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“What was the premise of your first novel? What made you decide to write it?”
Also, it doesn’t have to be the first novel you finished, just the first novel you started writing.
My first novel, (which I didn’t actually finish), was about a girl who lived with her grandmother in a immobile mobile home. She lives a pretty simple life of caring for her grandmother until one day she meets a mysterious boy at a park reading a very large book.
One day I would like to finish this story, since I kinda feel bad for leaving Beatrice, (the main character), all alone in an unfinished story, but for the moment, I’ve got some other pretty cool WIP I’m working on.
So what was the first novel you wrote?
@kathleenramm As my first novel has sprung into a very large and interwoven project, I think I’ll recount the first short story that I wrote that launched me into writing.
It was a fairy-tale retelling, I think. I had different characters from different stories come together to…do something. I can’t quite remember what. But I do remember that Red Riding Hood knew karate, Hansel and Gretel ran an eye glasses shop, and that the Wolf was vegetarian.
After that I wrote a lot of unfinished fanfiction before starting what I’m working on now.
Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into daysI’ve always had a fascination with fairy-tale retellings! Have you ever read the Lunar Chronicles? I wouldn’t say it’s the best series out there, but it was definitely the best fairy-tale retelling series that I have read.
How old were you when you wrote it?
@kathleenramm I have the first one in my house, but I haven’t touched it. It’s definitely on my to-read.
Let’s see…maybe ten to twelve? I started officially “writing” when I was twelve, I think.
Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into days@kathleenramm It was about an anthropomorphic trio of friends, a skunk, a squirrel, and a monkey– inspired by my dad’s version of bedtime stories from even younger days and maybe a little bit of the Kung Fu Panda movies *convinces self there’s no shame in sharing this* I was nine years old and trying NaNoWriNo for the first time. There may have been a talking peregrine falcon in there somewhere. Most of the characters may have survived to graduate into another vast storyworld of mine, although they didn’t remain anthropomorphic animals (at least… not exactly). I kept trying to rewrite that story until… like last year, when I finally decided to give myself a break and work on one of the other 1790203 story ideas I’d been saving up for the past few years xD Needless to say, I’ve come a long way since then!
And so I have a sort of biased way of thinking that first characters do deserve second chances. So maybe you should do something with that Beatrice of yours one day! (Although I am curious about your current project. I shall keep myself quiet, however)
@devastate-lasting I RESPECT. Fairytale retellings is an awesome way to begin, short story or otherwise. In a way, the Ever After High franchise did sort of spark my writing craze when I was 8, but that was fanfiction and obviously never made it to novel length. Anyway, it surprises me that you haven’t yet read the Lunar Chronicles! (I feel like everyone has, and everyone loves it more than I did xD) What fairytale retellings have you read/liked, then, if you don’t mind my asking?~ always be a happy camper ~
@merieshenanigans Oh I remember Ever After High. Those were cool books. I liked The Princess Tales by Gail Carson Levine, but I remember REALLY loving The League of Princes series by Christopher Healy. Those three books were among my favorite books as a child.
Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into daysIt’s cool how your characters evolved into other stories!
If I may ask, what do you mean by them being human but not exactly? That sounds very intriguing.
The current project that I’m currently writing the first draft on, I’ve been working on and off on for over four years. I think it’s safe to say I spent probably close to a thousand hours on it. XD Mainly due to the many rewrites and POV characters. But I think for the first time I see the end in sight. *fingers crossed*
Yeah, it’s been a while since I’ve read the Lunar Chronicles and my taste in fiction has drastically changed. But I think those books are best binged than slowly read and contemplated if you know what I mean. XD
@devastate-lasting Oh, cool! I’ve never read those particular retellings.
@kathleenramm I used to be obsessed with the animal kingdom (still kinda am) but unimpressed by the “shifter” races in fantasy. I figured shapeshifting shouldn’t be limited to just wolves and whatnot. So, you know, the idea of a human who could turn into a squirrel came along.THAT is an experience I can relate with too hard! You can do it!
Haha, I read the first two books and never finished the series until a long time later xD I was mostly drawn in by the premise of the story.
~ always be a happy camper ~
@kathleenramm 😉 Guess, I’m a bit late, but what does that matter? XD
The premise of my first story has got to be the most clichéd idea I’ve ever come up with. It was the typical low-down-teenager/chosen-one trope featuring a fifteen year-old main character by the name of James Nixon (this was my eleven-year-old idea of fantasy). He mysteriously gained magical powers while living on a flat, deserted place somewhere on Earth. Then, he was basically hand-delivered into a fantasy world which, at that time, was in my mind pretty good. I’m still using elements from that in my ideas and such today in fact. Well anyways, he was the said chosen one to was supposed to defeat the great and terrible dark lord. Besides this terrible display of cliché catastrophe, the world-building and lower story elements were my main focus, and I went pretty far with those.
I gave Mr James plenty of chances, name changes (Zimran Agamemnon, Erasius, etc), but in the end I had to scrap the whole idea.
I still find traces of some lingering tendrils of ideas from that project in the seams of my fantasy idea today.
@leon-fleming
Well, your first novel may have been cliche, but at least James Nixon wasn’t a poor farm boy. XD
It’s cool how in your writing today you can still see influences from your past work. But now it’s much more well put together, thought out, and more deeply developed.
What world-building elements do you still have in your fantasy world your working on now?
Oh, and what magical powers did James have? Just sorta curious…
@kathleenramm XD Yeah, he was a lot like Henry from N.D. Wilson’s 100 Cupboards series. Though there were a lot of differences.
True, it is.
I hold no lower bar of reasoning in which I affix merit to certain world-building elements than this: all elements are needed as is deemed necessary. Languages, maps, peoples, histories, lands, places, studies, tales, myths, lore, books, annals, and all other basics of any fantasy world are necessary. That is why I’ve spent nigh on five years working on this world of Ìrindorhl (and that only in the histories an old great realm of the aelfven which fell into ruin; they still call it by its name even though tales of its legend have passed far into myth). Even Ìrindorhl has not captured all my attention; the whole of the world has need for improvement, work, and study.
Despite this, there are boundaries which I have placed before my imagination: I will stay as original as possible; I will not follow after those modern fantasy authors who merely model their worlds after the modern age; and I will work in all I do for the glory of Christ — if this last principal is ignored in any way, then I must stop in the production until things are sorted out. ALSO: if I would model after any author (and that only in a way in which I would use them and their works for inspiration, not modelment) it would be those elder authors with whom I find intrigue and the knowledge of possible attainment which so readily comes to mind.
Ah, yes…poor, little, James. He was endowed with the power of lightning. Which came with its own complications; side-effects, even, some would say.
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