My Struggles With Creating: The High School Years

"If today was not a productive day don't beat yourself to death over it. Wake up tomorrow and start from there. Try it. It works. We can't go back. We can only go forward. Let's go!" - Terry McMillan I wrote my first real short story in high school. Before that I had written some stories in grade school but they were no more than one page. This story was longer. It was for an assignment in an English class. I only remember the basics of the story. A warrior in an icy landscape enters a cave, descends into an underground complex, fights yeti like creatures, and retrieves an ancient sword. I had seen The Time Machine (1960) a few years before on TV and I had recently read the first Conan the Barbarian paperback.  

The story was written in pen on ruled notebook paper. As I wrote I made some edits by crossing out certain lines and adding in my revisions. We got our stories back with notes from the teacher in red ink. Next to one of my edits she had written something like “well done.” To this day I can still remember seeing the teacher’s note and how positive it made me feel.

You would think that would have motivated me to keep writing. Instead I wrote on and off for the rest of high school. A little of this, a little of that. Nothing consistent.The writing I did do was mostly influenced by television and movies. 

I wrote a movie review for an English class newspaper. Everyone was assigned a different task. Some students wrote articles, some students edited. I wrote a review for one of the Star Trek movies. The original series is a big childhood favorite of mine. As a huge fan I got a little carried away with my glowing praise. My student editor’s feedback was to tone it down. I saw her point and re-wrote it. I think the second version was much better. I rewatched the movie soon after. The second viewing really hit it home that I had overdone it in my first draft. It was a learning experience.

Another one of my favorite childhood television shows is Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. One of the local stations started showing it in the afternoon after school. I was also reading Starlog magazine religiously at the time. I devoured the TV show episode guides they often included. I got it into my head to plan a Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea reboot. I wrote a short series bible and came up fifteen to twenty episode ideas. I wrote a brief summary and a title for each episode. I never did write any of the episodes though. 

One time I got serious. Briefly. I joined an English club that published a school literary magazine. I went to a few meetings but never wrote anything. 

During my senior year I took a typing class. One day instead of typing out our assignment, I started a short story. I wrote about a page before I stopped and worked on the assignment. I finished it and turned it in. Soon after the teacher walked back to my desk, held out my assignment, and with a puzzled look asked, “What is this?” I had turned in my story page instead of the assignment. I grabbed the page, mumbled an apology, and handed her the actual assignment. I didn't finish the story. 

I eventually did finish another story. Some fan fiction. A Doctor Who short story. I may have been in university at this point. My memory is hazy here. 

I’ve often thought about that first short story of mine. I wish I still had it. I’d like to read it and see what I was trying to do. Well, it’s gone now. I’ll never be able to read that particular story again. But I can write a new one. So that’s what I’m going to do. 

Next: Richard the Writer