The Early Writings Tag

     First, thank you to Abbiee for this tag! Since I stole this from her, it's only proper that you check out her blog here. She had 5 books that she wrote as a child that were horrendous, but alas, I was not so accomplished at a young age. So today, I'm just going to be talking about the one and only horrendous book that I wrote.


Lingering On (originally Sea Hatred)



The Book:

A romantic drama that reached about 35,000 words.



The Plot:

• Andromeda is a perfect protagonist: gorgeous, lives by the sea in a beautiful house, has an adoring family,  has the amazing and handsome boyfriend, and a lifetime of happiness on the horizon
• The story opens with Will, her boyfriend, proposing to her at sunset on the beach.......that's not cliche at all right? (right.) 
• The story continues with all sorts of subplots that add basically nothing to the story. They include: 
• an abused best friend
• a lesbian aunt
• a girl that somehow remained a virgin through a horrible marriage and reunites with Andromeda's brother, her first love
• Andromeda's sister being dumped
• A dramatic to the death duel between Will and someone his family has a feud with

*And I was twelve when I started this????*

• The day before her wedding, Andromeda, Will, and her family take a boat ride to celebrate.

• A storm comes up and everyone DIES except for Andromeda. 
• Andromeda sinks into deep depression 
• Andromeda moves away to the city, vowing to never love again. That isn't cliche either. 

 I suppose an excellent question would be this: what was the inspiration for this? I'm not sure I can really pinpoint the source. Part of it was to write a story about a girl who turns her back on God to the point where she denies His existence, but eventually finds her way back to Him. Part of it was the desire to write a tragedy. Part of it was the appeal of a girl who loses absolutely everything and yet somehow finds the strength to love again.

What I Learned:

• You may have to completely rewrite 3/4 of your novel in order to make it a decent piece of literature -I started writing this when I was 12, and picked it up again when I was 14 hence the rewrite. 
• The original theme that you started out with may grow and mature with the story, and that's okay. Don't be afraid to let the story change because of that. 
• You really need to pick and choose your subplots and make them relevant to the story, or the protagonist's journey. They shouldn't be just fluff
• Make your character relatable. This is probably the most important one. They have to make mistakes. They have to have flaws. Their struggles have to be true and real. 

Conclusion:

I still like the original theme of this book, and with the title of Lingering, I think the story could be a a story that has very personal inspiration behind it. I want to pick it up again someday.

~Clarissa