The odyssey of a teenage writer- an introduction

In which a girl revamps her website and gets serious about blogging.

If you read the "About" page, you already know quite a bit about me! Y'all can call me Leigh (sounds like either Lee or Lay/Lei, I really have no preference.).

I'm starting this blog to share my writing with the world, but that's not all! I'll be blogging about topics related to Christianity and my faith, politics and current events in the world (don't worry, it'll all stay friendly!), books, music, travel, fun activities and hobbies, sports, working out, eating and eating healthy, and mental health! I also plan to start a writers workshop page for y'all! I'll be blogging about tips, and giving advice/writers help where it's needed. Some of my favorite teen writers on Instagram post writing help on their wonderful accounts, and I'd love to contribute to that. I've now joined the Instagram writing community- my account is https://www.instagram.com/leiswritingrealm/

If y'all would like to, check out these lovely people on Instagram. Their accounts are so helpful, and I'm proud to be a follower.

Questions and answers

"How often will you post?”

Great question, test subject- I mean blog viewer and writing enthusiast number eighteen! I'll try to post every day, but I can't guarantee that. I want to make sure that my blogs are well thought out, so I'm providing the best content for y'all. I write daily, but I also have practices to get to, jobs to do, and places to be. Just expect a post at least every other day!

"Great, so how will I know when you post?”

Another fantastic question. There will be an option for y'all to sign up with an email so that y'all can receive updates every time I post. I highly recommend doing this. I will in no way give out, or sell your information. I don't even know if I'm able to view the emails. The site will automatically send out the update when I post.

"Can I request that you cover a specific topic in your blogs or writers workshop?”

I know that I will for sure be adding a way for y'all to request topics for me to go over in the writers workshop posts. As for requesting blog topics, I will add a way for requests as well, but there is no guarantee I'll write about the topic!

Today's post- The odyssey of a teenage writer

If you're here, there's a good chance you've read my writing, or are looking for writing help. Writing is no easy feat. I've been reading, drawing cartoon panels, and writing stories for as long as I can remember. The first "books" I ever attempted to write were with my friends in elementary school. One of them was a Diary-of-a-Wimpy-Kid style comic with writing. (The books had solid plots- might I add.)

Before that, I was even younger when a friend and I wrote illustrated stories based off of our classmates, as well as things happening with our friends and families. We read them to our first-grade class, poorly-drawn stick figures and all.

The point is, I've always been imaginative. I get so many ideas, and pretty often too. Maybe it's my ENFP-ness. Could it be my ADHD brain? All I want is for someone to read my book about a steampunk city above a lawless Wild West-inspired land with cloud pirates and say, "If anyone besides Leigh had written this, it would be an awful book."

I want people to take my crazy concepts (race car storm chasing FBI break-in heist, anyone? Racing Lightning.) and look past them! I want my readers and critics alike to simply focus on the execution of my ideas. I would say that I'm a perfectionist, in the sense that I'll go back and rewrite each chapter until I love the way it sounds, and the word count goal is met, or surpassed. I read and rewrite until I hear glimpses of the future in my head praising my content and comparing it to the work of my role models.

My generation (feels too old to be gen z, but not quite a millennial yet. 2000-'06 babies, anyone?) will contain, and already has, some of the best writers in the industry. "Why do you believe this, Leigh?"

Ahh yes. Allow me to explain. When Suzanne Collins published The Hunger Games in 2008, there wasn't much to compare it to. Maybe it was akin to Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 (1953) or Neal Shusterman's Unwind (2007), but the point is, there wasn't yet a plethora of dystopian, post-apocalyptic, science-fiction, science fantasy, or military fiction on the market.

In the decade following the release of The Hunger Games, dozens of books with similar concepts were published and flooded the YA market. Divergent, Alive, The Maze Runner, Shatter Me, The 5th Wave, Illuminae, Monument 14, Red Queen, Partials, The Testing, Delirium, The Selection, Under the Never Sky, The Testing, The 100, and Legend, to name a few, infiltrated bookstores beginning in 2010. Not that I'm complaining. I've read most of, if not all of these books, and they're truly amazing.

Now, the dystopian market's slowed down a little bit. We've replaced Katniss, Mare, America, and Tris with Aelin, Feyre, Alina, and Blue. The fantasy genre really seemed to boom on Booktok and Bookstagram during the pandemic, but I have a feeling we've got Sarah J. Maas, Holly Black and Leigh (naming coincidence) Barudguo to blame for the fae and assassin craze. Again, not that I'm complaining. I'll admit there's several fantasy series on my TBR. (Daughter of Smoke and Bone, An Ember in The Ashes, City of Bones, Caraval, and These Violent Delights.)

Where was I going with this? I promise, I've got a point!

Now, our teen writers have read several of these popular YA and NA books. They've decided what they like, what they hate, and what made these books worth reading. (Or not reading.) Using this data of sorts, writers like me tend to pay extra attention to be sure that their characters don't fall flat. They add crazy concepts, worldbuilding, and strive for representation, despite their beliefs. I'll admit while reading The Hunger Games, Divergent, The Testing, Red Queen, The Selection, and Alive, I really wanted to smack the characters. But it's not the characters fault, because sadly, fictional characters aren't real.

It's the authors fault if the character is stupid, vain, and whiny. Now, I'm not knocking any authors or books, but as I've spent the last year really, truly getting serious about writing, I've found that Lizzie Belcrest and Elayne Kelsey aren't your typical dystopian protagonists. Yes, they've got the strange world, the squad, and the backstory, but I've taken extra care to make sure that they are likeable, and don't fall flat. I've given all of my characters personality but not made one specific element their personality trait. One of my Midnight girls is the lost princess. Another finds out she can control fire. But guess what? These things aren't what define them.

Now, y'all haven't read the new Midnight Trilogy yet, and it's nowhere near done, but I think y'all will be pleasantly surprised.

As a teen writer, I'm so excited to see what the next era of YA and NA fiction will bring us. I have a feeling the dystopian craze will be back as teens write about their experiences with the pandemic. The Midnight Trilogy couldn't have happened without 2020's quarantine, as much as I hate to admit it. Again, my readers don't know this yet because it's in the new versions, but the world in the Midnight Trilogy literally would have been impossible without Covid-19.

Conclusion:

If y'all only get one thing out of my first post- understand that writing is a long process. If you're here for the other topics, buckle up, because they will be here soon!

Signing off,

Leigh

6/24/21