How old were you when you started writing?

[usern]

Out of curiosity!

I always had a very active imagination. When I was very young I'd dictate stories to my parents, some of which they wrote down. But I don't remember actually writing any stories on my own until I was 7/8.
How old were you, OP?

No more than 7, I think, when I first wrote a story just for fun rather than because I had to at school. About 13 when I first attempted a novel, which had not much plot but just a series of incidents in the life of someone very much like me, but a bit richer and more interesting. I usually had a novel of that kind on the go until I was about 20 (giving my heroines all the lovely boyfriends I couldn't get in real life), then started writing with more attention to actual plotting. I've never had anything published but have written a total of three what I would now consider complete novels, one of which is only available in the form of floppy disks for a word processor that no longer exists.

6/7, I used to copy the beginning out of Enid Blyton books and then write the rest of the story myself :D

Had a lot of works in progress as a teenager that never got finished.

More serious in my twenties, then a ten year drought, then more seriously again in last few years.

Probably about 8 or 9 - just a few silly little stories and I would enjoy rewriting films if watched - and then properly when I was about 14. I always had stories in my head and quite an active imagination (huge daydreamer!) from as far back as I remember.

Just before the age of four.

To add, not a lot! Just a few words, name and address and the alphabet. Got on to sentences not long after. Numbers too.

Can't remember ever not writing for pleasure in some way, so pretty young.

Overactive imagination needed an outlet, so was always encouraged to get it down on paper.

(I think my constant oral storytelling wore thin for long-suffering friends/ younger brother/ pets/ the postman/ random people in shops...).

I remember my brilliant Grandpa insisted he transcribe some of the more creative tales into mini books for posterity.
He and I also used to mail (scribbled, in my case) stories back and forth for years.

When slightly older: loved writing little sketches and performances based on book/t.v. characters for schoolfriends to act in.
Journaling. Penfriends (well, it was the '80s )

Interesting that even when so young, I saw a very clear boundary between fiction attempts I felt comfortable sharing with others, and private writing just for myself.

Dm has a short story I wrote about a pencil which I made into a book when I was 4yo. I seem to remember it ends with the pencil shouting "Sharpen me, please."

The first time I wrote a full story (very Enid Blyton it was!) was when I was about 13/14yo. I wrote 4 pages a night over 2 notebooks. I still have it. I'm not sure I can read most of my own writing, as most of it was written under the covers after lights out.

I was about five. My parents had bought me a Petite Typewriter (basically a working children's typewriter) for my birthday and I immediately set about writing my first story. My mum had it somewhere. No idea what happened to it. Wrote my first full novel at about age 9. About horses of course.

About 7 when I first wrote for fun, about 15 when I finished my first novel (dystopian sci-fi, because I was 15, so of course it was). Took me about two decades to try and get anything published though