My Writing Obsession
In a previous post, I shared the history of my writing projects, many of which have been scrapped or wiped from existence. I’ve been writing for a long time—practically a decade now—and during that time, I’ve grown tremendously as a writer. In fact, I’m still growing, which is why I feel comfortable sharing the worst of my writing portfolio.
Genre-wise, I stayed within the romance, teen fiction, and drama realms, except for a project or two. But that should give you a clear idea of what you’re in for. Recently, I’ve ventured into dystopia and fantasy—a testament to my growth as a writer—but my heart will forever lie with romance and drama.
Some projects within this post may include cast members and full-blown face claims. Unfortunately, I was the queen of face claims. I can’t believe I’m sharing something so embarrassing, but here we are. I beg you, don’t judge me too hard. Keep in mind that I wrote these a few years back, and since then, I’ve gained some sense and a real grasp on reality.
Along with funny face claims, throughout this post, there will be links to excerpts from each story. This allows you to read them firsthand and see just how bad these projects were. But before we dive into the nitty-gritty, let me share a bit about my long history of writing fanfiction
Old Fanfictions
From 2014-2017, I was a Wattpad fanatic and a huge fan of Selena Gomez. I’ve mentioned this before, but I wrote a book in which she was the main character, and I even published it on Wattpad. The book got roughly over 10k+ reads, but it has long been deleted. Sadly, I can’t remember the title, the plot, or any major characters aside from the Selena Gomez face claim. However, a striking detail I do recall is the book cover I made for it.
I used a very specific picture from Selena Gomez’s 2011 Glamour magazine photoshoot. This is so incredibly niche that it makes my stomach hurt, but that was the book cover!
Source SelenaGomezDaily.
Pretty sure the book cover was an edit of the photo farthest to the right. I would’ve remade the cover if my Superimpose [CRACKED] was still intact (if you know, you know). Maybe one day I’ll randomly come across a draft or proof of the fanfic’s existence, but until then, it’s a blur.
During my hardcore fangirl era, I was an active user of the app Amino at an age far too young. I joined in 2015-2016, making me 9 or 10, and that app left a horrible stain on me. While on the platform, I was part of many communities, including the Selenators community and the Ariana Grande community. Honestly, I was a pretty popular user, if I do say so myself, but let’s focus on the fanfiction I wrote.
When I tell you my writing portfolio within these communities was huge, I mean that. I recall maybe 3-6 fanfics in the Ariana Grande community and at least 1 in the Selenators community. Again, my mind is a bit blank on the specifics of the fanfics, but I’m pretty sure one of my Ariana Grande fics had the word ‘Hollywood’ in the title. My mind is leaning toward it being called Hollywood High, which is stupidly cliché, but I guess we’ll never know
And this was just the beginning of my writing career. I swore I was the best author of all time. You couldn’t tell me I wasn’t Hemingway back then—my head was huge (in the literal sense as well).
Undercover Queen
I’m very happy to have the exact date I started writing this: September 15, 2017. It’s an older one within my writing portfolio. I was 11 years old, and I wrote this out of pure boredom. My prepubescent brain thought I had a New York bestseller on my hands.
Undercover Queen follows British Princess Penelope, who was a part-time princess and part-time spy. Penelope goes undercover in America as an exchange high school student for a reason I sadly forgot. Most of the plot is lost on me, but I assume it links back to earning the title of Queen. I do, however, remember a romance I had somewhat planned. I was going to write Penelope a cute American boyfriend to stir things up because, as you’ll come to know, romance is a must-have for me.
From what I remember, it was fun writing this, even though I scrapped it early on. I’m positive an old Episode Interactive game influenced this story, which is so funny to me. It’s a very short, unfinished story, and I cringed the entire time I was rereading it. It could have been ten times worse considering the media I was consuming at that age, but I don’t hate it per se. Bless my 11-year-old heart.
Childish
Trigger Warning: This portion of the post includes mentions of domestic abuse, depression, suicidal thoughts, and suicide. I advise skipping over this section if these are sensitive topics for you. Take care of yourself.
I started this one sometime in early 2021, making me about 15 years old and naive… very naive. Funny enough, this is the only project I nearly saw all the way through. My writing portfolio has been on a steady downhill from here.
Childish was essentially everything I expected (and to some degree, wanted) high school to be, even though I put my characters through absolute hell. Childish was overly dramatic, and it’s for the best that it was discontinued. When writing this, I was going into my first year of physical high school amid the pandemic, which is evident in my writing. My brain was already all over the place at that time, so I partially blame the time period for this traumatic *ss book.
Childish followed protagonist Monét and her best friend DeAndra. They were seniors in high school who lived messy, distressing lives. Monét is caught up in a love triangle with Lucas, her cheating boyfriend, and AJ, the new kid. Meanwhile, she’s dealing with a strained relationship with her mother and the resentment she harbors for her.
Monét
DeAndra
“AJ” Andre
Lucas
As for DeAndra’s big plotlines, she’s suffering in every way possible. Her home life is unstable and unsupportive, which leads her to move in with Monét’s family. She’s in an abusive relationship, and to top it off, her mental health is in the gutter, as she struggles with depression and suicidal thoughts. Spoiler alert: she commits.
