Writing is actually fun???
These past few years I forgot that I actually LOVE to write. I think that’s because I haven’t been assigned/felt prompted to do any creative writing for a while. School kind of made me feel like writing is about being academic and formal and having correct grammar and sentence structure and impressing the person grading you and having the Right Answer. But I’m learning now that writing is about…writing what YOU WANT to write!! Thinking about it that way has brought so much joy back into my writing. I feel like I want to do it often again, because it’s fun!
I have been writing since I was but wee. I’d say that age 6–8 was the Amanda Writing Renaissance. Inspired by books like Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Dork Diaries, I wrote at LEAST three of my own diary-style novels (never finished, though.) I was obsessed with Laika Studios’ Coraline and other spooky stop-motion animated movies, so I wrote and illustrated a story about a girl who got lost in a bike ride through a forest and met a skeleton man with a top hat in an abandoned cabin. I couldn’t find the story, but I remember it was decently long and eventful. I also remember writing a fully completed short book about a girl, her worst enemy, and their rivaling lemonade stands.
The high point of the Amanda Writing Renaissance came in third grade, when my teacher required us to do frequent “enrichment projects”. These projects basically gave us creative freedom to make anything we wanted; stories, comics, poems, etc. There was an option to write a play, and apparently no student had ever chosen to do one before. My little 8-year-old self knew it was my time to shine. I wrote a quirky romantic comedy play called Katie and George about the adventures of a zaaany group of kids. I cast my friends as the characters and we rehearsed rigorously during recess every day. We performed it live in front of the class and everyone loved it! I continued to write more and more installments of Katie and George. While digging through old emails, I found the script for the sixth episode, linked here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HvpQdKxODQ2N3RoCpywazFoT-8cs8EJqKjf9p6efgew/edit?usp=sharing
(Yes, I did type all the scripts exclusively in comic sans) At this point in my life, I learned that I ADORED being creative, and writing stories. I turned Katie and George into a series of comics. I remember the class would secretly pass my comic around the room so everyone could take turns reading it under their desk. I’m so happy I was able to actually find the comic. Here’s the first page:
I loved fleshing out the world of Katie and George; I created a colorful fictional universe with its own pop culture and silly parodies of existing celebrities, songs, and websites from real life. I even wrote original songs for the characters to sing. I was so deeply into it. I carry all of that energy and passion for my work with me today.
For another enrichment project in third grade, I wrote a play about a magical bunny girl superhero who saved endangered animals from being destroyed by a villainous fox boy. Here’s the embarrassingly terrible first episode:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ovOEDpOdYKh-Z87dNpj9gzQMYf-K_0tYOacsozJLGsA/edit?usp=sharing
Although I created this concept when I was 8, I actually continued to develop the story of Magical Bunny Girl Mikki Matsumoto in late elementary and early middle school. I transformed it from a wacky slapstick comedy into an epic tale of battle and romance and a cursed prince. I thought that one day I might turn it into an independent animation project or a webcomic. Throughout fifth grade and middle school, I became interested in more non-comedic writing. I was like, “Oh yeah, I’m gonna write stories that are serious, and have dark themes, and have complex romantic story arcs and deeply troubled characters with many layers.”
And so, in fifth grade I began writing a novel called Buttons about…a cat? And how that little cat changed the life of the young girl who adopted it. And there were themes of environmentalism, depression, and protest in it. It was weird and not very good. I got pretty far into it too, I think it was about fifty pages. I sadly ended up deleting the file sometime in the sixth grade, although there is one printed copy that exists somewhere lost in the world.
Sixth grade was also when I fell into the deep dark hole of fandom, specifically the fandom for Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables. I am slightly embarrassed to admit that I began writing Les Mis fanfiction, and I took it very seriously. I will reluctantly share the link to one of them:
As embarrassing as it is, fanfiction was really good for me as a writer. It allowed me to take my obsession and excitement over Les Mis and channel it into something creative. I felt so motivated to write, write, write. And, most importantly, I was so motivated to make it good. I posted all my work online to public fanfiction websites, meaning I had an audience. In fact, I still get notifications TODAY from people liking and commenting on my stuff. With my plays in elementary school, I was just goofing around with my friends and having fun, not caring about logical narratives. But with my fanfiction, I was determined to create something well-written that the fandom (and I) would like. I put so much thought into how I would portray characters and their relationships. I wanted it to have nuance, and depth, and engaging storylines, and humanity. When I read my fanfiction now, it’s definitely not as amazing as I thought it was at the time, but I’m still super happy I chose to create it. I’m glad I put so much effort into it and shared it. It made me a better writer!
My writing only began to get really personal in high school. My drama class required me to write a slam poem during sophomore and junior year. I was initially really uncomfortable with this, because I didn’t think poetry was my thing. I also dreaded how much vulnerability it would take to get up on stage and perform it for the class. But I did it, and that was the first time I ever wrote something about myself to share with an audience. I was fully exposing a part of myself that I kept hidden. I tended to lighten the weight of my feelings with a safety net of comedy, but this time I was sharing something about myself that wasn’t just to make people laugh. These pieces were what first got me into writing that digs deep into how I feel, which I now do more often, comfortably. Attached are the slam poems:
Everything I learned about writing from childhood to high school culminated in one huge high-stakes project in my junior year of high school: writing and directing my own play. Looking back, I find it so touching that my love for writing started with goofy plays I performed with my friends, and then suddenly I’m sixteen and performing a goofy play with my friends again. Except this time, I had a legit audience. A full black box theater for three nights. People were paying to see it. I was excited and terrified. Writing, directing, and producing this play was probably the most challenging thing I’ve ever done. I’m so happy I did it. If you’re interested in reading it, the script is linked below:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Aif8VPkATq3W7e0WREDWIMdxU-BRyPoMeKMO55VIEQs/edit?usp=sharing
And here are some pictures from the show:
I LOVE WRITING. The grind of churning out academic essay after academic essay after academic essay almost made me forget it, but it’s true. Writing gave me a love of comedy, worldbuilding, and characterization. It gave me the bravery to put my work out there for people to see. My passion for writing over the years has shaped me into a bold, vulnerable, fearless, and creative artist and intellectual.
