Reacting to my Old Writing Part 1 | (11-year-old me thought she was a literary genius)

I’ve been planning- or rather, procrastinating- getting back into creative writing for a while. I used to be really into it; I wanted to be a writer since I was five and wrote my first “book”, but when I started high school I kind of fell out of inspiration (if that phrasing makes any sense).

By Emily in Writing on August 12, 2020August 9, 2020

I’ve been planning- or rather, procrastinating- getting back into creative writing for a while.

I used to be really into it; I wanted to be a writer since I was five and wrote my first “book”, but when I started high school I kind of fell out of inspiration (if that phrasing makes any sense).

In honor of the hurricane that just came through this month, I’m going to be reacting to ‘Hurricane Julia’, a 28-page attempted novel that I wrote four years ago when I was 11. I’ll go through half of it today and the second half next week.

I’m kind of scared.

(I’m not going to show every single scene because that would make this post way too long, but I’ll add short summaries of the parts I leave out)

Why did I set this story in May? That’s not even hurricane season…. but I guess we’re going with it.

The next scene introduces Julia’s two best friends, Victoria and Riley, and the three of them go to the beach to hang out. And swim in the “warm clear water”. Then…

That was a tad dramatic. You live in Florida… shouldn’t you be used to this….

“That’s what they always do when there is a hurricane. Talk, talk, talk every day.” LOL. I feel like I was trying to extend the word count a little here.

Anyway, then Julia finds out that the hurricane has magically jumped from Category 1 to Category 4 in one day, and she gets even more scared. I’m pretty sure I based this plot point on Hurricane Katrina, which doubled in size and jumped two categories in just nine hours…. but, evidently, my extensive hurricane research did not help me make this story any more realistic.

This chapter mainly serves to introduce our antagonist, Gwin, who talks like a knockoff valley girl and likes to harass Julia for having one of NOAA’s 2016 storm names. I remember being so proud of using the word “drily” in my dialogue. Moving on to chapter 4.

After a sleepless night, Julia goes to school, has another Gwin run-in, and then we get to see a darker side of Victoria and venture a bit further into the petty middle school drama plot line:

Why are these characters always screaming and shouting? CALM DOWN.

Oh yeah, also the hurricane is Category 5 now.

So Julia randomly gets invited to the popular girl’s party, and decides that even though her mom needs her to stay home and watch her little sister, she’s going to sneak out and go to the party because that’s the only way she’ll make up with Victoria and Riley. Makes sense.

So Julia sneaks out, abandons her sister, and shows up at Emma’s house. But…

The horror! Turns out Gwin is at the party too. Julia feels better when Emma suggests they have a diving contest, but then when Gwin’s turn comes…