"Freddy died. They cried." My first attempt at tragedy written at age 7.
My first books were stapled together with wallpaper covers. I still have them. Each day in elementary school we'd draw a new picture on the top half of the sheet and scrawl the next installment of the story on the lines beneath.
I was in Second Grade when my dad told me that although people liked happy endings, the greatest books were usually tragedies. The next day I determined to write Great Literature. I set out to write a tragedy.
"The Story of Freddy the Octopus" must have made my teacher at Indianola Elementary School wonder. I filled it with death and tears. Freddy's best friend drowns in the clutches of a giant clam. Then I do the worst thing I could think of - I kill off my main character. On the last page of the book Freddy the Octopus dies, and his wife and 8 little octopusi are left sobbing salt tears into the ocean.
Kids write sad stories for all sorts of reasons, and it's good to try out tragedy. As for me, 35 years later I'm still striving to write great literature, but I know filling the pages with terrible deaths and tears alone won't do it. "Freddy died. They cried." doesn't conjure up enough personal emotion in the reader. But it's a start.
What were your early books like? What age did you discover you wanted to be a writer?
The Tragedy of Freddy the Octopus looked innocent on the outside.
Heather - Ohhhh, I love your head-on tackle with tragedy!
You asked: What were your early books like? What age did you discover you wanted to be a writer?
At age 7 (like you), I wrote (to everyone's horror!) my first will. I'm actually not kidding. I thought it would be very important to write -- in detail -- who got what in the event of my untimely demise.
Unintentionally, it was a very "powerful" move on my part because everyone walked around me "on egg shelf" -- for a while. And then the drama wore off and I was just another 7-year-old kid again. But oh, that brief moment in the limelight was pretty exhilarating!
Oh, how funny. A will! You must have been quite an interesting 7-year-old! Thanks for sharing, Laurie. Shows you were always thinking....Your post left me laughing.
I don't think I ever wrote a book when I was a kid. I'm pretty sure I collaborated on a play sometime around 6th grade. Actually decided I liked writing and wanted to give novel writing a try only about three years ago. I hope I'm a late bloomer.
Late bloomers have good company! I just learned that James Michener published his first book at age 40 and went on to write so many more. Alex Haley wrote Roots at 55 and the first Little House on the Prairie book wasn't written until Laura Ingalls Wilder was 65. Plenty of time!
Both of these stories made me laugh! Heather, saw the article on your new parenting book in the Record-Eagle today.