How did you come to writing?
Does that title sound strange?
It does to me, because the more obvious title would be "How did you become a writer?"
To me, those two things are not the same. Becoming a writer is when you know, over time, or in some cases, maybe suddenly, that you are a writer. That it is what you want to do, or what you have to do.
But coming to writing is different, almost like stumbling across it by chance, like it is thanks to a coincidence or maybe luck that you've discovered that you are a writer.
And that's what I want to share with you today. How I came to writing by chance.
A few years ago, a successful homegrown TV show called Outrageous Fortune aired here in New Zealand over a number of years. It was one of the most successful shows produced in New Zealand and got a huge fanbase over the years. A total of six series was produced, with the final sixth series airing in 2010.
A serious cliffhanger at the end of series five left the audience gasping with their mouths open, just like Cheryl West, the main character, did after smashing a bottle over a cop's head. In the last screenshot, the cop pointed the gun at Cheryl and shots were fired.
A collective gasp went across the country - did Cheryl survive? How could she possibly have survived? How could the show go on without Cheryl?
After speculating for weeks like so many other fans, I took to my keyboard and wrote the first of many instalments with my own version of what happened to Cheryl West.
Back then, I'd never heard of fan fiction, didn't even know such a thing existed. But after my first post on the Outrageous Fortune forum, I received many comments with encouragement and feedback, and so I carried on with my own version of what happened to Cheryl.
My fan fiction centred around Cheryl and Judd, the couple whose relationship so captured my heart to the point where I'd written 75000 words by the end of my "epic in instalments", which happened to finish just in time for the start of series 6.
It was during those months of writing for such a captive and positive audience (maybe they were just desperate for any OF fix) that I came to writing. I didn't become a writer, but I came to writing on a daily basis, something I had never done before.
It was a long road from coming to writing to becoming a writer (that's quite a mouthful!) and some of what I wrote back then now feels quite basic, but it was the start. A seed had been planted.
And eventually I moved on from Cheryl and Judd, and my own characters started to form in my head: Tori and Tom.
How did you come to writing? Is it something you've always done, or did you stumble across it like I did?
It does to me, because the more obvious title would be "How did you become a writer?"
To me, those two things are not the same. Becoming a writer is when you know, over time, or in some cases, maybe suddenly, that you are a writer. That it is what you want to do, or what you have to do.
But coming to writing is different, almost like stumbling across it by chance, like it is thanks to a coincidence or maybe luck that you've discovered that you are a writer.
And that's what I want to share with you today. How I came to writing by chance.
A few years ago, a successful homegrown TV show called Outrageous Fortune aired here in New Zealand over a number of years. It was one of the most successful shows produced in New Zealand and got a huge fanbase over the years. A total of six series was produced, with the final sixth series airing in 2010.A serious cliffhanger at the end of series five left the audience gasping with their mouths open, just like Cheryl West, the main character, did after smashing a bottle over a cop's head. In the last screenshot, the cop pointed the gun at Cheryl and shots were fired.
A collective gasp went across the country - did Cheryl survive? How could she possibly have survived? How could the show go on without Cheryl?
After speculating for weeks like so many other fans, I took to my keyboard and wrote the first of many instalments with my own version of what happened to Cheryl West.
Back then, I'd never heard of fan fiction, didn't even know such a thing existed. But after my first post on the Outrageous Fortune forum, I received many comments with encouragement and feedback, and so I carried on with my own version of what happened to Cheryl.
My fan fiction centred around Cheryl and Judd, the couple whose relationship so captured my heart to the point where I'd written 75000 words by the end of my "epic in instalments", which happened to finish just in time for the start of series 6.
It was a long road from coming to writing to becoming a writer (that's quite a mouthful!) and some of what I wrote back then now feels quite basic, but it was the start. A seed had been planted.
And eventually I moved on from Cheryl and Judd, and my own characters started to form in my head: Tori and Tom.
How did you come to writing? Is it something you've always done, or did you stumble across it like I did?
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