Why did you start writing? Why are you still writing?

[Arien]

For me, I can’t even remember why I started writing. I was bored, I guess, and I asked Mom for a piece of paper and started writing a rip-off of a Boxcar Children book. I got a few chapters in, then abandoned it. I was maybe 8 at the time. And I wrote some stories about my stuffed animals. Later I tried to write a novel about a cowgirl. *hides in shame* I was a horse-crazy 8 or 9-yr-old, okay? Several years later I started another book that eventually became the basis for Swallowtail Summer, my WIP. I just wrote because I thought that’s what everyone did, or something. 😂

But I’m still writing because I want to give the world clean, hopeful YA fiction/fantasy. Also because it’s kind of a therapy for dealing with emotions and tough times in my life, and it helps me to describe how it can feel to be lonely or depressed.

And most of all, I write to glorify God!

So how about you?

@ava-blue @elishavet-pidyon @koshka @folith-feolin @loopylin @theloonyone @madelyn @starofthenorth @lewilliams @esther-c @keilah-h @felicity @freedomwriter76 @godlyfantasy12 @lightoverdarkness6 @mineralizedwritings @orielle21 @sarafini @whalekeeper @wilder-w

• This topic was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by Arien.

Be brave. Be strong. Be bold.
-Christopher Blakewell

[Elizabeth]

@arien I feel like I have a similar backstory to you (also yay, Boxcar Children!! I love that series)—can’t remember exactly when/why I started to write. I read a ton as a kid, and played pretend with my brothers almost as much, so it just seemed a natural progressions of things. And no need to be ashamed of a cowgirl + horse phase! I definitely had a horse girl phase also, and was writing a western-inspired fantasy book last year!

Now…it’s complicated, as moth things are, I suppose. It’s such an amazing feeling creating a story out of nothing, you know? Plus it lets me process my experiences in a unique way. (I actually feel like I went through a period of writer’s block when I first started talking about my emotions in depth, first with my then-boyfriend and later with a counselor. But now it’s like, since I don’t have to rely only on writing to process what I’m feeling, I feel a lot less ~weird~ about my writing and am able to approach it a lot more confidently/clearly. Anyway, anyone who knows me knows that I’m  just an advocate for therapy in general 😛 And writing can definitely be a wonderful therapeutic practice!)

“Seven seconds till the end. Time enough for you. Perhaps. But what will you do with it?”

[MineralizedWritings]

@arien

Oh! Fun topic, thanks! 😀

I started writing this past July, but had been involved with writing for a bit longer. My sister has been writing for a long time, and I liked to talk stories with her and help her come up with plot ideas. I thought it was super cool, but didn’t have a story of my own. Previous to that, my sister and I would make up stories with out stuffies and toys. I’m not sure why, but I couldn’t come up with a plot for the longest time, even though I wanted to wright. Honestly, maybe it was God. It was probably for the best because I didn’t have enough life experience to wright meaningfully, and I who knows if I was mature enough to wright for God. Or, maybe it wasn’t. I started reading a lot more last summer, and for some reason I just kinda realized the endless possibilities. Like, your world can actually be whatever. I prayed about it for awhile, and a story idea randomly came to my mind! A 17 year old boy with wavy brown hair named Desman Faulkner who lives underground with his twin brother. His twin is sent off to help with the war effort, but his mom wants him to go too to prove himself. Ok, lots has changed. It’s Tauren now, not Desman. And yeah, that wavy hair quickly became curly when I tried to draw him for the first time.

 

Ok, why I still write:

I wanted to move for the longest time. It represented a sort of escape, meeting knew people and gaining a good social network to remedy the less than perfect family I live in, trying new and different things, and really just having a bigger life and doing bigger things. I prayed about this for a long time, and God answered it with writing 😂 I never could have come up with a better solution. I have you wonderful people, I’m doing bigger things with endless possibilities, and I can escape into another world basically whenever. I would say another reason I write is because of the lack of good ya fic these days. Also, awhile ago I read a really good manga series called Haikyuu, (rated teen, not recommending it unless you have a great sister like I did to screen it) and I was just amazed at how a story with no death, if written well, can be gripping and adrenaline rushing. It had some great themes too! I really wanted to right/draw like Furadate after that (hence the haikyuu fanart period I went through) and felt so inspired! So yeah, writing is my escape, and it’s where I have fun. I tend to have trouble making friends in person, I think I’m just a bit nerdy for them or something XD But writing really helps with that, because you can have character’s like Keiryn (ok I never have been as popular as him) who feel the same.