I was watching Degrassi: The Next Generation while writing this, and in Season 12 we lost a dear character—Campbell Saunders—to the same thing. To say it stuck with me is an understatement. In hindsight, it was a bit insensitive for me to pull such a serious plotline from the show and stick it into my book. Moving forward, I doubt I’d write anything around such a sensitive topic again, given how poorly I wrote it and the effect it had on me. I was determined for this story to not have a perfect ending, and in the end, it never had a proper one.
After DeAndra’s passing, Monét cuts off both AJ and Lucas, dealing with such a tragic loss. That barely lasts, as prom approaches and she reconnects with AJ. They form a romance up until graduation, and the story is supposed to end there.
But I couldn’t help myself, so I started plotting a sequel called Grownish. It’s since been deleted, but I genuinely had a series planned out. Grownish, similarly to the TV show, would have followed Monét into college, and someway, somehow, Lucas and AJ would have been back in the mix.
Again, it’s for the greater good that both books were scrapped, but in terms of longevity, I’m most proud of this one. Plus, it just adds to my growing writing portfolio.
Don’t Be a Cheater
It’s circa 2021 when I first drafted Don’t Be a Cheater, another failed book added to my writing portfolio.
“Don’t Be a Cheater” was about Priya and Marlene Bhandari, sisters with a not-so-sweet relationship. Marlene is engaged to her fiancé, Faiyaz Riddles, who begins an affair with none other than Priya, her sister. The affair causes a rift in the family, and things go to sh*t.
This was a lousy attempt at drama on my part, so not even the fiancé in question has a proper face claim. The story didn’t get too far—for obvious reasons—so I don’t have much to share, and I thank God for that.
Priya Bhandhari
Marlene Bhandhari
Undecided
Now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure the title is based on Undecided by Chris Brown, which tracks for the time I was writing this. And I know he’s a sh*t person, but it’s a detail I had to mention.
Undecided (writing portfolio book) actually got pretty far, and I had so much fun plotting and writing it. The description I wrote on Wattpad was simple: “We work so well, and we don’t even know why.” I’m two for two with the song references within this book. Shoutout to Why by Sabrina Carpenter!
Here we have my obviously very well-thought-out cast of Undecided. I vividly remember planning this out on Wattpad, and the dots connected instantly as I pulled these GIFs from the internet.
Sydney Sweeney as Valerie Alinsky
Benjamin Wadsworth as Raúl Morena
Lovie Simone as Alana Tonei
Emily Alyn Lind as Leighton Drews
Froy Gutierrez as Levi Jives
The story follows Valerie and Raúl, our main protagonists. Raúl is the new kid, and Valerie is a white girl with way too much attitude. For a quick rundown on her: she’s an only child. Her mom’s deceased, so she lives with her father and his “c*nt” of a fiancée—Valerie’s words, not mine. As for Raúl, her main love interest, he’s from Spain and recently switched schools. To keep it short and sweet, he’s a good guy.
From the jump, Valerie and Raúl hit it off, which causes issues for Valerie and her unofficial relationship with Levi Jives (I love a love triangle). Funny enough, Levi’s face claim is a gay man, which I’m sure says a lot about me.
Another notable side character, Alana, was to be Valerie’s best friend. She was your typical supportive friend, with minor plotlines and a good head on her shoulders. Our last side character, Leighton, was that friend with secretary animosity and a master plan to ruin your life. Her crush on Levi fueled this distaste she had for Valerie, which in turn, flips the love triangle into a love square.
Overall, I thought this was a cute story. I got as far as chapter 7 before giving up completely. It’s fun to reread it, though! I could’ve easily finished this if I had the capacity back then. But oh well!
she’s not right
Last but not least, this is by far the worst one of my writing portfolio (aside from the fan fiction). I’m not even being dramatic. she’s not right is so bad that I hardly want to talk about it. But for the sake of context and blog content, I will.
This project was an awful attempt at being deep and ominous. Fellow Wattpad author, lofangs, inspired this book. Their books art, deny, and reverse did a number on me as a BTS fan (ARMY). It’s just a shame my take on the concept was… awful.
she’s not right is about Lexi, a college freshman with a crush on Kaleb, a sophomore. This isn’t your ordinary crush; it’s an all-consuming, obsessive crush that quickly drives Lexi to violence and a series of poor decisions. Kaleb, who is none the wiser, tries to form a friendship with Lexi. He fails in that regard time and time again because Lexi lacks basic social skills and is constantly in her head about everything.
This story barely had a plot. In all honesty, I was just writing based on vibes. The chapters were short and pointless, and I only got a few chapters in before realizing just how silly the idea was.
Closing
I had a lot of fun revisiting my writing portfolio, even though I disliked the majority of it. Of course, I’m appreciative of these works because they’re signs of growth, but I’m glad to have moved past them. It’s nice to look back and see how you’ve improved in certain areas, which just fuels my love and passion for writing. Soon, I hope to share a new WIP that I’m determined to see all the way through.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on my past projects and feel free to share your own plots and WIPs in the comments. Connecting is extremely important to me, and I look forward to growing an open community on this blog. As always, thanks for taking the time to read my blog, and I hope you stay tuned for the next one. Thank you!
