I saw a post on Reddit where the person asked about how we each came about being a writer. I answered, but then thought it might make a post for my blog.
In the beginning, I always loved books and stories for as long as I can remember. When I was very little, long before I could read, maybe about 3 years old, I loved a story called Pink and Ponk. It’s still available on Amazon! I knew it off by heart. One say, I was holding the book and speaking the words, when a friend of my mother saw me and thought I was actually reading!
When I could read for myself, I read a book by Enid Blyton, called Shadow the Sheepdog. I loved that book and reread it many times. It inspired me to write my own story. That was the first story I remember writing. I also devoured many other of her books, as well as books like Black Beauty and Little Women.
Also, when a child I made a little fairy out of grass and made up tales for my little sister about it.
When I was at school, I loved English lessons where we were told to write a story or an essay. I enjoyed both types of writing. I also enjoyed the literature lessons where we read many classic books. It was here that I discovered the Bronte sisters. And unlike many of my compatriots, I also enjoyed poetry.
In my teens I wrote a very bad romance. I only read it to my friends, They were kind about it, but fortunately, it has now disappeared into the mists of time.
After my A levels, I went to do teacher training in Manchester. Here I studied science as a main subject and maths as one of my subsidiaries. As I liked English literature, I chose that as my other subsidiary subject. It was here, at college, that I took to writing some poetry. My first ever published work was a poem I wrote about the atomic bomb. (It was the time of the Cold War, the Aldermaston Marches and CND.) It was published in the magazine of UMIST (University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology).
During this time, I discovered Lord of the Rings, I was doing a teaching practice at a primary school. A 9 year-old boy asked me if I’d ever read it, and recommended it to me, telling me I should first read The Hobbit. When I found them in the library, I was immediately turned on to fantasy.
Then my writing adventures stopped as I began work, got married and had a family. No time for writing.
My writing started with a Dungeons and Dragons scenario I wrote. I read the Dragonlance Saga and found out it was based on a D&D scenario, and I thought I’d try my hand at converting my scenario to a novel. A standalone was what it was going to be, but in the way these things happen, it’s now up to the 4th book with more to come. The story hasn’t yet finished. (Although the characters think it has!)
Then came the inspiration to write Elemental Worlds, which turned into a duo. It could have been a standalone, but it would have been rather long. I really enjoyed writing that one (or pair, I should say!)
I began writing poetry again at this time.
My daughter had a book when she was little that had a very short story or poem for every day of the year, so I conceived of writing one poem every day for a full year. I did manage to do this, and it’s now published as 2 volumes, January to June and July to December. It has a variety of poems from limericks and haiku to longer narrative poems. Some serious, some amusing.
Another thing that has been fermenting in my head for decades is a saga of a family through the ages. This started when I was in my teens and I was walking with a friend and her family in Derbyshire. We came across a ruined mansion. This picture has been in my head ever since, so I started to write a historical series, now up to Book 2.
I’ve also written 3 novellas; The Wolves of Vimar prequels.
Currently I’m writing Book 3 of the historical series, and hope to soon get on to Book 5 of my fantasy series (The Wolves of Vimar.) I am also working on some short(ish) stories inspired by fairy tales. 2 are already written and 3 is on the way.
And that’s how I became a writer!
If you are interested in any of my books, you can click on the image in the side bar. It will take you to where you can choose your favourite retailer.
Some of these books are also available as audiobooks.
Dragons Rule OK. V.M.Sang (author) 