I consider my start in writing pretty funny. I can't really remember if I realized I was good at it first or if I started it out of spite lol. What I can remember is I had a horrible engish teacher my freshman year in highschool, who's class just wasn't stimulating for me so once I was done with my work I'd read. It's not like I got bad grades and it was effecting my education (actaully did honors in her class) but she literally took my books. So instead of just staring into space and getting lectured for it I started writing stories on loose papers because it looked like I was still working on the three paragraph essay I finished in the first ten minutes of class. And thus I started writing and at some point realized I was pretty good at it and it was fun and went all in on it from there, but it all started as a way for me to spite my teacher and to not do as I was told lol. So I guess thanks teacher I never really liked....

Well, I've been writing for a while! Started out with fanfics back in middle school and got a decent following, so I eventually moved on to writing original works on fictionpress then Wattpad.

My first work did pretty well but my second story, Vigilante, won a Watty award and was featured multiple times, so I was invited into the Wattpad Stars program. Then I was invited into the Paid Stories program (now called Wattpad Originals) with my story, Albatross. Then for the last two years I was a part of the Creators program. On Tapas, I've only been here for a bit but I was in the True Love on Tapas contest and made it to the top 50, so now I'm in the Creators program here too and my story, Dreamseer, will be launching later this month!

Here's my latest story that's an entry to the Tapas Action Fantasy Tourney:

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My writing journey is up and down but I try to stay disciplined and dedicate a time everyday to just write a sentence or even edit a few sentences to get going. It helps that there's a contest with a deadline so it's lighting a fire under my butt a bit lol.

Here's my latest novel that i'm submitting for the contest:

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My writing journey started out as a hobby,something that I could do just for fun.

I don’t have any plans to become a professional writer,why well because as we all know life has its ups and downs. After working, helping take care of a house ,just adulting in general I needed something that I could look forward too.

My novel The Lost Forest is a homage to some of my favorite works ,like Berserk and The Lord of the Rings .
I love seeing where my characters journey will take them.

My writing journey started kinda by accident. I have a lot of D&D characters I had one-chapter backstories for. Then, I realized they could overlap a bit. Someone on insta drew my one couple together and boom, I wrote a chapter based on it. Then another, and another and another and... I had a book there in my lap.

And now, I almost have 2

I shuffled the chapters in the right order and started uploading and well here we are! Now, my passion story is just over a year old (on Tapas, that is) and it's become a great outlet for work-work worries!

I've written as far back as I can remember, started of with fanfic (terribly wordy and very cliche) and very slowly started branching out to creating my original work because I was so fixated on artists/media that I was listening to or reading about. Once I got my footing and understood what I liked, I've been allowing my imagination to run wild. There was a time I had to stop writing completely due to severe mental illness, but I've been able to return this past year and slowly relearn about myself as a writer.

One day I found I guy who wrote short stories, he introduced me to this world of writing, A world of your own creation, A world where you can be a god and I really wanted to put some life in my artwork, so one day I opened google docs and start writing.....

Checkout Volkermord

ACTION SCIENCE FANTASY VISUAL NOVEL

General synopsis: In 2158, global tensions between Arga and Yuropa push the world to the brink of the Third Territorial War. But before conflict can erupt, an apocalyptic event splits the planet in half, wiping out half of humanity, restricting the alive to go and access the resources on the other side of the blinding light. As the survivors rebuild their lives within the safety of Dome cities, monstrous creatures emerge from the chaos, ravaging everything in their path.

Amidst the destruction and uncertainty, a group of soldiers embarks on a desperate mission. Driven by their noble cause to protect and reclaim what is lost, they confront the terrifying truths of their harsh new reality. Racing against time, these brave souls face unimaginable challenges as they fight to safeguard the remnants of humanity and possibly save the entire world from total annihilation.

I've shared my "journey" before. Yatta yatta, escapism to escape a shit home life, blah blah.
A teacher gave me positive feedback on a story project when I was 12. Sincere, honest positive feedback. She said she thought I could really cultivate and do something with my creative writing and I took it to heart. I'd grow to use story writing as an escape from my home life-- writing grand fantasy romance stories to whisk myself away into. That's all I wrote for years. Once I moved out and no longer needed to constantly escape did my writing flip into horror/psychological/gothic-- which I believe fits my writing style far better.

My webnovel is just a collection of short horror/psychological/gothic stories I do when I'm not working on my (hopefully one day) novel. Heavy focus on mental illness and abuse. Miserable stuff, man.

I always loved to write stories, ever since I learned how to write. But the turning point was in fourth grade when my teacher gave me an a with plusses that ran to the edge of the paper on a short story I wrote. Encouragement can mean so much to kids!

Anyway, I started writing seriously and submitting to literary journals in my late teens. My first story was published when I was twenty-one. I spent the next few years seriously writing and workshopping stories and had several more published. And then I had to get a real job. My time was limited, and I had to use my creativity in my job. I started writing less. Still, I went to grad school and got an MFA. Then I went through years of rejection on my novel. I got a more serious job. I got fired from that job, and then I started writing again. I started with fan fiction to regain my skills. (I still write it because it keeps them sharp!)

I finished a novel in 2019. I got a literary agent. The traditional publishers just did not want my novel, though. I got a gig with a book packager to write a novel. My novel sat for a couple of years, but I figured that since an excerpt from it was good enough to get me that gig, I should let other people read it. So I started publishing it here.

I've gotten two Staff Picks since I started posting at the end of November, but the subscriptions haven't yet taken off. I'm promoting on social media posting about it here, so I hope it picks up.

I sit and read everyone's stories and so I decided to tell you my own writing journey.

