Why I Quit Writing Fiction
August 26, 2020
Since I read an unholy amount of YA books, one day I got it in my
head to try writing some myself. I was a little intimidated and
didn’t trust myself to write a compelling story, so I asked a
top-secret snowflake for help. Here’s what we came up:
**Note: MC stands for Main character
"Like any other incoming freshman, I’m excited but nervous to see
the MC School of Narwhal Trainers for the first time. When most
people adopt a narwhal, it usually doesn’t mean more than a $55
narwhal plushie, an adoption certificate, and a vaguely charitable
feeling. I had a feeling this was no ordinary SeaWorld training
camp, because I was invited to the MC School by a mysterious
anonymous letter.
Actually, the only reason I decided to attend even though the
school seemed inconspicuous (it had no website!), was because I
had nothing better to do the summer after my junior year (the
summer colleges care about the most!). I had heard it was
secretive, but the photos in the letter didn’t show any other
students, or a single narwhal for that matter!
When I walked through the (tall?, descriptive?) gates, I’m not
sure what I was expecting. Maybe a swimming pool, a lake, or
something resembling a beachside house, or anything that signified
narwhals were nearby. I certainly didn’t expect to face gently
sloping valleys and stunning greenery. Narwhals aside, where were
all the buildings? As far as I could tell, the campus consisted of
just one battered-looking cabin. I knocked three times on the
As you might have caught on, these three short paragraphs already
have a plot hole. Is the MC and incoming freshman or junior? Is it
summer or a full-time school?
The premise of this story is based on the fact that the Narwhals
are magic, and kids learn to train with them (it was going to be
revealed later!). Basically, the trainers help teach the narwhals
to do cool spells. The narwhals are the source of the magic but
can’t do anything with it unless there’s a human-narwhal team.
We started feeling really overwhelmed by all the questions we’d
have to know the answers to have a coherent plotline. For example,
are narwhals born with powers? Do all of them have powers? Are
some more powerful than others? How is magic summoned/used? What
can’t magic do? What are consequences to using magic?
At that point we quit. It seemed like too much of a time
commitment for a project that was stressing us both out. Also, I
really didn’t think I was capable of writing human-animal bonding
scenes since I had absolutely no real-life experience where that’s
concerned.
Later on, I asked one of my friends from college who’s an author
if I could look over some of his work to help. I think I’d be a
lot better at editing or giving feedback than writing fiction. So,
that’s what I learnt and that’s why I quit writing fiction.