The Re-Writin' Queen

So, guess what.

I've been working on this book since I was twelve. I was inspired three years ago in December to write this book when my friend and I started playing with the family humidifier. Our humidifier has since... *sniff*...passed from this life (i.e. the thing was, like, twenty years old and finally went ka-chunk), but its constant stream of refreshing mist emitting from its little vent-thingy inspired an epic idea.

My epic idea turned into the story of a fourteen year old serf/peasant/slave named Ehra who could control water (inspired by the steam from our late humidifier) and banded together with five other folks--mostly kids--to overthrow an evil tyrant. Okay...like that's an original plot.

I wrote the whole thing in one notebook that I got for my 12th birthday. I still have that hallowed notebook--its cover is just about ripped off, but it has this beautiful illustration of a horse coming out of the ocean at sunset. All throughout the margins are my little doodles and drawings.

So, I typed it up and thought I was done. I was so proud of myself.

About half a year later or so, I read my story through and I realized what a badly written, cliche thing it was. Which led to...rewrite number one.

I don't think I got very far with rewrite number one. I guess it just peetered out, but even that small snipped was an improvement. The plot was slightly more original and the writing style was much improved.

Well, like I said, I didn't get very far with rewrite number one. So onto rewrite number two. By this time, I decided to completely ditch the plot I had started out with. Ehra was no longer Ehra, and she was no longer fourteen, and she was no longer a serf that had control over the element of water (thank goodness!). She was Ehrathiwel (which sounds much more noble), she was a pagan priestess (don't worry--she was headed for reform!), and she was nineteen years old. I also ditched some of the original characters, sticking with the ones that fit in my new plot.

I think I tried to write the new-and-improved version about four times. Each time, I got about to the same point before I gave up. Something was missing from the story. I first imagined Ehra as this happy, quiet, optimistic, nice girl; now Ehrathiwel was this angsty, depressed, semi-emo sorceress.

Just yesterday, after pondering my story long and hard, I decided to start all over again. And basically, I'm back to plot number one with some definite improvements.

In one way, I'm really glad for all these rewrites. I experimented with all these different plots, and now the plot I'm going with is kind of a mix of them all. Ehra's back to being a serf again, but guess what--I also have some semi-emo sorceresses in the mix as well. I'm making Ehra slightly less angsty, but definitely with enough issues to fully round out her character (as opposed to making her Miss Sugar and Spice).

Ehra's not the only character to benefit from all these re-writes. One of my favorite characters, Maethar (who appears often in this blog if you look back at some older posts), is greatly improved upon from my very first draft. For instance, his name. He was actually called 'Maki' in my first book, and 'Maki' is an awful name. It reminds me of, like, macaroni and cheese or some kind of fish. Or a Big Mac at McDonald's.

Why did I post this here instead of at my writing blog? (pull up my profile and click on 'Traveling Tales' if you want to go to it because I'm too lazy to link it up). Because my story, inspired by our angelic humidifier, may it rest in peace, is as much a part of me as myself is apart of me.

Gee, that sounded confusing. What I meant to say is: that story, whether or not I publish it and become all famous and stuff and have screaming fans paying a hundred bucks for my autograph (like that will ever happen), has really grown on me.

Any of you all have a story that's grown on you?