I have always loved making up stories but never got into the process of writing. And when I did start writing I always stopped halfway through and never finished anything. But last year was very difficult for me so I wanted to do something creative. I got depressed and I couldn't do anything, I wouldn't leave the house and I was generally a mess. So I started writing to occupy my mind and to relax with something I like to do. I'm better now and I intend to recover from depression. I know I'm not perfect at it because I'm still learning but I see it as practice, too.

One of my biggest dreams is to traditionally publish books but I don't know if I'll ever get there.
For now this is the novel I'm working on and I hope I don't give up in the middle and finish it. Check it out if you're interested

I actually started writing via roleplay on ClubPenguin when I was 10 16 years, one undergraduate degree, and half a graduate degree later and I've moved on from roleplay to novel writing! It's always been an in and out process for me, to be honest, due to my crazy schedule, but it never fails to put me back into the right headspace during tough times.

Here's my current work: Smoke and Talons (Dark Fantasy/Romance)

Adelia used to obey her father without question. Even when he was carving sickening power into her skin, using her shadows until they were taking her over, body and soul, she did as she was told for a scrap of love.

Then he kills her.

When she wakes up several years in the past, she's seen the error of her ways. She knows what's to come, and to keep everything from happening all over again, she schemes to escape. But to save the few family members who showed her any consideration, she knows she needs power. Power not given by her father. There's only one place she can get that:

Alklonine Academy.

The danger she's going to face there could very well kill her all over again. Or, it could change the fate of the world.

Trigger Warnings: Will contain elements of emotional and physical abuse, family abuse, and poor mental health. Episodes will be denoted with specific triggers.

dragons #academy #darkfantasy #darkromance #mythicalcreatures #enemiestolovers #morallygrey

My love for words probably began in elementary school. Had a teacher who gave me a less than average grade for English and announced it to the class, and little petty me took a big ego hit and decided that I could never face that humiliation again (LOL, jokes on my past self, I've had so much worse than a bad grade now).
Anyway, my English grade got better, and in high school, I became president of the English literature club. I did a lot of proofreading and editing for family and friends, work documents and academic theses, but never got around to actually writing for a career since those works could never have my name on it, so no portfolio to show. Throughout the years, I kept writing but never had the courage to publish them, until now.
So here's my piece.

I started writing recently as an outlet for major stressors in my life and a way to find peace when I'm struggling more with my mental health. Now I'm working on four projects whenever I can find a spare moment with work (which is hard! especially last year and probably for the rest of the spring until I defend) but I find it really comforting to work on them. I'm not very skilled or experienced yet, and maybe because of that I am always surprised by how independent the characters become as I write.

I really aspire to become more consistent as a writer, but for now I am just going to keep writing whenever my time and health allow me to. I love sharing these stories here with people - even though posting my first chapter was a terrifying thing to do, frankly. I also love seeing other people's stories here as well and learning from your hard work. This is a great topic, thank you for sharing and starting this @supriyashukla2398!

Novels:

The first currently the most active (I am trying to build a buffer for my other stories before I begin a more regular update schedule soon!):

The Fake Saintess Doesn't Want to Save the World - Romance Fantasy, angsty, slow burn, adventure, fantasy

Synopsis:
The Saintess is a fake, and she knows it.

After almost twenty years of giving her health and happiness to protect the people of her Empire as best she can, the Saintess is about to be replaced. She still fights to do what's right even as her world crumbles around her, meeting a surly knight who is just as fiercely devoted to protecting people in the process. The only problem is he seems to hate her! As they start new adventures and her world grows bigger, she realizes that maybe being a fake is the best thing that ever happened to her!

Raindrops on a Window - LGBTQ+ (GL), Romance Fantasy, Fantasy, slow burn, transmigration setting, slightly snarky magic cottage

Synopsis: A romance between a woman and the princess of her favorite story. When Alice is thrown into the world of the novel, she and the princess are forced to work together to fight against a mysterious witch. To save the entire kingdom from a horrible ending, they need to learn to trust each other and themselves.

The Villainess Decides to Go With the Flow - LGBTQ+ (GL), Romance Fantasy, Fantasy, transmigration setting, badass MC, comedy

Synopsis: This villainess just can’t be bothered!

Princess Gardenia just wants to live a peaceful life of combat training, reading, and being left alone. But when she learns she’s actually meant to be the big boss villainess of the story she’s living in, she’s faced with a choice: actively try to prevent a bad ending, do what she’s supposed to do in the novel, or… do nothing at all. The problem is, the bad things from the original novel keep happening anyway, and no one can seem to leave her alone. Can Gardenia finally earn some peace and quiet?

And my first novel, which has a special place in my heart: After the Night, Before the Dawn - Romance, Fantasy, Adventure, Angsty, Epic Fantasy

Synopsis: Valla can't remember who or what she is. She woke broken and never healed, and chose to seek revenge without knowing her enemy's identity.

Doren was disgraced from the Order of the Promised, a class of knights sworn to keep all oaths to the Empire and the weak who ask them for help. Now he wanders as a Shamed, aimless and honorless. His love of music guides him to Valla through the loneliness and humiliation of his excommunication.

When Valla demands Doren work as her assassin to keep her goal of vengeance, she has no reason to expect they will succeed, and Doren has no reason to agree. They start their shared journey against all logic, both desperate for healing but not knowing where to find it.

I've had a lot of struggles with writing. The biggest of which was not being able to let go of my first book. I've scrapped it twice and rewritten it so many times that it is not the same book that I started with. Now I'm finally at a place where I like my writing and want to write for a living some day.