How I Started to Write

Ashley G

Professor Zoller

Life Narratives

12/13/12

How I Started to Write

                The author of this piece Carlos Fuentes spends this essay talking about all of the things in his life that have influenced him. He speaks of his Mexican heritage, books he’d read, and comics that had been popular in his time. Together all of these influences contributed to who he became as a writer. I tried thinking about all of the things that influenced and influence my writing. In my early stages of fiction writing the first piece I attempted ended up being a poorly thought out, impossibly confusing rehash of Star Wars. I was born into a middle class family in the Northeast and ended up being the middle of three sisters; this has significantly influenced my writing. From how I write sibling relationships to the way I write about the seasons, all of my writing is influenced by some part of my life. Based on where I grew up and the kinds of TV show I watch the vernacular of my writing is distinctive. I use certain words more than others and because of an English teacher I had in middle school I overuse commas and semi colons. The more I think about it the more I realize that every part of my writing is an direct result of something else in my life.