Meet The Author: Unpacking My Writing Story

My writing journey started long before I can say. I still remember one of my favorite stories that I wrote when I was young about a girl who fell from a tree and was magically transported to a magical land that she had to save (obviously, I also think I still have this story). I think I wrote that when I was...maybe a little over ten years old.

Well, here I am at fifteen, sitting, staring relentlessly at this screen, an author.

Like, an actual fricken author.

Me? Me who?

It's been an ongoing debate on whether the people who write novels should call themselves authors even though they haven't published anything. Well, I think that's a load of garbage. The moment you write something worth reading, you're an author indeed.

The first story I wrote began as Spider-Man fanfiction. I began drafting hat story in...Juneish of 2023, I think (wow, that's a long time ago). And after finished that novel, I decided 'man, I love these characters so much, I'm going to write a publishable version (Because the Marvel character Spider-Man is not in the public domain, so I would be plagiarizing, basically, if I used that character) of this story.' And I did! September (or whenever I started, I think I started it in September, but go see its page in the Project's Space to make sure) of 2023 I rewrote the story and...with the wise little dreams of an ambitious little girl, I decided I wanted to get someone else besides my close family and friends to read it.

I searched for Beta-reading platforms, and finally found Critique Match, where I met one of my favorite writing friends who helped me a long, read my terrible story and walked me through all the hard, confusing parts of my novel.

Then, to no degree of surprise, I decided to traditionally publish that novel. Of course, after querying three large publishing houses and being rejected three times, I lost all hope.

Well, not all hope.

This was the month I started this blog you see here, 65ish posts ago, it was bare and sad and lonely. But now! Now I am more proud of it than I ever could be. So! moving back to the words....

I never stopped. I wrote and I wrote and by the end of February 2024 I had the sequel under my belt also. One of my favorite stories ever. Bound By Blood and Falling For Nightmares changed me. They didn't just give me a view into the writing world, but they inspired me.

"If I can write stories this good (they're not that good, but I thought they were good and that's the point), then why don't I write more?"

Backtrack a little to January 2024, I attended a writing competition called Crazy Writing Week, hosted by the amazing Young Writer's Workshop (I should do a post on YWW, that would be awesome. Excuse me a moment while I go make a note.......... Okay, I'm back), and that is how I found Young Writers. I have been a member for...what was it, a year and two months now, and they have helped me grow tremendously during that time. I am so very grateful.

After writing Bound By Blood, I realized that, yeah, this story is good, but what if I try to do something else?

And what did my delusional teenage mind say?

Murder Mystery!

It turned out to be a little more International Crime Mystery, but that's for another day. I wrote Grounded At Gunpoint (please do not hyphenate this one) while part of the Young Writer's Workshop, so my writing had already improved by leaps and bounds. I was confident enough to try getting someone to critique this one again (I don't think I mentioned it but I didn't have anyone critique Bound By Blood). I got some friends and people on YWW to help me out and all faults go to me because I still have notes to look at in Google Docs that have to do with that story.

After Grounded At Gunpoint, where I wrote a male POV for the first time, I decided that I wanted to go back to writing a female POV, but I wanted it to be special.

And what's more special than a fantasy world where the water gets acidic in the sunlight?

Right, nothing. My thoughts exactly.

Daughter of the King never worked out for me. I tried and tried and tried again, but was never able tog et past my terrible worldbuilding and awful plotting skills. A story like that deserved so much more than what I was about to give it. So, at 20k words, I let it go. I started something else, a story that stole my heart more than Falling For Nightmares ever could. A story that changed me forever.

Do You Remember Me still makes me cry. Not going to lie, I did have someone read the last chapter like an audiobook for me once (I should post that too, second mental note made) and it sounds absolutely horrid on tape. But the feels!!!! I got the feels when rereading that one. I'm so proud of it.

Now, at this point in my writing journey, I was learning, I was writing, I was blogging, and I wanted to know what to do next.

So! During one of the Office Hours with a Young Writers Workshop instructor, Josiah DeGraaf, I asked that exact question. What do I do next?

And he replied (not a quote): "Pay for a professional to evaluate your novel. A Developmental Editor that will hold nothing back and give you a clear idea where you stand with your craft."

And I took his advice very literally. I went, searched, begged (that's sarcasm) and found an editor. I got her to do a sample edit, and came back with four pages worth of notes, which I really appreciated.

And now we go way back. We say, yes, I wrote such great stories, but I had never hard-core edited a single one. Line edits only!

Even for Do You Remember Me, which I know needed quite a few large edits to be worth an editors time, or my time, for that fact. So, being the cautious one I am, I attended another Office Hours, this time with the YWW co-founder Brett Harris and asked how many drafts should you go through before pitching an editor. And he said (again, not to quote) that A) it depends and B) get the draft as good and you and some beta readers can get it before you pitch to an editor, otherwise they'll just end up telling you what you already know needs to be changed.

And I knew Do You Remember Me had some very fundamental things that had to be changed. I probably should have even cut out one of my favorite scenes.

I also never got any beta readers to go through Do You Remember Me.

So, like the rash little weirdo I am, I continued writing.

I wrote myself a short story (which you can get for free my signing up to my mailing list, follow this link) called Never Forget Me that is set before Do You Remember Me and makes me sad every time I read over it for reasons only I will be able to understand. That one is polished and pretty.

And then I got another idea. Another novel idea based on a dream I had. And I sat down at my desk, took some notes, and started typing.

It began with a totally different plot than what I ended with, and is sharper than any novel I have written. I have not yet decided a name for it. It will either be Mirror Image or Into The Woods (view its page here). I am currently hardcore developmental editing this one, which is super fun, though I'd much rather draft, but that is a story for another day.

I am still a Young Writer's student, still typing and writing and editing to this day (unless you catch me on an off day when I have literally no time for anything).

I am so excited to be able to have a story to share with you.

I've only been writing for just under two years, and I feel like I've grown so much.

I hope you'll join me on my journey, sign up to the mailing list and join me as I continue to write stories that change the world.

The End,

Claudia