So ... how did you come to be a writer?

[Niamh Sage]

I'm asking this because I'm insufferably nosy, and I MUST KNOW.

No, seriously though - what drew you to writing? How long have you been doing it, and what kind of writing do you like the best? How's it been so far, and where do you hope your writing will take you in the future? Anything else you'd like to talk about?

As for me, I've always liked writing stories, but it wasn't till I got to high school that it occurred to me that writing stories was something I could do outside class time, just for fun. It was my friend who made me realise this. She always had an exercise book with her, and whenever she had a spare few minutes, she'd be writing. It turned out that this was a novel she was working on, and because it looked like fun, I started doing it too. I don't think I ever actually finished any of the novels I started writing, but I did have a lot of fun writing them (and getting my friend to write the bits I was too shy or embarrassed to write myself ).

To my eternal regret, I destroyed the novels some time after I left high school. I seem to remember being terribly afraid of the embarrassment of them being discovered. Damn, if only time travel were possible, I'd send my 20 year old self a letter from my 40 year old self, to convince her that they were worth saving. Oh, and to buy a lockable box. Ah well, live and learn.

I also started journalling during highschool, and that's been a habit that's stayed with me almost all of my life since then. I had a creative writing hiatus during university (although I suppose some of my lab reports could accurately be called creative writing ), and for a few years afterwards when I entered the workforce, but then all of a sudden the urge to write returned when I hit 31 or so. Since then I've been writing mostly short stories, but have also attempted a couple of novels (nothing completed yet though). I tried my hand at poetry, the results of which make me flame-faced with embarrassment now. I would love to give it another go though, because it can be a very beautiful and powerful form of writing in ways that prose sometimes just can't match.

I write mostly fantasy-based stuff, and for the last few years have been very much occupied with the question of fairies from the British tradition. I just want to keep doing that, really.

So, what about everyone else?

[PatriotBlade]

I've only ever had a couple poems published and have a couple stories on FanFiction.net, so I don't know if that's what you'd call a "writer".

I got interested in writing in elemenetery, when I had to get a picture book from the library (as in no text what so ever, just illustrations) and write the story I saw. I hated the assignment, until it was finished. Before that, I'd been quite a skilled storyteller (apparently), 'cause one of Dad's college friends (who always wanted to hear my stories) never missed a chance to jokingly tell me that he couldn't wait to read all my books.

Short stories are my bane, though essays and reviews are skills I'm developing farely well. I've also tried my hand at kid's books, for my niece and nephew that I was rather pleased with, but I don't think that's one of my strengths. I do ADORE poetry and dabble in it on the side. I also never miss a chance to incorperate it into a story.

Novels and long sagas seem to be my forte'. I have 5 originals in the works as well as several fanfics. I also dally in about three to five rps at any given time.

I guess what drew me to writing was the freedom to tell my own stories, create my own worlds, to write myself into someone/someplace I could never be in real life. I'm a very imaginitive person and without an outlet, I think I'd litterally go insane.

[Azriel]

I also don't know if i'd call myself a writer.
I enjoy writing, and it's a dream of mine to be published some day, but until then I feel like it's sort of a hobby.

I never wrote much before my teens. I loved reading and had a great imagination. I was one of those few kids who actually liked going to bed because I knew I'd have quiet time to lie there and imagine stories in my head.
But I never wrote until I joined Ringbearer. I know
I saw Inklings and that people were writing some pretty fun original stuff. I was pretty inspired by the long fanfic that several members contributed to and made into quite a good story. I even printed it out and put it in a binder along with several other writings I liked by RB members. I decided to see how well I'd do by joining a few add-on stories and RPGs and from there I just started writing on my own.

I think I'm best at short stories, because I've found with anything too long I try too hard to explain a lot of detail and I get boring. With shorter works I tend to be able to skip over a lot of exposition that would bog my writing down.
I keep trying for longer fiction though because I have a couple novels I want to write. Last November I did NaNoWriMo and made it to 37000 words but had to stop because it was a really busy month for me.

Thankfully my fiance loves reading and writing, and he's been an inspiration to me to be more disciplined about it and write more often instead of whenever the mood strikes me.
We've begun doing some fun writing together - add-on stories, silly poems, writing scenes in various styles, etc.

This Summer I plan on working on my novel. We'll see ><

[Arwen#1]

well, I'm not one yet, but I aspire to be one. Isn't that always how it starts out though? Let's see, I think I was in sixth grade. I babysat for these three adorable kids ages 5,3,1 and in order to get them to bed I would make up random stories (which sometimes they would then ask me to retell ).

I was in the middle of one once when they're mom got home early and sat in and listened. She asked me what book it was and I informed her that I made it up. That's when she told me I should write these stories down.

I thought she was silly until I started doing it, then it just developed into writing short stories and poetry during school. Now I'm working on my second novel. My first one's sitting online somewhere hoping to be chosen.

That's my little story anyways.

[shireling]

I can identify with all four of the previous posts .

[Candy Kane]

I have an active imagination, in which ideas for stories keep popping up. Stitching those ideas together is very satisfying and while I love to do other things, writing will always be a part of what I do.