Writing That First Novel (Part 1)

I enjoy writing. Not just essays or articles for classes or assignments, but I gained an interest in writing fiction towards the end of my middle school years.

My bibliography consists of only a couple of short stories, most of which were written during high school. A lot of these stories were fan fiction featuring characters from Star Trek and Doctor Who.

I actually started writing a novel during my freshman year of high school. It was a story of a secret civilization who lived in a city under the ocean. I stopped writing it after a couple of chapters, and scrapped the idea, for a couple of reasons. I hadn't planned out the story before I started writing, and this often led me to make up characterizations and plots as I went along. I wasn't even sure how I wanted to end it. The parts of the plot I had thought of were quite preachy and heavy handed, and there were some environmental messages spread through out (I was going through sort of a hippie phase around this time).

I probably won't start writing it again. I had the only chapters I wrote saved on a floppy disk, which I managed to lose somewhere. Also, the idea has since been done. If I tried to publish this story today, I'd probably get a cease & desist from the creators of BioShock.

I've had a lot of time to hone my skills, and study the styles of some of the greats (Douglas Adams, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, etc.). This summer, I'm going to try again.

I won't reveal too much about the plot of my new novel (You never know where plagiarists may be lurking). I'll just say that it's part sci-fi, part surreal comedy. I'll try to keep making updates on my progress throughout the summer.

To Be Continued...