When did you know you wanted to become a writer? Was it a childhood dream? Something you arrived at kicking and screaming? Was there a particular trigger when you thought to yourself, “You know, what I really want to be doing is staring at a computer screen on my nights and weekends, inventing worlds and stuff”?
I came to the writing game pretty late. I had taken some short story classes in college, wrote a screenplay in my early 20’s, but never really thought I’d write a novel. I was 25 before I started writing in earnest, on a novel that didn’t work out, and I was 27 when I started JACOB WONDERBAR.
What about you? When did you know you wanted to write?
Art: “Woman Writing a Letter” by Frans van Mieris
Henri says
When I first visited Denmark at age 51. It was first time to Europe and the whole experienced overwhelmed me.
Naomi Canale says
I started at age 8 with a picture book for my little brother and at age twelve I attempted my first novel (I sill have both of them :). But I didn't really get serious until I was 22.
Ella Schwartz says
Nathan – If you started writing in your 20s you were downright a youngin!!
I started writing in my early 30s, but I've always dreamed of writing.
Always an avid reader, one day I said to myself, “this book writing thing can’t be that hard, I’m going to give it a try!” Having a few babies, working a full time job, and the need for at least 8 hours of sleep a night (more would be better) all worked against me becoming a novelist.
It took me 4 years to finish my first novel!
Kathryn Packer Roberts says
Started writing as a child. Loved dreaming up other worlds and plots. I was alone a lot. Out in the boondocks, with no other girls my age. So I had to.
As a teen, I moved a lot. Changed school at least once EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR. So, combine that with really strange death-defying dreams, I would sit on my own a lot trying to make them into a suitable book.
I didn't really think I could write professionally. You know how most people tell themselves, "I could never do that."? I was that girl. Until I got married. And then I couldn't put off the desire any longer. And I am SOOO glad I started.
Jennifer says
I've always loved writing, but I never really thought I could be a writer. It wasn't until last year that I realized being a writer is exactly what I wanted to be. Yesterday I quit my job in public accounting so I can pursue my dream.
Cookie says
I think I seriously starting considering being a writer when I was about twenty and sat down and started plunking out my first serious novel.
In middle school I started writing short stories, and comics, but back then I was sure what I wanted to do, other than save the world.
When I was little I wanted to be an artist. Now that I am an artist, I don't want to do it for money. I would rather draw and paint for my own satisfaction than a paycheck.
Anonymous says
I stumbled into writing. I sat infront of the computer one day and for some reason went to wordpad and wrote a paragragh. I think it was somehow inspired somehow by a author who struck a cord in me. She planted something in my life that now is what I call writing.
Jennifer Wright says
I don't remember a time when I didn't want to write. It's always been something I do, nothing more or less. I wrote a whole blog post on the first time I knew I wanted to write books. If you want to check it out https://www.jenniferwrightauthor.com/1/post/2009/11/the-beginning.html
I have finally, at the age of 33, just released my first novel into the world.
Jeff says
I was eight years old when I saw my first issue of Mad magazine. It belonged to an older cousin, and it was the April 1971 edition. I never fully recovered.
Ellen says
I've known I wanted to write for about ten years now, though I only started getting serious about it eight years ago. (And by serious I mean, making sure to do some every day or every other day.) I've been thinking publication since about high school, and getting serious about publication in college. Here's hoping the next step is actually getting published!
Rachel @ MWF Seeking BFF says
I'm surprised that you say 27 is late. It seems to young to me! I wrote in journals and poems and stories when I was a kid, but I never thought of it as "being a writer." In high school and college, I didn't do much writing at all aside from assignments, and my senior year of college I wrote a weekly newspaper column. After college, I got a job in magazine editing and thought that was my future. I started my first book when I was 27, and had never before thought of writing for real. My memoir will be published in January, when I'm 29, and I think of that as young! But now I know I want to do it forever…
Will says
Like a few people here, I started when I was very young. I have this binder on my shelf gathering dust that's full of little one-paragraph things that I wrote when I was younger (between four and seven, going by the dates). They were really just odd descriptions of stuff, like deer and whatnot. But then when I was ten I wrote a short story about two crystals, a kid with amnesia, and his best friend who was a vampire. Not sure where that ended up.
