Writer with a Golden Pen (Rough Draft)

(Assignment: Write a nonfiction piece using profile and/or memoir tactics.)

Writer with a Golden Pen

         Most people have heard the saying about how great statesmen are born with silver spoons in their mouths. Me, I think that I was born with a golden pen in my hand. When it comes to writing stories, I tend to do quite well.

         I have been writing stories for many years. Some of my earliest stories were picture stories, in which I told the story using drawings. One was about a boy who had been turned into a cat by an owl and must find a way to turn himself back into a human, though I think that story could have been inspired by a movie called Rock-A-Doddle, which is an animated movie about a boy-turned-cat who must find a rooster to bring out the sun, and to beat a bunch of evil owls. Another early story was about an ex-poacher who must stop one of his former compatriots. As for where those stories went and how they ended, I have no idea. Only the past knows now.

         As for the stories that I have written over the more recent five years though, I have been able to write most of them in personal notebooks, which I have saved. The stories tend to vary, from dragons, to vampires and werewolves, to aliens from other world, mostly in the realms of Science Fiction and Fantasy. There is a “hero”-type of person, who tends to not be human, a villain, who has powers of their own, and some sort of love interest. Some are done in a Dark-Age setting, some are done in a Modern-day setting, and others are more futuristic, or interesting. Each one of them is highly unique, with interesting characters, fantastic storylines, and a whole lot more as well. One of my stories is about shape-shifting dragons in the modern day, (Inspired in part by “Jake Long: American Dragon”, a cartoon that I liked to watch). Another dragon story took place in the Middle-Ages. I also have many werewolf stories, mostly in a modern day or futuristic setting. I even have a few stories about cat-like people, as I was highly interested in cats at that time. However, these stories all have one thing in common, they are only half done, and in some cases, not even that.

         Then one day, I was surfing Youtube when I found some interesting videos. They were about animal-like people. I also found some Web-comics that had stories about these sorts of people, and I found a site that had a legion of writers that wrote about similar things. Somewhere during that searching and reading and watching, an idea came to my head. That idea seemed to say to me, “Create a planet with these Animal-People, and call them HiBreeds. Give them a unique culture, in which they have special places where carnivore HiBreeds can enjoy the taste of human flesh in a safe manner. Create a special HiBreed, one who has a dark and tragic pass, but has the potential to be a great hero.” With that in mind, I picked up a pencil and notebook, and started to write. The story was about a young woman, who has had some problems in her past, who came to this city and met up with some people who took care of her, especially after something happens to disable her. Also, I was able to finish the whole notebook, which was a first.

         However, I wasn’t quite satisfied with it. The ending was begging me to do something. Also, it felt like something was missing. So, I got out another notebook and started to write a sequel. Also, if you think that I was sitting at a desk while I was writing, you would be far from right. After all, the desk in my room was more of a shelf, containing the books of the Redwall series, and a lot of clutter. I was writing in my bedroom, which had like this wood-board siding on most of the walls, with plaster-and-drywall on the one at the head of my bed. My room was claustrophobically small, with it being hot in summer and cold in winter. The light-bulb would go out on occasion, as there was no good lighting coming from the window. As for where I did my writing at, that was on the bed, and finding a comfortable position to do that wasn’t easy, especially since I was writing for hours at a time. It was in this environment that I was able to churn out ten books within the space of a summer, but more about that later.

         Somehow, I managed to complete the second book, and I had created that character that I was looking for, Zena, a large wolfess who had a history of being a highly dangerous criminal. However, I came to another first, I wanted to write a third story, and Zena was heavily featured in it, a trend that continued for most of the books in the series, which I dubbed “Planet Animalus”, after the name of the planet the story takes place on. Also, as I wrote, Zena and her past continued to evolve. At first, Zena started out as a simple thief with a long rap-sheet. Then it was revealed that she was unable to have children, and that she was an ex-slave. Then it was revealed that she was an anti-hero, as she would rob museums, selling the loot on the black market, and she would kill slavers, and free their slaves. Also, her future became highly interesting, such as her occupations, the people she met, her family, blood and otherwise, and the various things that happened to her.

         Nineteen notebooks later, the fever died down. The series wanted a break, so I stopped writing about Planet Animalus, and asked a friend of mine to check it out. However, she was quite busy, so I brought them back home after a few months. Eventually, I was inspired to write about something else, and wrote about a world where monsters and humans reside together, but not necessarily in harmony. One story was about a teacher at this school, and the other was about a soldier in the military. The characters were all interesting from John Wolfstone, a werewolf-giant half-breed, to Private William Henry Jenkins, a new recruit in the military. These stories I wrote on the computer, never expecting anyone to read them.

         Then, something else happened. I joined a site that I had been checking out called Writing.com and had my own portfolio. I began writing in earnest again, and began to make friends with the various people who checked my things out. Most of them say that I have quite the imagination, and that my stories are highly unique. Also, I have written a wide verity of things, including westerns, comedy, horror, love/romantic stories, poetry, and so much more. In a sense, I do have a golden pen, and it wants to write.

To see some of my things, check out http://www.writing.com/main/portfolio/view/alockwood1.