Wednesday, December 30, 2009

What made you write that first story?

What made you write your first story? Was it a dream? Did your characters keep yammering away in your mind demanding their story be told?

I guess the first story I ever wrote was for my mother. A heart transplant recipient, mother’s health was always rocky. Unfortunately, the anti-rejection drugs that kept her precious new heart acceptable to her body eroded away the strength of her bones.

Her bones were quite brittle and shattered worse then they should’ve when she wrecked her van on the way to church that day. They flew her out to the hospital where she’d received her heart transplant. Twenty-five years ago, they hadn’t done many heart transplants and I believe she was number eleven. I don't remember the number for sure. She's been gone over twelve years now. That's the number I remember.

The doctors and nurses at the hospital were wonderful…EXCEPT for the orthopedic surgeon. He walked into the room, never made eye contact, never spoke to my mother or the family…cold, calculating, no nonsense, strictly by the numbers. I don’t think he even knew any of us were in the room. He looked at the chart, glanced at my mother’s prone form, spun on his heel and left the room. I shrugged it off since it was the first visit. I was sure the man was swamped. Tomorrow would be better.

Tomorrow wasn’t any better. He was a brilliant surgeon but when he checked on her the following day he reduced her to tears. I blocked the door and asked the man his prognosis. His face darkened, he was obviously angered that I had the audacity to stop the Orthopedic God. He jerked his head toward her bed and told me her bones were mush and would I please step aside he had other patients to see.

So, that’s when I sat down and wrote my mother the story about the dreaded Orthopod Ogre and how he was eventually beheaded due to his inflated pride. This time, she cried from laughter. Somehow, the floor nurse and the hospital social worker ended up with copies too. I swear I didn’t send them.

So, what prompted you to write your first story? Was it a vision or a dream?

26 comments:

  1. I've told myself stories from books forever. I always added myself in as a character and set off on my own adventures.

    The first story I wrote down on paper came from a dream I think. This was a long time ago and I currently have it on my pile to go edit. Something I should be doing but am playing hooky this week.

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  2. Oh, Maeve! This is aweful. No doctor should act this way. Where was his sympathy? I'm glad you got back at him by beheading him. lol

    My 'first' story wasn't as drastic. I loved reading romance and watching romance movies. One day I watched a great love story - with NO happily ever after. I was so upset, I went to bed mad. I had a dream that night... (I was used to having movie-like dreams at this point, just never figured they'd help me to become a writer someday) Anyway, the next morning I thought about my dream and how it might make a good romance novel. So, with notebook and pencil in hand, I curled up on the couch and started writing. That's all it took. Before I was finished with that story, another idea popped into my head. That's the way it went for several stories. Shoot, even now it's like that. lol

    ~Phyllis~

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  3. Beth, I think a lot of books are "born" from dreams. And we ALL need a break now and then! Take care. :)

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  4. You are absolutely right, Phyllis, we have to have a happily ever after!

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  5. Oh, Maeve, what a wonderful thing you did for your mother!

    My first story came from a dream. I woke up with a name and a few images in my head. I tried to dismiss them, but they wouldn't leave. One day I grabbed a scratch piece of paper and a crayon and decided to write them down. I've never stopped--though I have upgraded to a PC. : )

    Lynne

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  6. I was always making up these stories and telling them to my husband. He kept telling me to write them down but just didn't get around to it. One day, he went out, bought a computer, hooked it up and told me to get busy. That was in 2006.

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  7. I wrote my first story because I was in love. How cheesy is that. The worst part is that he didn't love me back, and I was so determined he should that I wrote a story where we ended up together and got married. I was such a kid at the time. It is interesting, looking back on it... no wonder I love to write romance. :-) It's where I began, I guess.

    Great post!

    Thanks,
    Becca

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  8. Tapping into to those deepest emotions is what makes the story-telling the best, Becca!

