They say “A picture is worth a
thousand words.” This has been a thought that has been in everyone’s mind for many years, but it was late 19th century playwright, Henrik Ibsen who originated the basis of the idea. “A thousand words does not leave the same deep impression as one good deed.” He said. Though, today the phrase has been adapted over time changing and becoming something we relate to today. I find it interesting Humans adapt over the years something meaningful to them to keep it meaningful. The quote in itself is the same but changed due to people finding better ways to say it. I look at the very first draft of my very first official novel I wrote, The End of all Things.
I was in 5th grade when I first had the idea; never paying attention in class and always drawing comic books, and one day I had the Idea to draw a full out comic series about zombies, starring fellow classmates in my school. To my surprise, I let kids read it, and they liked the story for what it was in 5th grade. It wasn’t much, but it had the basis of a group of people journeying across the world to avoid zombies. In 5th grade that was enough, only, it wasn’t. I had to keep drawing more and more so that people would stay interested. The problem was that I couldn’t finish in the time people wanted. They would say, “When’s the next one coming?” or, “Hurry up with another comic, Isaiah.” Of course, it was nice to hear all these things, but at the same time it was just too much pressure for a kid that age to draw and draw something in a rush, and it almost felt like drawing was a job. Eventually, I decided to drop the Idea and people went back to not caring and doing their own thing. It wasn’t until seventh grade when I decided to pick it back up. This time, I decided to write it out instead of drawing a comic. I didn’t think I’d like it, nonetheless I went for the writing approach. Looking back though, without all the hassle of people rushing me, it was much easier to write it all out. It did take me a whole year to write one hundred pages, but I had a lot more fun doing it that way than I did before.
Throughout the years I found myself always writing. Sometimes it’d be me writing about nonsense and other times I found myself writing my novel, which I could officially start calling it confidently. It was one of those things that really stuck with me because no matter what I was going through and what was happening around me I always had The End of all Things. Soon enough by my sophomore year, I found myself at my worse in life, and everything seemed to start and fall apart; I was always getting into some sort of problem, barely making it by in school, and not finding answers to what I wanted in life. The one thing that was still standing strong with me was my novel; the characters I could relate to, the problems they all faced, and the growth they had. On one night, towards the end of my sophomore year, I couldn’t sleep before school (It was one of those days) and I just decided to write a little bit just to entertain myself, so I put music on and started going. To my surprise, that night, I finished the entire novel, adding over one hundred more pages. My first finished book was written that night. It wasn’t the best thing ever made or was even close to being grammatically correct, but it was finished. The ending is what got me though. When I started writing I didn’t think I’d finish. I knew I’d write more, but I was thinking of ways to end this first book of the series. In the end, I found a way to end it bittersweet.
I think life is bittersweet. You start off born, then a lot of things happen; good, bad, and all that’s in between. At the end of all things though, that’s life. Over the past year and a half I started to realize that a lot more. The best things about writing the book was seeing the characters change and grow with me, adapting into who they all are now. It showed me that no matter what things will change, even me, and I have because I'm happy with who I am now.
Love your well written story