Thanks for letting me ramble! XDXD

"And so I left this world just as I had entered it. Confused."

[Felicity]

@arien

And I wrote some stories about my stuffed animals. Later I tried to write a novel about a cowgirl. *hides in shame* I was a horse-crazy 8 or 9-yr-old, okay?

Don’t hide! That’s really sweet! 😀 My sister is nine and horse-crazy too!!

I started writing because I had stories to tell. Even before I knew how to write, I made up stories in my head and imagined all sorts of things. I also played make believe every minute I got, which gave me a chance to “live” the stories I had in my head.

The first real story I started writing was with my brother and sister. It was about three families who lived on ranches in Nevada (we each wrote about one family) and they had oodles of children. (Like thirteen or something.) We had so much fun with it and that’s what really showed me how exciting writing can be.

Why am I still writing?

(mind if I share something a bit personal?)

For a while I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, and I felt confused and conflicted about all the paths I could take. At that point writing was one of my many hobbies, any of which I could have expanded and turn into a “career”. I prayed about them, but nothing really stood out. Also I wanted to help spread God’s truth in this dark world, but I didn’t know how any of my hobbies could do that.

As writing slowly morphed into something more than a hobby, I mentally prepared to give it up, expecting God to show me that “big” thing that I was meant to do. When Russia invaded Ukraine in Feb of this year, I thought maybe I was suppose to go to Europe and help the refugees. But that was not to be.

I began realizing that God doesn’t measure people’s service to Him by “big” or “small”. He calls us each to serve Him where He has placed us, and the foreign missionary’s calling is just as meaningful as the daughter who washes the breakfast dishes for her family. The reason why I’m still writing is because I really enjoy it, and I think this is what God wants me to do. He has blessed me with some great writing friends (including one who shares my name that I met randomly providentially at a camp) and has opened doors for me to learn about this craft (KP and all you guys!!!) I’m so thankful!!!!

So if anyone out there is struggling with what to do with their lives, pray about it, and God will show you. Remember, often God has us right where we need to be, right in front of what we were born to do, but we don’t see it because we’re looking out and away where all the “big” opportunities are. We are where we are for a purpose, and all of God’s purposes are BIG and BEAUTIFUL!!

 

He must increase, but I must decrease.

[Anonymous]

Such a great topic! Thanks for tagging me @Arien

I’ve always loved pretend and making up stories with my siblings. I always hated writing itself though. I ended sessions in tears just about every time when my mom practiced with me. I couldn’t see the value. Fast forward to 2018. I got invited by a friend to go to the co-op her family started (I have 3 siblings with special needs at home so it’s hard for my mom to teach and participate in things like that) without my mom having to help out. Mom enrolled me in the middle school writing class and I learned how to write good paragraphs. In 2019 I started liking writing. By 2020 I loved it. During covid my older sister moved into the apartment my parents own right across our driveway. She spent each day with us until June. During that time, she told me how she wrote novels when she was my age. That’s when I 1st started trying to write novels.

I want some good, clean, Christian Sci-fi novels and I love expressing myself through words and getting story plots, characters and setting out of my head. Lol. I want to give people stories and books that are appropriate and Biblically sound.

[Esther]

@arien

Awesome topic idea!! I’ve been meaning to start something like this, but you did it for me!!

So, pretty much for as long as I can remember, I loved anything to do with stories!! I wrote them in school or for fun; my bff and I would play games after church about stories we made up; and I enjoyed putting on plays. I just loved it!! That continued on until now. About 10, I noticed that I could write longer stories… books!! So I tried… and never actually finished one. Probably at the age of 11 1/2 I discovered KP. Their articles helped me sooooo much! It really showed me so much about writing and what it really is! It showed me the endless possibilities of writing. That really inspired me. So I tried to write a fantasy novel and a sci-if novel, both of which were never finished. Finally, I decided that I would start writing a book and finish it… and I did!! At the age of 12, I finished writing the first book in my Refined Duology! (Which has currently been put aside for a very… very long time. 😅) Sometime before turning thirteen, I started writing my dystopian trilogy, which is still going strong! I won’t hesitate to say that Kingdom Pen influenced my writing the most. It really opened up the possibilities in the world of writing!!

