First Writing Memory - Ane - Editora Livr(a)

First Writting Memory – Ane

Meet my first writting memory: do you know when you’ve been doing something for so long you don’t even remember when it started? My history with writing is like this, a beyond-memory, something I seem to have always done.

At school

The teachers loved my essays and read in front of the class. At home, I made collage books, assembled stories with scenes and dialogues, made covers and all. I read to relatives, wrote songs, poetry, and much more.

Then, at 12, something snapped at me. I started writing fan fiction. If you were born between the years 1985-2000, you certainly know what fan fictions are. This kind of narrative involves all the elements of stories, like plot, characters, etc. The only thing is that some of these characters (and sometimes the reality in which they live), belong to film and literary universes. One of the largest communities of fan fiction writers are the Harry Potter and X Files fans.

I wrote and read stories where members of my favorite band took part. It was so much fun, and at the same time, I instigated my imagination to create something of my own. And that’s how, very slowly, the first stories came out.

High School

I was already writing every day for hours on end. I filled diskettes, notebooks, single sheets which – of course – were lost with the speed of our lives and the technological change. But the ideas remained, the passion for writing and reading remained, the will to be a writer only grew.

I went to college to study Literature – certain that it would give me the tools I needed to become a writer. That’s not exactly what happened. On the first day of school, a professor said to the class, “If you’re here to become a writer, you’ll get frustrated. You’re wasting your time.” And she was absolutely right. To be a writer, you have to write. Write a lot.

But since I needed a profession with guaranteed income, I graduated as an English teacher, and carried on with my studies on literature, got a master’s degree, and now I’m finishing a PhD in literary criticism. I study creative writing independently, and I continue writing every day – always trying to separate the profession of literature teacher from the vocation of writing. One day, I will certainly still be able to enjoy being just what I was born to be – a writer.

See too: How to write unforgettable characters?