My 8th Grade English Teacher Moulded Me Into the Writer I Am Today
Her little attention and appreciation still fuel my writing.
I started creative writing when I was very young and could hardly distinguish between ‘their’ and ‘there’.
My first story consisted of fairies and magical lands and was a rip-off of cartoon shows such as Winx club and Barbie Mariposa. I wrote it on the backside of my old, almost-torn drawing notebook. I even drew colorful caricatures to illustrate my story and add to the charm.
This initial attempt was followed by several such craftings where I was heavily inspired by children's novels such as The Secret Seven and The Famous Five.
Looking back, all my main characters were young, prepubescent children who would run away from difficult situations at their homes to meet wonderful, fantastical adventures in their journeys.
Perhaps, I was also trying to meet my unfulfilled desire to explore the unknown through these narrations.
Unfortunately, I was never appreciated by anyone for my writing. I remember excitedly jotting down a chapter on pieces of paper and my father mistaking it as waste paper and throwing it away in the dustbin.