 

Why I still write?

Well, because the world needs fiction that is clean, but not cheesy. It needs God-honoring books that aren’t preachy. They need truth! Sure, some books out there do have really good themes, but they have no basis for why that is right or good. Being a Christian writer enables me to write strong truths, (specifically for young adults), that are built upon the Bible. No matter if my books ever become best-sellers, I’ll be confident in knowing that whoever read it was introduced or reminded of God’s truths.

I also keep writing just because I enjoy it!! I absolutely adore writing!! (even though I’m not always consistent doing it XP) It’s something that let’s be create worlds and characters and be creative!!

Write what should not be forgotten. — Isabel Allende

[Esther]

I could probably ramble more on why I write… but… we’ll just keep it at that. 😜

Write what should not be forgotten. — Isabel Allende

[Keilah H.]

@arien I don’t know why I write overall. Most stuff I write is fanfiction, and I just write that because I love exploring ideas I have about characters I like…….

My Rexy series was inspired by the fact that I have autism, and that I hate it when people call it a “disability.” Like, there is nothing that stops me from living a normal-ish life. So I wrote a picture book about a dinosaur with a speech problem, got it self-published on Amazon, and it really took off from there!

 

But yes, I’d love to see more God-honoring fiction like The Wingfeather Saga or The Green Ember. Maybe I’ll write one someday! (Christian fanfiction? is that even possible?)

Where'd I get ya this time? The liver? The kidney? I'm runnin' outta places to put holes in ya.

[Arien]

@lewilliams

Glad to know I’m not the only one with a kind of silly reason why I started writing! Some people have a really cool or inspiring reason, and I’m just like . . . I’ve always been writing. One of my grandpas was a librarian and the other was an editor, and I have a great-aunt who has a Ph.D. in English Literature and taught at a college for years, so I guess writing is in my blood!

A western-inspired fantasy sounds interesting! What was it about, if you don’t mind sharing?

 

Be brave. Be strong. Be bold.
-Christopher Blakewell

[Light]

@arien @esther-c @lewilliams @keilah-h @felicity @mineralizedwritings @sarafini

Wow, all of y’all’s stories are so inspiring 😊😍!!
So, I’ve always loved reading. Even when I was little enough to not know how to read, I would sit in the floor with a picture book and try to read to myself and my mama.
When I was about eleven, I was on a zoom call with my friends from a book club, and they started talking about their books! I was shocked and excited. I had no idea that someone could write a book. Just a few months earlier, I had read the saddest book my 11 year old self had ever read, “The Yearling,” about a deer fawn and a boy. I came up with a happier version of the yearling, and called it The White Fawn. And that’s how I started writing.

Why I’m still writing? Well, that’s easy! I love it, and it’s something I’m good at. And as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized how most regular YA and middle fiction is just trash!! No good morals, they’re depressing and saddening. And I want to be able to write good, uplifting, and inspiring stories for teens to read without worrying. Thanks for letting me rant! 😊

#HugRikerSquad

[Arien]

@mineralizedwritings

Previous to that, my sister and I would make up stories with out stuffies and toys.

Yes, us too! So much fun, right? I would make literally anything I was doing into a story when I was younger–mostly playing outside, but also cooking, cleaning my room, doing laundry, anything! I told my stories out loud, too, so I bet all my neighbors thought, “Oh, there’s that girl walking around talking to herself . . .” LOL

I wanted to move for the longest time. It represented a sort of escape, meeting knew people and gaining a good social network to remedy the less than perfect family I live in, trying new and different things, and really just having a bigger life and doing bigger things.

