I have written a horror novel. It was written during National Novel Writing Month when I was in the ninth grade. I was excited when my creative writing teacher announced this upcoming project in November. I had so many ideas popping out inside my brain, and I was really looking forward to writing my first novel.
My 15-year-old self-assumed it was going to at least be a decent story with fleshed out characters, but the novel itself was a complete disaster.
The main character was probably the only good thing about the novel.
The main character’s name was Alice. She had lost her little sister to cancer, and was struggling with her loss. Alice lived with her grandparents, and frequently went to go visit her sister’s grave. Alice was a weird teenager, but she wasn’t cringy.
She was my most fleshed-out character with a sad backstory. This was the only character I was proud of. The others…not so much.
The villain introduction was terrible and random.
While Alice was in town, she was stopped by a random fortune teller that promised Alice her dreams could come true with a ‘relic.’ This item would help restore the sadness Alice was feeling. All she had to do was a ritual.
Alice agrees with completing the ritual due to her desperation to see her little sister again. She completes the ritual, and several random hot people and the fortune teller show up at her house; telling her thank you for freeing them. This made no sense when I think back on this scene.
Alice at least expressed doubt over the ritual for a long time, before fully committing to it. However, the fortune teller aspect was pretty dumb. So what, she just picked a random girl off the street? It made no sense.
The heroes were stupid, and their dialogue was cringy.
The heroes that were introduced to the novel were five supernatural friends that Alice gets captured by. They assumed she purposely freed the boss and his five minions. Two of the older ones taunted her, a pair of siblings were total weirdos that you always find in teenage/ fantasy novels, and one of them kept hitting on her.
Talk about a terrible first-time interaction. Thinking back on this moment gets me so mad, because I could have done so much more with the characters and their abilities. Oh yeah, and also, they were attractive.
Why did I make every character in my story a supermodel???
The villains all died and none of the heroes ever got killed.
I was in a phase where I always killed off all the villains. I did not believe killing my heroes, because I felt so bad doing it. There was never any true conflict. There was only one scare with someone almost dying; but it was a stupid trick. I really wished I had killed at least two of them.
It would have made the novel a bit more bearable.
I can’t get over the fact that I killed five villains in one novel. Including the boss. I’m glad to say that the five villains from this terrible book have been taken and put into a future story of mine that has a ten times better story. Their backstories and their motivations are much darker. I’m thankful these villains were given the justice they deserved.
There was a cringy teenage romance between Alice and one of the heroes.
One of the heroes that was stuck at an immortal age of a teenager fell in love with Alice. He teased her throughout the entire novel, and Alice was always confused with how he fancied her. Their kiss at the end of the novel came off way too forced. Their chemistry was so strange.
I’m beyond thankful that I never inserted a love triangle in the story. I have always hated love triangles in any sort of media, because I don’t understand. How hard is it to choose?
Go with the person that gives off less red flags, I guess.
This novel experiment did not go well, but I learned a lot about writing.
I assumed that writing would be easy. It is not. It takes a lot to create a story. You need to know how to address each and every word, through either detail or dialogue. I did start off terribly, but I learned over time how to better my writing and take each piece of advice to heart.
I have slightly improved over time, and I can now write stories without stressing out and wondering if the piece is going to suck.
I’m not ready to write another novel, but I think with a few more years or more with practice, I’ll be ready. If not a novel, then perhaps another form of writing I will be ready to share with the world!
I’m trying to find many ways to make money online, it is my dream to live off my horror writing, and I hope that eventually I will reach the mark!
Thank you for reading!
Emy Quinn
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