real laws in several U.S. states. Y’all be careful now, and make sure to check up on what’s legal or not before you put an ice cream cone in your back pocket on Sunday while visiting me down here in Georgia. But don’t worry if you forgot your shoes; it’s perfectly legal to drive barefoot in Georgia.)

Lesson #3: No Writing Journey

 is the Same

Y’all, no writing journey is the same. No writer is the same. I started writing at nine and got serious about it at twelve, but you may have started at three or twenty-three. I write historical romance, but you may write urban fantasy or cozy mysteries. I only get time to write for a couple hours before bed almost every day, but you may get the entire day to write or only the weekends.

Just like your stories are different from mine, your journey will be different than mine, and vice versa. And that’s a good thing!

I know sometimes I wish I could say I’ve always loved writing, or started when I was only four, or could remember what first drew me to it…but I can’t. I can, however, tell you that I used to hate writing so much that I’d do my schoolwork orally when I could and scribble most everything I “wrote,” even though I’ve been a voracious reader since I was four/five. I can tell you that I started writing when I was nine to ten years old, and that it was Melanie Dickerson’s Hagenheim series that actually opened me up to the idea of being a writer. I can tell you that I got serious about writing when I started my project Finding Love on Horseback in 2017 at age eleven.

Even though I can’t walk you through every stage of your writing, every accomplishment and milestone, every learning curve and bump in the road, I can tell you that it is a journey and you will grow and evolve as you embark upon it.

I can tell you that your journey is as unique as you are, and that you’ll find friends and family who inspire and support you to walk alongside you. I can tell you that your writing journey, your published novels and unfinished stories, your every word was known by God before the foundation of the world, and that He has a divine purpose for your writing.

He has called you to this and He’ll guide you and sustain you through it. He’ll lay on your heart and mind the stories you need to write and He’ll show you how to write them, training you to become a better writer in the process. He’ll open doors to new opportunities and close doors to paths that will take you away from your destiny.

Trust Him, and He’ll take your big notebook full of misspelled words and turn it into a published book full of laughter and tears (and maybe a typo or two, if you don’t trust Him to help you edit it too).

The writing journey is just like life, and even though every writer has one, not every writer’s is the same. Remember that, because as soon as you try to do things just like everyone else or think that you’re not up to par because you started to late or missed a lesson here or there, you’ll lose sight of just how beautiful your journey is and how God is orchestrating all of it to meet your needs as they need to be met.

So there you have it, folks. Three of the most important lessons I learned as a young writer (the hard way, mind you) and how my trial and error can, hopefully, help you some.

 Remember, you’re not alone, because there are tons of other writers out there who can help you and encourage you in so many ways! Plus, you got me and Jesus! It’s okay the break the rules (except the ice cream cone one) and try something new, whatever fits your style and your writing process. And every journey is going to look different for every writer, and that’s an amazing thing!

What have you learned since you started writing? How is your writing journey unfolding? Let me know in the comments below!