Something similar happened to me, except my problem was that I didn’t want to move. But I sympathize with wanting an impossibly perfect family. I turned to writing about kids with perfect parents (or at least what I thought a perfect parent would be). But thankfully, God has shown me that was wrong, and my writing has changed to reflect human people, not perfect ones, which is much healthier. 😊

Thanks for letting me ramble! XDXD

Of course! Rambles are always welcome 😂

Be brave. Be strong. Be bold.
-Christopher Blakewell

[Arien]

@felicity

I started writing because I had stories to tell. Even before I knew how to write, I made up stories in my head and imagined all sorts of things. I also played make believe every minute I got, which gave me a chance to “live” the stories I had in my head.

Yes, me too! It probably helped in some way . . . I was used to telling myself stories about what I was doing, so writing them down wasn’t a big change.

The first real story I started writing was with my brother and sister. It was about three families who lived on ranches in Nevada (we each wrote about one family) and they had oodles of children. (Like thirteen or something.) We had so much fun with it and that’s what really showed me how exciting writing can be.

LOL that sounds like fun! I like how you put that “oodles” of children 🤣🤣

And girl, your testimony is beautiful! That’s so amazing how God worked everything out in your life.

I began realizing that God doesn’t measure people’s service to Him by “big” or “small”. He calls us each to serve Him where He has placed us, and the foreign missionary’s calling is just as meaningful as the daughter who washes the breakfast dishes for her family. The reason why I’m still writing is because I really enjoy it, and I think this is what God wants me to do. He has blessed me with some great writing friends (including one who shares my name that I met randomly providentially at a camp) and has opened doors for me to learn about this craft (KP and all you guys!!!) I’m so thankful!!!!

Amen! Thanks for the reminder. I can easily be tempted to think washing dishes isn’t serving God as much as being a missionary. And we can definitely serve God through our writing! That’s what Kingdom Pen is all about!

We are where we are for a purpose, and all of God’s purposes are BIG and BEAUTIFUL!!

Yes! Do you know the hymn “God Moves in a Mysterious Way”?

Be brave. Be strong. Be bold.
-Christopher Blakewell

[Arien]

@sarafini

That’s a really cool story! I started loving writing in 2020 as well. My sister and I had nothing to do except write and go on walks and talk about writing, so that’s what we did. 😂 It was really helpful though!

I want some good, clean, Christian Sci-fi novels and I love expressing myself through words and getting story plots, characters and setting out of my head. Lol. I want to give people stories and books that are appropriate and Biblically sound.

Keep it up! 😊

Be brave. Be strong. Be bold.
-Christopher Blakewell

[Arien]

@esther-c

Well, because the world needs fiction that is clean, but not cheesy. It needs God-honoring books that aren’t preachy. They need truth! Sure, some books out there do have really good themes, but they have no basis for why that is right or good. Being a Christian writer enables me to write strong truths, (specifically for young adults), that are built upon the Bible. No matter if my books ever become best-sellers, I’ll be confident in knowing that whoever read it was introduced or reminded of God’s truths.

Exactly. Good job! 😊 Let’s keep on giving our dark, broken world God’s light and truth!

I also keep writing just because I enjoy it!! I absolutely adore writing!! (even though I’m not always consistent doing it XP) It’s something that let’s be create worlds and characters and be creative!!

Oh yes! As a plus, writing is just plain fun! (At least for me; I know some people who can’t stand it!)

Be brave. Be strong. Be bold.
-Christopher Blakewell

[Arien]

@keilah-h

Your testimony is lovely, thanks for sharing 😊

My Rexy series was inspired by the fact that I have autism, and that I hate it when people call it a “disability.” Like, there is nothing that stops me from living a normal-ish life. So I wrote a picture book about a dinosaur with a speech problem, got it self-published on Amazon, and it really took off from there!

That’s wonderful! Did you do the artwork yourself, or did you hire an artist?

But yes, I’d love to see more God-honoring fiction like The Wingfeather Saga or The Green Ember.

I love the Wingfeather Saga! I didn’t like Green Ember as much personally, but it is inspiring to read books written by other Christians (I think Peterson and Smith are both Anglican, but I’m not 100% sure about Smith).

Maybe I’ll write one someday! (Christian fanfiction? is that even possible?)

Go for it! Though I’m not sure what you mean by Christian fanfiction 🙂

Be brave. Be strong. Be bold.
-Christopher Blakewell

[Author]

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