My First Book

Looking through my old things today I came across this book:

I remember making this; I think it was in year 2 so I couldn’t have been older than six or seven. I remember writing the story and drawing the pictures, I even remember putting the makeshift barcode on the back. It’s surprising how little my writing style has changed in around fifteen years. In Adventure under ice a brother and a sister fall into the ice and encounter all sorts of creatures there made of ice. The boy is sceptical but the girl embraces the world willingly. It ends a little disappointingly when the two run away from a witch and find a hidden door that leads them back to the safety of the woods.

Now my stories often involve a portal to a different world with a girl who is happy to believe in the magic she finds there. There are cruel creatures and fearful chases.  

Putting it simply I write fairy tales.

Good always triumphs over evil, though nowadays there are a few deaths along the way to victory but the basic premise hasn’t changed.

As well as reading for pleasure I’m going to look at writing for pleasure. I enjoy writing fairy tales and have no intention of changing that focus because writing about goblins and magical trees makes me happy.

When I was at university I took a creative writing course. I think I may have received a few good hints there but I can honestly say that it completely knocked my confidence in writing. I was in a room full of people who thought fairy tales beneath them and were far more interested in writing about politics, psychopaths and suicide. I often found myself apologising for my work or trying to add gritty realism were it just didn’t fit. I wish I could go back to that class with the confidence I’ve got now. I’d ignore their sneers and show my work proudly. 

 I’ll leave you with a quote from Niel Gaiman that I wish I’d read years ago:

The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you’re allowed to do whatever you like. (That may be a rule for life as well as for writing. But it’s definitely true for writing.) So write your story as it needs to be written. Write it ­honestly, and tell it as best you can. I’m not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter.