Never Give Up the Ghost

William Faulkner once stated, “Read, read, read. Read everything — trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read!”

I read everything from Animalia anatomy books to children’s novels as a kid. In middle school, I began young adult novels and adopted a fondness for the variety of literature, mainly fan fiction. The more I perused my favorite fiction, the more I would find typos and think, “I bet I could phrase this better.”

At first, I couldn’t work up the courage, believing no one would read my writing. Years passed, and I entered high school with the same misgivings. Often posting things here and there as practice, I found reviews and likes rare. I had barely started before I gave up the ghost… until I transferred schools.

In this new environment, I thrived in my hobbies. With encouragement from a particular teacher, I began trying my hand at small scenes and studying character development. Before I knew it, I spent college nights in the tutoring center, writing at a desk and pestering the English tutors for advice.

At one point, I spent three days and two nights writing the rising action of a story without exposition. Somehow, I remained bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for classes, but from then on, I was known to my Fiction Writing teacher as a “Vampire,” a nickname I still wear as an entry-level badge of honor.