So I was going to post the prompt about robots but that one was weird so I decided to use the hand prompt.

So standard stuff, again. And I was intentionally vague with the names and concepts of the stories I mention because I realize that no one would bother to remember/understand anything about any of the stories.

Prompt: I write with my hands

So this is the essay where I explain my free-writing.

I forget when exactly I started thinking up stories. It was definitely a very long time ago, with my oldest memories being around second or third grade. I had an imaginary world where there was a stand-in character for myself, and imaginary friends I would play with outside. I do have a faint memory of doing this somewhere in colorado when I was on a trip with my family, but I don’t remember much about what I was doing. Eventually I started to actually begin to think up my first actual story with a plot.

It was terrible.

The characters were unrealistic and one-dimensional. There was almost zero plot structure. There were too many specifics and too many vague descriptions where they didn’t have to be. The settings were all over the place. It was a funny attempt at best and an absolute mess at worst. I re-read some of the old drafts I found when cleaning up my desk. I cringed very hard when I started re-reading. I almost wanted to forget what I had written.

But it was my first story.

As I grew older, my story writing themes matured. As opposed to the escapist fantasies that I had thought up as a younger child, I began to formulate stories that actually contained some substance. There was also enough originality that I wasn’t just copying other media I had been inspired by. I started creating stories that were a bit more dark and violent, probably a side-effect of becoming a teenager (let the “edgy” memes begin). I had also begun to branch out from my previously modern-era setting and experiment with high fantasy and sci-fi concepts.

I think it was when I came to Uni High that I started putting effort into a really big passion project. I had always been a fan of other cultures and histories, so I started planning an “alternate history” narrative, where there are several nations each based on a previous civilization in earth’s history. I began to pour over books and internet articles to find inspiration and basis for my world, in order to make the nations as faithful to their real-world counterparts. I’m still trying to put all the pieces together to this day, though I’m close enough that I feel that I can assemble a good enough narrative for the first few arcs of the story. It was also about this time that I started a Sci-fi story and a modern-era story with similar concepts to my alternate history story.

Also I will admit my stories can slightly edgy at times. I can sometimes go over the top with the violence of the stories, but I believe that it is necessary for the narrative to have impact. I balance this with some comedy and various interesting B-plots. After all, I usually write when I am bored or feel down, so maybe that shows up often in my stories. Writing is mostly a hobby that I use to pass time or explore concepts I find interesting. Friends sometimes ask me to write stories for them or give them pointers for backstories for a variety of things. I always try to ask questions to help facilitate their ideas in order to help them out. Most of all, I write because I can. I mean, recording all the interesting and bizarre concepts that I could think up on my commute to school or while in the shower is an interesting hobby.

I like writing stories, and I doubt that I will stop in the near future. I might just keep my story as a side passion project or I might try to pitch it to someone in a different media. It’s a creative outlet that I feel really lets me explore many possibilities.

But naming characters is a pain.