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Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Origins Blogfest: My first story


Thanks to DL Hammons of Cruising Altitude 2.0 and everyone involved.


I thought I had missed the deadline for Origins Blogfest. I had, but after a comment I thought I had not. Either way, I'll seize the opportunity to share  the story of  my first foray into fiction.

 I was told that I read from four on. I would read signs, brochures, and all sorts of books. I don't remember much about those days, but I know that I hadn't written yet. I wouldn't write my first effective piece until years later, in high school.

 My teacher was a man that was a good teacher, but I didn't particularly like him. He had some experimental hair surgery, and we were mean kids. We made fun of him . I pitied him, but also the psuedo-rebel in me wanted to join in and despise him for being a part of the system. I had grown to love language and form enough by then that when it came my time to present something, it had an extra effort in it that shined through.

 He gave us an assignment to write a fictional story. He gave no limitations, which to me, was music to my wrists. I penned a comic book type finale to enter for the final grade. The main characters were based from people from the class. We had a student teacher at the time that everyone adored, I included him as the hero, Mr. Everybody. My villain was modeled after the teacher, called Chia Head.

 The tale pretty much wrote itself once I had the plot in mind. After editing the final draft, I thought of what my teacher would think. The next day, I almost found out.

 Student teach was the only one in the classroom when he told us that we would have to read them aloud.
 Aloud?

 I fretted and anticipated my name being called up. I knew it was a good story, but I didn't know how well received it'd be, if at all. The teacher had not shown up for class yet when my name was called.

 I wiped beads of sweat from my brow, cleared my throat, and delivered the first lines of the story. From the beginning paragraph I heard giggles, snickers, and a laugh or two. My pace started to steady as I began to make eye contact with my classmates while spinning my yarn. More chuckles were had at the descriptions of the 'Chia-Head'. I had humiliated the enemy in my tale to such a point that it moved everyone in the room to laughter. I could not believe what was happening. Then it stopped.

 Mr. Chia Head, himself, passed through the door to see everyone looking at him in silence. The sort of stifled, forced silence that is beyond awkward. He asked one question that bust the laughter valve:

 "What?"

 Even louder than before, the class roared and rolled at the convenient timing of the tale and the teachers arrival. He looked at me as did the other students for the next move. I ended the story with the conclusion, which did not name the villain again.

 This is one of multiple reasons why I do what we do. The other ones are interesting and I'll wait to write them for the next Origins Blogfest.  

50 comments:

  1. Wassa Origins Blogpost? Is it like one of those freakin' questionnaires or somethin'?

    Blargle, no thank you. D: Those things can become timesinks if you don't watch it~!

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    1. I didn't make the cut, but I posted it anyway after a comment about it. I just wish to share, is all.

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  2. Hmmm, pretty interesting. Never heard of this Origins thingy, but I did like that story :p.

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    1. I hadn't either, until I missed the deadline and had a story semi-prepared in my mind for it. I just went for the gusto and submitted it anyway. Better late than never, right? Glad you liked it.

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  3. Ah awesome! It's nice when something so controversial can lead you to passion; I'm happy to read this. :)

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    1. Yes, for the risk, there was ample reward. I'm happy to have made you happy when reading it.

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  4. First time out of the gate and you were doing a public performance - and mocking your teacher. Wow. You had guts.

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    1. That was the one rare time I had climbed out of my shell. It took creativity and a little spunk to drive me.

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  5. I couldn't read till I was 7 :) but after that I picked up within months.

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    1. Picked it up quickly then. I'm glad you did so, and therefore could read this story of my past.

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  6. Nice when one finds their way and you did so early on I would say. I did not know until the rhyming cat started his show..haha

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    1. And you have a full head of steam on that front. Your work is pretty darn inspirational, if I may say so.

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  7. That's a pretty hilarious tale. Sounds like you took off running with the fiction. And made a class laugh like crazy :-)

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    1. I'm glad to have amused you with a bit of my history.

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  8. Awesome story! Was the story of the story better then the story?

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    1. I believe so. If not for the laughter of the class, then the mildly obedient rebelliousness in my oration of it.

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  9. That's pretty cool...I didn't get the chance to present any stories in front of any of my classes. Perhaps that is for the best, I'm not a great fiction writer. :-)

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    1. It's surprising what one can do if pushed to such a thing. I thought I'd lock up and just sweat it out, right in front of my classmates.

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  10. Poor teachers but they could have done something else.....

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    1. You're right, they asked for it when they gave me unrestricted access to the vast array of mean fiction to write.

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  11. I'm glad your teacher wasn't there, if the class got it I'm pretty sure he would have. For some reason despite how average I can write now (to above average) I was rubbish with creative writing at school.

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    1. He got there just in the nick of time. You right very well now, and my stuff in school was rubbish as well. Maybe a bit funny at times, but still rubbish.

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  12. that's the metal gear font isn't it! MGS4FTW!!!

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  13. What? hehe..didn't understand a thing ;-p

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  14. That's quite a story. I gotta say, I kind of feel for poor chia head. Thanks for stopping by my blog and nice to meet you.

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    1. Nice to meet you as well, Julie. Don't feel bad for him, he ended up being a mentor to me, but that's another story for another time.

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  15. I knew you would close this out with a bang! I can't wait for next year when we get to read more :) lol

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    1. Thanks. I actually closed the door after everyone had already exited, but better late than never. hehe.

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  16. Sounds like the joke was on your teacher!

    Thanks for visiting me and taking the time to comment. :)

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    1. And to find out that he had a sense of humor was also great!

      Thanks for returning the visit and comment. I hope to do so again.

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  17. I really like this line; 'I pitied him, but also the psuedo-rebel in me wanted to join in and despise him for being a part of the system.' and glad you didn't get into trouble. I do feel bad for the teacher though!

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  18. Cool story...i'd not heard of this Origins thing either

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  19. I once had a teacher who the class made fun of for his pronunciation of the word "murky".. This one guy Karl would pronounce it "muurrrrrrrky" and got the rest of the class to do the same thing. Then in creative writing class I wrote a "fictional" piece based on a story about the teacher getting even with ole Karl in the distant future. Ahh, well...not as good as your Chia Head anecdote, but it's the effort that counts... I guess.

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  20. what a crazy story!

    http://underthefluorescents.blogspot.com/

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    1. Sometimes life throws you crazy and all you have is a pen and paper.

      I am cool with your placement of your link in the comments. I do go to your page, but sometimes need a little reminder to do so.

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  21. That is awesome. I didn't find my voice until college. People hated me in high school.

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    1. I'm right there with you. Although I wasn't quite hated, I was very unpopular due to my unique nature and physical weakness. This was but one of the very few shining moments of my high school years.

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  22. Hilarious! Soooooo, will we get to hear the story of Mr. Everybody and Chia-Head?? :D

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    1. You may, you just may. There may be a day where I just decide to recycle the whole piece, as juvenile as it may be.

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  23. Oh my gosh. That's a GREAT story!!!!! Thanks for sharing.

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    1. You're welcome. Thank you for the compliment and stopping by.

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  24. Replies
    1. He actually had a great sense of humor about it. He read the thing and then created a 'lab' for just me and another student to get out of class on fridays for an hour to go to the computers and write stories. Pretty cool guy, once I got past my prejudice.

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