"When did you decide to become a writer?"
I've gotten that question a lot lately--the "when did you decide to become a writer" question. And for a long time my response has been "it's always been something I wanted to try."
Boy, was I wrong.
That really isn't the answer, I realized the other day. The answer isn't nearly that generic. The answer is specific--very specific. The answer is "I decided I wanted to become a writer the day I heard SE Hinton was from Tulsa."
Now, to a lot of you that may not mean anything. But when you're a girl on a farm in Oklahoma and you spend all day everyday watching people do hard work, and then you hear about another girl from Oklahoma who gets paid to make up stories for a living--it sticks with you. And when every hot young star in Hollywood--the very stars who are plastered inside three quarters of the lockers at your middle school--sign up to star in a movie based on a book by that girl from Oklahoma, well, then that settles it.
I distinctly remember that day. I don't remember how old I was exactly, but I do remember walking around the house with an old paperback copy of The Outsiders and having my dad say, "She's from Tulsa."
"Who?" I asked.
"The woman who wrote that."
The woman who wrote that was from Tulsa--the very city where I shopped for back-to-school clothes and ate state fair corndogs. It was the closest I had ever come to greatness, and just knowing it was that close taught me that anyone could touch it--anyone could have it.
So that's when it started. That was a plot point of my life.
Sorry I'd forgotten until now.
--Ally
PS...How about it, everybody? What was the plot point of YOUR life?
Boy, was I wrong.
That really isn't the answer, I realized the other day. The answer isn't nearly that generic. The answer is specific--very specific. The answer is "I decided I wanted to become a writer the day I heard SE Hinton was from Tulsa."
Now, to a lot of you that may not mean anything. But when you're a girl on a farm in Oklahoma and you spend all day everyday watching people do hard work, and then you hear about another girl from Oklahoma who gets paid to make up stories for a living--it sticks with you. And when every hot young star in Hollywood--the very stars who are plastered inside three quarters of the lockers at your middle school--sign up to star in a movie based on a book by that girl from Oklahoma, well, then that settles it.
I distinctly remember that day. I don't remember how old I was exactly, but I do remember walking around the house with an old paperback copy of The Outsiders and having my dad say, "She's from Tulsa."
"Who?" I asked.
"The woman who wrote that."
The woman who wrote that was from Tulsa--the very city where I shopped for back-to-school clothes and ate state fair corndogs. It was the closest I had ever come to greatness, and just knowing it was that close taught me that anyone could touch it--anyone could have it.
So that's when it started. That was a plot point of my life.
Sorry I'd forgotten until now.
--Ally
PS...How about it, everybody? What was the plot point of YOUR life?
posted by Ally Carter at Tuesday, April 04, 2006
3 Comments:
I wish I could be that specific. Maybe there's a specific point in there somewhere, but it sure seems like an evolution. That, of course, applies to fiction.
I've written a lot of nonfiction because I had to.
My plot point was in my high school English class. We had to take a historical moment and write about it. I wrote about Joan of Arc burning at the stake. It sounds morbid, but I wrote about her conviction to the end.
The teacher read it outloud. When she finished there wasn't a sound. No shuffling, no guffawing, just everyone hanging on the words. That was my turning point.
That's an amazing story, Paty--thanks for sharing!
JPatrick--I know what you mean about evolution--I grew into it, too, I think.
-Ally
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