100 % Review Forum Young writers.

i never really seriously started writing until now, and i'm 18 at the moment. as a freshman in college, i'm still finding it difficult sharing my work with the other kids in my class bc most of them are pretty experienced w/ the whole poetry/fiction thing.

i wrote alot when i was younger... nothing "real" though.... just simple stories... a few poems for classes.

I started writing poetry when I was 15....and now i'll be 17 in may....at first it was hard but now I think im getting the hang of it....

I started writing when I was very young -- I can't remember exactly when. One of my pieces was first published when I was around 10 or 11 years old. I never thought much of my work (still don't, really), and I had always believed that only adults could write quality pieces.

But that's simply not true. While writing involves a certain level of knowledge of mechanics and language, good writing has passion. Young or old, rich or poor, passion can be found in all of us. That's what matters, so don't get discouraged.

I'm 21 now. I've done editing work and general critiques for years. I read work from 45-year-olds that are stale and cliche, and sometimes there'll be a piece by a 12-year-old that will blow me out of the water. It's always good to keep an open mind -- whether you're reading someone else's work or trying to swallow critiques on your own pieces. My word of advice? If you love it, write it. It'll show.

Don't let the fear and worry about if others will like it stop you from expressing yourself.

I'm not going to take this personally. I'm sure you don't think all people older than twenty write crap. I hate to think my work is stale or cliche just because I'm forty years old. I have enjoyed so much of the writing I've read over my life, and been bitterly disappointed by that much more.

I'm not in any way claiming to be a writer. I'll say it over again and again. I'm a pastry chef that writes (this is evident in my lack of grammar and punctuation skills!). I started late in life to write in earnest, in a way it was an escape from nasty things that I couldn't control.

Words that I put on paper I can control.

Youth has a different perspective. I was young once and I wrote about those things young people find important. Now I'm in the reality of the dreaded mid life phase of life. I have experience to pull from now. My writing is much darker, violent, and sometimes plain bullshit then it was in my youth (I try to mimimize the bullshit).

I'm glad to see so many young people with some skill to put their thoughts to paper. But from my perspective some of these over dramatic, self loathing, society doesn't understand me: essays, poems, and stories, piss me off.

I'm not judging. I never will. I'm not generally hypocritical.

I'll leave you with this challenge though. I challenge any one younger than twenty to write about my life. Message me for the details, I'll be happy to give you a glimpse. Let me see if youth has the emotions and experience to make my story viable.

*kisses*
A.C.

A.C.
I don't see how anyone can write a poem accurately about anyone's life but their own.
Know one could ever feel the emotion that you felt as you went through it.

((I'm only 15... so sometimes sharing my work with people older then me can be a bit scary... i'm always afraid that i won't sound mature or even skilled enough,
Has anyone else ever gone through this... what age were you when you started writing. ))

I don't think age has much to do with being nervous about presenting your work to strangers. I was much older than you are when I first started writing seriously, although I dabbled with little stories in high school. Here's a link to what I had to do as a project in my senior year English class. Hopefully, my skills have improved since then.



When I returned to writing in my 60s, my work was eventually posted on Writing.com, another site for writers. I cringed whenever I saw an email waiting for me there, knowing some people would be rude when they told me my stories were not worth reading. Over time, and with the help of others on that site, my writing improved. I still hesitate to open those emails, but now my self confidence has grown, as I hope yours will.

Being new to this site, I'm not sure what type of comments my stories will get. Like you, I'm still a bit nervous, but you and I can both grow as writers with the help of others here. The best advice I can give any writer, young or not so young, is to always use your spellchecker and buy a good punctuation and grammar book.

Good luck to both of us!

Judity
HOME OF THE RED FOX Amazon.com link:�

I started writing in the wee hours of youth...
You can still see the stretch marks on my mother...
Where ever she is today...
If you find her don't tell me...
Just remember thats where I started...

I started when I was about 12 just trying to escape what ever it was that was killing me at the time.. But I didn't start getting into it until about a year ago when I started writing songs, but that didn't seem to be working as all my work just started looking like poems lol... So naturely I just changed what I called what I was writing from songs to poems and what not...I am 17 currently

i started writing as soon as i could hold a crayon in my fist.... i have a notbook from when i was like 5 years old... i write everyday,i kept diaries for years and moved on to poetry journals and prose and tryign to write a novel. ive taken a lot of literature classes and poetry classes at school.... but the best way by far is to read. Not nesisarily just stuff on these pages either cuz to be honest, not many people know much about the actual structure and art of poetry. not that u need to to write good poetry, but to have some tools under your belt to manipulate deifnitely helps. but read some great people, like Poe, bukowski, dikinsonn, walt whitman, robert frost, ee cummings, ts eliot, reay any one and everyone. it doesnt matter how old u are. all that matters is that u do wut u set out to do. if u write as a catharsis, then to hell with all the rules and structure and everything. if u wanna get publushed, then study and figure out who u are and find ur voice. read up on iambic pentameter, pitch, slant ryhmes, rhetorics,.... u kno, the basics. theres a world of knowledge out there, just find it.

I started really writing when I was...eight or so.
I am fifteen now. I often am more worried that my poems make no sense to others. Eeep!

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Lol I think throwing in Bukowski in there is freaking funny as hell...I mean I love him and all of his work in fact he wrote one of my favorite poems ever "In A Lady's bedroom".... Just think it is funny throwing him into that particular mix of poets...

I'm 17 and I just started writing. It's a great stress reliever from all the chaos of college.

I am 16...and I have a tiny volume of poetry published. -phew!- finally lol

I was a quite a bit older when I started to write, well write for me anyways. I can see where it can become intimidating, but you can't let that hinder you from having your work reviewed. It has been my experience here so far that people are willing to give good advice to those that are willing to except it. This site is full of writers and you are very fortunate to have access to so many people who may potentially review your work. Don't be afraid, you just have learn to be able to take constructive criticism without taking it as an attack on yourself. And just look at it this way.....the more you submit, the more your work is looked at and reviewed, and then in turn the more you will be able to better your writing skills. Starting out at such a young age will give you an advantage. ::biggrin::

I started writing when I was in kindergarten. I recent found a copy of a story I wrote way back then, about a clever little mouse who flew around in a hot air balloon. Quite good for someone who could only write on the big cream-colored paper with the dotted line in the middle of each line. I've been published once and only once, in the newspaper when I was in sixth grade. I'm sixteen and in the tenth grade now.

I used to get very nervous when sharing my poetry and writing with adults. But now I know that they aren't special, and there are maybe eighteen year old writers who are better than forty year old ones. Yes, the opposite is also true. There are amazing writers in every single age group. And there always will be.

lets see i am 22 now.. but started to write poems when i was about 11 or so... maybe younger can't really remember.. i guess i am ok at it.. i am my worst judge.. when i read my stuff i say it can be better.. well pple here say its good... just keep going and dont stop writing. i say screw all the pple that dont like me for who i am.. i dont need all that drama from them anyways..

Well I'm 11....so I guess I've been there