When I was in second grade, I wrote a gender-swapped version of The Prince and the Pauper after watching the Mickey Mouse version. I called it The Princess and the Widow. It took forever slowly typing it out on my grandmother’s clunky computer. (This was between the years 2000 and 2001 when technology still needed some work.) It wasn’t the most original idea, but it was the first time I ever had the notion to tell a story of my own.
Years later, at age 15, I went on a long choir trip. We stopped at a mall to stretch our legs, and me being me, I wandered into the only bookstore (I think it was Borders), and found a small paperback book called Eragon written by Christopher Paolini. I bought it and read it on the way home. I really enjoyed it, and when I learned the author had started writing it when he was my age, I got it in my head that I wanted to write something myself.
My first several stories weren’t anything special or original. They revolved around stories with similar plots and characters to whatever movies I’d recently watched or books I’d read. I also dabbled a bit in poetry, but honestly, it was the most angst-riddled mess ever scribbled on paper.
Then, years later, I had an image in my head of a hooded stranger leading a young woman away from her village and into the mountains. I didn’t know why he took her there or why she followed, but over time the idea grew into a love story between a shape-shifting dragon and a human. The Dragon’s Secret Treasure became my first real original story. I’m still expanding on it now, and I hope to make it a novella soon.
I’ve always had a love for creativity. I develop worlds as an escape from this one and as a mirror for it. I offer my perspective on life in the form of stories and verses, allowing others insight they might not get elsewhere.
I’m not entirely sure why I started writing, but I do know why I’ve kept at it all these years. One day, I hope my stories inspire someone in some way. And I’ll know whatever that way is, it all started with a simple idea in my head.
Story Veins 