Between then and about a year ago, the only writing I did was for school. Research papers and all that. But last July I started writing a novel, finished at around 100k words in August, and have been working on sequels/editing/researching the industry since. I'm a little young to really be sure when I say "this is what I want to do for the rest of my life," but it's definitely one of the things I'll be working on.
Julie Nilson says
I've been writing ever since I was old enough to make letters with a crayon, but I graduated during a terrible recession and ended up in corporate writing for a long time. I still learned a lot there (particularly the extreme importance of meeting deadlines!) but in the last year I started thinking about whether I wanted to keep going that for the next 30+ years. The answer was no. So this year is the beginning of my fiction writing career! (During which I am still doing corporate writing to pay the bills…)
BookMystress/Monique Writes says
i was always collecting note books pens, and other cute stationary and it would Just sit. . . empty, then one day, at school i wrote, it wrote for hours, at the time i had alot going on in my life, and my stories just helped me more then any human did, i loved the craft then and i love it more now, I have no clue where i would be if i didnt write, my bet is on drugs, its been 12 years since, loves M
Jenni Merritt says
My mom has told me that when I was three, I would sit at the table and write. I would ask how to spell 'cat' then proceed to ask what a 'c' looks like…
I have dreamed of being a writer since the day I can remember. Literally.
And now I am finally working on that dream! It's about time… 🙂
Chris Phillips says
The first time I read your blog.
Other Lisa says
Hmm, about five years old. I was going to write an epic about cats who went camping. Only I couldn't spell "tent." First case of writer's block.
True story!
Erik says
I was sitting in one of my Mechanical Engineering classes, clinging to a C-, and I realized that I didn't want to be an engineer. I wanted to do something that I actually loved. So I switched my major to English w/ an emphasis in Creative Writing. Mom loved that one.
Anonymous says
No idea. I've written many "novels" in my time, the earliest when I was about five, and the first full length one when I was seven. I don't remember when or where I decided I wanted to be a writer because I never really had that "moment." However, I don't remember NOT wanting to be a writer… it's something I always wanted to be- except when I was younger I wouldn't really call it writing. I wrote for the sake of it. =P
dianehenders says
A writer? Sure, I've written reams of non-fiction, ever since high school. A fiction writer? Never!
Then a novel leaped out from behind my door, slammed me into my chair, and forced me to write it. I complied, but I refused to acknowledge it as fiction writing. I was just doing it "to see if I could". I was 46.
I'm working on my fourth novel now. Apparently I wanted to do this. Who knew?
Sara Ravel says
I was 12 when I looked at the book I was reading and thought I could do better.
I was 15 when I thought eight pages was a lot of writing.
I was 23 when I realized that it takes more than just multiple pages with pretty words to make a book.
I was 33 when I decided I'd learn the craft and do the work if it meant I didn't have to work for someone else ever again.
It was also at that age that I fell in love the craft, the magic, and the possibility of finally creating the type of story I wanted to read and share with others.
Cindy Paul says
As soon as I learned I had stories to tell, I knew I wanted to be a writer. I also knew that I could tell these stories with pictures in such a way to invoke a different emotion from my readers. Wow, what great fun…and I was hooked.
Valentine J. Brkich says
In the 2nd Grade, when my story, "Dinosaur Island" was published in the Sts. Peter & Paul Press. Once I got a taste of fame, I was hooked. After that, I started filling notebooks with dozens of stories. Check'em out at…
valentinebrkich.wordpress.com/vintage-stuff/
Ben Carroll says
2 and a half years ago — when I left university. In other words, exactly the moment when I STOPPED having loads of free time on my hands… oops.
Marie says
From school age. I used to love creative writing and English lessons. At home I used to make little books and magazines.
Sandra says
Writing has always been a part of my life, but actually being a writer was a completely different line of thought.
I was in my early thirties before I realized I could actually be a writer instead of just daydreaming about it. I'm still in my thirties, so I guess that makes me a late bloomer, but a full time job and a couple kids distracted me from the thrilling possibility.
Elisabeth says
I've been writing ever since I learned how. I spent my whole childhood making up stories for my own amusement, and every once in a while I'd write one of them out. I made my own books by stapling sheets of paper together (back then, I thought a chapter was a page and a half plus an illustration). I think I was probably in my teens when I started to really think about writing for publication, but I've always been writing one thing or another.