    :)

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  9. P.L.~ Where would we be without the belief and nudging of our loved ones? :)

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  10. When my laptop is giving me fits, Lynn, I think a crayon would sometimes be better!!!! (grin)

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  11. Delighted that you beheaded the Orthopod Ogre! What a loser--no humanity!

    I was seven or eight when I wrote "Fishnet" and "Hairnet"--based on--go figure--"Dragnet"!! It was my entrance to the fantasy world of writing that has continued for a lifetime and is now, finally, coming to fruition in retirement. What made me write the stories? As an outlet for my imagination, perhaps, or maybe the need to fly free from my rather stifled childhood--whatever the reason, I bless the discovery of life beyond life, a place where I could escape and dwell unfettered.

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  12. Unlike most authors, I didn't write my first story down until I was 58 - although I have run stories ongoing in my head since age 5. It never occurred to me to write it down until I took a sex and intimacy seminar where I shared with someone about the stories in my head and they urged me to write it down. Four months later I had my 1st book (Leave No Trace) a week later I had a contract - all soo fast I thought it was all going to be that easy - not so - I quickly learned it took something to master the craft and find the best publisher for one's work.

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  13. I waited till I retired to seriously write. I needed to still feel I had a brain. I had some ideas, I got a laptop, I let my must out and here I am. Thankfully.
    I just love time travel books, so I knew it had to be that genre in romance. I learned I needed to learn a lot!

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  14. I always have had stories in my head and thought everyone had voices that talked to them all the time. My first story came from reading my great, great grandfather's journal that he wrote while coming across the country on a wagon train in 1849. It is kept under glass at the Bancroft Library at UC Berkley. I used some of the information he shared and wove my story and characters around what he saw a did. It was my dream to write a story, the rest is gravy. I am now on my fourth story and have found being part of RWA and all the groups and loops to have been the best thing I could have done - writers are the best kind of friends and have saved my life and sanity more than once over the years.

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  15. That's a whirlwind story, Lynn! Congratulations and I hope everything keeps going great!

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  16. Oh, Mary! I absolutely love time-travel romances too!

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  17. Paisley, your story sounds so interesting. And what a wonderful legacy to your family! I'm sure they're so proud of you!

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  18. I wrote my first romance when I was eighteen, before that I would re-write existing stories to add romance and the happy ever after. As a kid I made up plays and stories in my head and acted them out with my dolls and stuff animals.

    Marie
    www.marietuhart.com

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  19. Marie, it sounds as though your formative years were the perfect training for a romance writer!

    :)

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  20. Maeve, I like that you put a happy ending to your mom's awful experience. Nothing like the villains getting what they deserve :-) I started writing because of curiosity. I saw a statue of Robert de Brus at Stirling castle and thought it was such a strange name I had to find out more. When I got home I started reading. Next thing I know I'm writing a story, and being a voracious romance novel reader, the story was a romance. That's how Highland Magic was born and yes, Robert the Bruce does appear in it :-)

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  21. Hi Maeve,
    I'm glad you were able to give your Mom (and a few nurses) a laugh, and give Dr. Awful what he deserved. In the process a writer was born.

    I started writing when I read my first romance novel whenon vacation and loved it. I thought "I could write that!". Little did I know how much work and dedication it would take. But despite underestimating the work and skill required, I was hooked on the genre and on writing. And I haven't looked back.

    Jana

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  22. I know exactly what you mean about being hooked, Jana! Take care! :)

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  23. "Highland Magic" sounds like my kind of story, Alexis! :)

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  24. Maeve, I'm so far behind, but had to come by. I love the "Off with his head!" thing. How many times have we all thought that about someone? You ought to resurrect that story somehow. Think what good you'd do. It sure made everyone here smile. Me, I'm one of those people who resents the intrusion of the outside world into my fantasies. I first wrote down the stories I imagined at age 6 or so. The compulsion remains, though I didn't write while my kids were growing up. I'd be in jail for child neglect! A belated Happy New Year to you, ma'am. Keep those posts coming.

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  25. Thanks so much, Pat! May 2010 bring good health, success and happiness to us all!

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