How I Began Writing | My Tale of Origin

Mood: Surprisingly Questionable

Song of the Day: Hold Your Breath, Chase Atlantic

I may not have received much feedback to do this post. But I figured I would tell you how I began writing. My origin story is short and sweet. Let's get into it.

I was 17 years old in 2010. And I hated writing. I hated it and I do not hate things easily. My reason for hating it is due to the teacher I had growing up. I was homeschooled. My stepmother was my teacher for everything related to reading and writing. So yes, I hated reading as well. I had my favorites/exceptions, but I hated reading and writing.

My teen years sucked. So much happened to me and my family. I needed an outlet, an escape from the world. My sister, the one I admire the most of all my younger sisters -yes, she's younger- knew how to give me that outlet. She is the one who introduced me to Wattpad. She is also the one who helped spark my love for reading and writing. How did she do this?

Let me first explain the one exception to my hatred of books. I liked Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. I liked Call of the Wild -even though it massively depressed me- by Jack London. I adored Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. And I loved The Black Stallion by Walter Farley. These were my only exceptions and I had read them more times than I can count. Notice how these books either involve adventure, dogs or horses. Remember this for later.

My sister had a larger book library than I did. But I never ventured toward her books because we have different tastes in EVERYTHING. Boys, she likes cats and I love dogs. Our tastes for music and movies are not so different, but there's a very fine line. Noticeable to the people who know us.

My sister owned -IDK if she still has them- the entire Phantom Stallion series by Terri Farley. She had some very cute young adult books, which we did not have an understanding of what YA actually was until we were both in the early 20s. And she loves reading memoirs. 

"Novella" romance was a big "No" in my house. My mother automatically equates the length of a "novella" to a "romance". Vampires were a definite "NO". I'm surprised my mom even let my sister have the Twilight Saga. I'm surprised my mother liked reading Twilight herself. And fun fact for all of you, I have STILL never read Harry Potter. Anything involving sorcery, magic, fallen angels, demons; the Winchesters . . . Yeah, all those things were not allowed in my house.

With all the above in mind, my sister opened my eyes to [sings, very poorly] a whole new world, a new fantastic point of view. [clears throat] Yeah, so my sister pretty much placed the first Phantom Stallion book in my hands and said "Read. Enjoy. Chill." Probably not those words, but along those lines. Obviously, the book hit the spot because it was within my preference. I cruised through the series -of the books my sister had at that time, because she was missing some of the book until later years- and I was reading two books a week. For me, that was a lot.

When I finished the Phantom Stallion books, I moved into the YA books, and we can include Nicholas Sparks' A Walk to Remember with this group because that book is amazing and it falls within the YA category, I think. I learned, through reading these books, that I LOVE cute, cliche young adult stories. The characters were around my age. I felt I could relate to some of the conflict and above all, it helped me forget what was happening around me.

All of this happened during the end of 2009 through 2010. In July of 2010, my sister told me about Wattpad and how there are writers and books that I could read for free. Let me tell you, learning to love books made so much difference in me as a person. So when my sister told me about Wattpad, I signed up. I was not intending upon writing. I was going to explore and find books I liked. Let's side track a second and let me just admit to you that I mostly read fan-fictions -Bieber, 1D, Jonas Brothers- and I was SHOCKED by some of the books I found on there. Which I actually liked and kept to myself. But let's not get too far away from the reason I am making this post.

I made my first Wattpad account (because I later deleted that first account and started over) in July 2010. Later that year, or possibly the start of the following year, I was borrowing another book from my sister. I read it, loved it, and returned it. I later went to her shelf and was looking for a particular book. I remembered the entire story from start to finish. What I could not remember was the title. I brought it up with my sister -and she does not remember this as vividly as I do- and after explaining a summary of the book to her, she told me there was no such book on her shelf. 

I do not remember how long it was before I decided I needed to write the story. I do not remember how long it was before I decided I would post the story to Wattpad. What I do remember is grabbing one of my old notebooks, sitting down in a quiet corner, and handwriting the entire story. It was a YA romance and that is all I am going to say.

I didn't start writing fantasy until around 2015. It started with a short fantasy story (Spirit Warrior) but I still haven't finished it. My true "first attempt" was Anerathian Princess. My alter-ego was born. And here I am.

Here are some answers to FAQs I get concnerning my writing;

I still write contemporary under the name Hadassah Harper. I just have put a lot of my time and focus on the fantasy-scifi-paranormal genres because I feel a stronger enjoyment in writing them. I still love contemporary romance, I am just in a bit of a rut with certain books and I am slowing working my way to getting back to them.

I write under 2 pen-names because it is a personal choice. I did try writing under a single name but eventually felt the need to keep the 2 separate. I do not know how this will work when I publish. I do not know if I will have the appropriate balance to keep both audiences happy. I take each day as they come.

Yes, I really did hate reading and writing. I actually feel slightly ashamed to even admit it, but its the truth. I won't explain the deeper meaning of my hatred back then. I just can't.

I do not have intentions of letting the world read my first five stories. I had them on Wattpad for YEARS. I took them down around the time I started separating my 2 pen-names. I keep them as proof of how far my writing has come since my journey began. But I do not plan to ever revisit them because they were written during the hardest years of my life and I just feel they would bring back the ugly memories I have learned to forget.

Wow, this post is long. Sorry, but am I sorry? No. Because this is my origin story. I hope you've enjoyed this look behind the writer you know as E. S. Elias (or E. M. Malcolms, as I once called myself.