Samuel D. Grey says
I always enjoyed creating stories, especially in High School, but it was only when I went to University that I realised that I wanted to be able to contribute to the wonderful wealth of literature that had so inspired me as a reader. For me, there's very little else that I find can have the same kind of profound impact on a person than a great tale.
Francis Tuohy says
I first felt the impulse to write when I really started getting in to books (like 16). I didn't do it because I thought I would make a career out of it, I just always felt inspired after reading something cool and writing would give me the same feeling that reading would. I only started writing serriously (with the view to publish) a couple of years ago now (am 25). still havent got anything published yet so dont know if I will ever have the guts to call myself a "Writer." 🙂
Clara Rose says
Great question Nathan!
My dream started when I was 11 yrs old. Taking a stack of notebook paper and tying the holes together with string… I titled my first book "Clara and the devil's triangle". I wish I'd had the forsight to keep it. It could be worth a laugh now.
I didn't get paid for my first writing until I was 35 yrs old.
I guess I have always been a writer at heart, the question is perhaps when did I become obsessed?
Thanks for letting us all share such a private part of our soul!
Stacy McKitrick says
I'm amazed at how many consider themselves "late bloomers" in their 20's and 30's. What does that make me in my 50's?
I did take creative writing clases in school, but never went anywhere with them. I loved to read, though. Then one day (two years ago) I decided to attempt a novel. Finished it, too. Now I can't stop writing (and I'm working on my 4th). I'll consider myself lucky if I get published before I'm 60!
Kathleen T. Jaeger says
I wanted to write before I could read and write. But it wasn't until after college, when I was searching for what I wanted to do, that I saw my desire to write is what I have always wanted to do — whether or not it was the way of making money.
Bryce Daniels says
How eerie that this would be your subject today, Nathan. I was constructing a blog post when this popped up.
My "moment of truth" comes down to one actual moment, one I remember even after a quarter-century's worth of pages.
Thank you, anonymous lady, wherever you might be.
Loree Huebner says
I come from a long line of storytellers.
My mom always told me to write. Over the years, teachers would tell her that I was very good at it. One day, when I was a teenager, we were having one of those stupid fights about – What are you going to do with your life? Right in the middle, she yelled, “Write, Laura, just WRITE.” I can remember this as clear as a bell. It didn’t make sense to me at that time. I had other ideas for my life, but I always remembered the seriousness and tone in her voice.
It wasn’t until about 10 years ago that I started to write a book. Two years later, Mom died. She didn’t know I was writing. I wanted to surprise her so I didn’t say anything. Her illness took a turn for the worst, and she was dying. On her deathbed, I whispered to her, “Mom, I wrote a book.” I believe she heard me.
After she died, I was going through some of her things, and I found a bunch of old stories that I had written over the years for school. She had kept them all. One from 4th grade said, “She has a great imagination. She will be a great writer one day.” I’m not quite sure at what point that I knew I would write, but my mom knew that I would.
FrankCOte says
Great question!
I wanted to be a writer in high school. I loved writing short stories and I wrote my first (very bad) manuscript.
I even majored in English Lit/Creative Writing in university.
The life took over and I stopped for a while. Although I started doing NaNoWriMo every year in 2006.
The birth of my daughter last year (our first) and turning 40 got me thinking about things. If not now, when? How can I teach my daughter to chase her dreams if I only chase mine half-assed?
So this year, I'm writing and I'm submitting.
We'll see where that goes, but no one will say I didn't try.
salima says
I don't know that I ever thought of it as being a "writer." As a very small child I knew I had stories in me, and I needed a way to get them out. So I used words and pictures to do that. Curiously, I continued to think of it this way even once I'd heard about and understood what an "author" does—I guess I was always a storyteller and that word resonated most with me. And being a professional storyteller occurred to me when I was about eighteen.
therese says
I stated I was going to be a writer when I was 12 years old.
I decided I wanted to be a novelist in my early 20's when I completed my first draft of a romance novel.
I've done a lot of other writing over the years but have always returned to being a novelist and that day is finally here. But I'm not revealing the number of decades that have passed. LOL!
Anonymous says
I still don't.
