How long have you been writing?

I've been writing for about a decade now. Started out when I was only fifteen, writing Final Fantasy 8 fanfiction. *sigh*

I've been seriously writing for about four years, though. It's amazing how much my skills in writing have come since then. It still surprises me at times.

I dabbled in various awful bits and pieces beforehand, but I sat down to (willingly) write my first substantial piece at... 16, I think.
Six years ago already. Eep.

Seriously for coming on five years, but I'd written my first novel at various times since the age of 16 and subbed a novel when I was 13 so it was always in my soul.

BloodSpatterAnalyst said:

I've been writing for about a decade now. Started out when I was only fifteen, writing Final Fantasy 8 fanfiction. *sigh*

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I still have a great love for FF8.

Not very long. And it shows.

Only about six months for fiction, I've been rewriting speeches and articles for clients since 2008.

It seems like I've always written for fun- I wrote a few horrible stories in my elementary years, and have ever since!

Grade six was the first time I attempted to write a full novel so that's...holy crap 10 years. I didn't realize it had been that long.

Parametric said:

I still have a great love for FF8.

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Me too! Sadly, my writing back than was more than cringe-worthy. Looking back on it now, it was absolutely horrendous. Hence the *sigh*

On a side note: I'm hoping they remaster 7 and 8 for the PS4. If they do I will die. I'll totally be one of the first in line to receive that.

I wrote a picture book for other kids when I was 8 or 9. It was called 'Luna the Moon Phoenix'.

My first novel was an FF7 fan-fic I wrote when I was 16. It seems to be a thing!

Officially, I've been continuously writing & unwriting the same book for two years now, but I've been working on the story for about five years & working on my writing skills for seven & had the basic idea that I wanted to do this about eleven years ago. So... do with that what you will.

Wrote my first something for an assignment in second grade. We had to write a five-line poem. Teacher liked mine so much she stopped class to read it to everyone else. Until that moment I hadn't connected that the books my father read me before bed were actually written *by* someone and not just generated out of, I dunno, ether or something.

Never looked back. Coming up on 28 years.

I've been writing on and off since I was a kid. Considering I'm thirty-seven, it's been a while.

Like many others here, I've also been writing since childhood - obviously started off with small stories here and there (some of them are really funny to re-read nowadays), but only seriously got into writing something of more significance within the past year. Not much into the writing phase currently though, as I'm building a world that may be easy to criticize if I don't do the necessary research, etc, so I'm still in the world/character/plot-building phase Hoping to actually get into the nitty-gritty of the writing soon!

Far too long.

41 years, I think.

I taught myself how to type by writing stories on an old PC in 1989. I was five years old and the first story I wrote was 800 words about a coyote in Arizona that ate my meanie cousin Jeff.

I probably wrote about 50 other fiction novellas about talking animals during elementary, junior, and high school, and then took a huuuuuuge break while I tried to become a wildlife biologist.

Incidentally, since I taught myself how to type, I learned incorrectly. But I can still do it really quickly. And I didn't know what "shift" did, so I hit "capslock" twice every time I wanted to capitalize a letter. I still do it this way.

I also remember printing and mailing my best novel to a publisher when I was 11 or 12. They sent me back a really nice letter saying they didn't accept unagented manuscripts.

I bet my parents thought that was cute.

12 years old. Before I turned 17, I only wrote fanfics and did roleplaying. I'm 26 now.

Wrote my first proper(ly awful) novel at 17, so 6 years. I feel like a baby now :/

I've been writing seriously-- as in with the intent to be published-- since I was 11, fifteen years ago, though I sort of took a sabbatical from 19-22-ish. I don't think I've been writing WELL for more than three years though.

beck_magruder said:

I also remember printing and mailing my best novel to a publisher when I was 11 or 12. They sent me back a really nice letter saying they didn't accept unagented manuscripts.

I bet my parents thought that was cute.

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Hehe... I convinced my dad to help me write a query letter to publishers when I was about 12 (I knew about agents and knew not to query publishers that said you had to have an agent, but still somehow didn't get the point of agents). I actually got a request!

Since I could write, so a little over 30 years.
Drawing even longer, since I could hold a pencil.
For as long as I can remember, I have always been reading, and writing and drawing stories, turning them into little books.

I have been telling stories all my life. It was only in the last 2 years that I have tried to see if I could make a story into a novel.

When telling stories you can read the audience and adjust on the fly. Now I can only guess.