Okay, first I wanted to be a ballerina, but my Dad said no.
But, aside from that setback, I was always making up stories and called on to make up stories for pictures a lot. I got published for poetry in fifth grade.
But writing is lonely, hard, isolating work. And I was wearing out white strips, retyping seventeen times. Ugh!
I was happier being an artist. My "mistakes" were beautiful accidents.
But those darn stories wouldn't leave me alone.
The word processor was invented.
A first novel appeared, then a second, then a third, then a…
See the trouble you get into when your Dad won't let you grow up to be a ballerina.
Sarah says
Last year. When I was 48.
Sommer Leigh says
I was in first grade when I wrote a story for class about a day in the life of a letter when it is dropped in the mailbox. My teacher put a little duck post it note (I still have it) on my paper and told me it was amazing and that someday I'd be a writer. My first grade teacher was like God so if she said that's what I was going to grow up to do, then that's what I was going to grow up to do. It wasn't until I was 27 that I decided I'd be writing YA.
Renay says
Just in the past few years, and I'm currently 40. There has always been a dreamer inside of me, and a couple of years ago decided to start putting down the ideas, thoughts, and stories that came to mind.
Sarah says
I wanted so much to be a dancer and choreographer that I didn't allow room in my brain for anything else. I knew that I enjoyed writing, but entertaining any thoughts of it felt like betraying my "true calling".
I had to mellow out a bit before I could allow myself to acknowledge more than one dream. I know that sounds weird, but dancers have a tendency to be extremely obsessive about their art. :/ All or nothing, you know?
So, about 26, I think. That's when I started my first novel.
Matthew MacNish says
I've always enjoyed writing, even when I stopped for a few years I would have still enjoyed it, but I didn't decide I wanted to BE a writer … to define myself that way, until only a few years ago.
Probably because I had the first story idea that was worthy of a novel.
Dara says
Probably around 11 or 12, when I started writing my first "novel." I always wrote and compiled stories–even before I knew how to put words together and had my mom transcribe them–but I never really realized I wanted to keep writing until that junior high age.
BLP says
Well, you see, I was into this thing called "reading"…and I got too many words stuck in my head. And then the rest was much history! 😀
Stephanie Barr says
When I realized I would never be able to draw.
High school.
D.G. Hudson says
When I read my first book, I thought writers were magnificent people to be able to tell stories. I still think that. I also wanted to be one.
Then, I discovered my grandmother's old Remington with the long keys that always stuck together if I tried to type fast, that's when I knew. That was the sixth grade (so I was 10 or 11) and I started by writing the science fiction stories like my brother and I saw Saturdays at the movie theatre. One of the guys sitting near to me would read and crit them for me (like or not like).
Then in High School – my friend and I wrote the early equivalent to Chic Lit in our study hall. I even sent articles in to one of the teen mags of the time. (rejected of course – how presumptious of me) I also studied journalism.
That writing urge stays with you if you nurture it. It's one of those passions that is always working, whether you're aware of it or not. I notice it when something makes me think, hmmm, could I use that for one of my characters. . .?
(Isn't this the type of question they ask when your 'bestseller' hits all the lists?)
Now, to read all the other comments, I must go.
ARJules says
I have a little bit of both "I always have known" and "I took me a long time to do it."
I don't remember I time I wasn't writing. But I think I revered authors so much that I never thought I had the talent to do it. But any time I had a "I want to accomplish these things" list, writing novels was ALWAYS on it.
As I was walking down the hall at work, still working at 2am, I heard this whisper in the back of my mind that said, "Write your way out of this." Now I'm working on my first novel that I will actually try to publish at age thirty *cough* *cough* *hack* AHEM! We'll see how it goes.
hawleywood40 says
I decided I wanted to be a writer when I was 9 or 10 and wrote my grandmother's memoirs for her for Christmas. I treated as it as a beloved hobby my entire life, and at 40 have finally given myself the kick-start I needed to actually try to do something more with it. Better late than never!
Stasia says
That's an easy one: Since 8th grade. Mr. Arena's English class. He had us write poems about classical music and stories about abstract paintings. I was hooked. And, after a lot of life's-twists-and-turns, my debut novel pubs this year. No idea where he is now but anyhow, THANKS, Mr. A!