I guess you could say I had a pretty average childhood. Mom was barely ever home. Dad had been gone ever since I could write my name. People always said he was a good man and it was a shame; from what I could remember I guess I'd have to agree with them. I don't think I ever heard a word of him from John's or my Mom.

John and I have been friends for as long as I can recollect. Even if his Mom weren't my Dad's sister we probably still would have been as close as brothers… or cousins for that matter. I'm an only child, but John was practically my sibling. I mean, we grew up together. We both went to R.H.S. and both our moms were gone in the morning, so he'd walk to my place for breakfast, we'd walk to the bus stop, and when we came home around four he usually wouldn't leave till after dinner. In other words, my day consisted mainly of John.

We'd always eat breakfast fast and run to the bus stop, especially when it came to Mr. Pineapple and The Old Drunk Guy, or atleast that's what we called them. They lived across from each other in rickety old houses that were on our way to the stop. <There's more to this paragraph and to the story. If you think I should post the rest, just say so.>

That's all for now!

I think you should finish one thing at a time. Ten pages, even double spaced, is a good start. Don't waste the rhythm with the distractions of other story ideas; you'll never finish anything that way.
Instead, open a new doc. (if you use word) and write down a brief concept of the new idea each time, then save it, close it, and don't go looking at it until you're done with what you were doing in the first place.
Trust me on this. I received similar advice very early on, when all I was doing was putting out beginnings. A beginning is good, have to have it, but if it's all you have, then you will NEVER be a writer.
The first, and often hardest task, is to finish something. It scares us, as writers, because our muse whispers this interesting little idea into our brains, and instantly, our fever rises. But then comes the hard part: making it work. And we get nervous. We're so well aware of our shortcomings, that when we start plodding through that FIRST draft, we realize, "Hey, this isn't as good as I imagined it would be. This character isn't as interesting, or scary or funny, or brave. My plot is plodding. My details are confusing.",etc. But that's what first drafts are for: 'telling us what our story is about'-Bernard Malamud.
But you have to finish the dang thing. Once you've done that, no matter how bad you think it is, you can make it better, and once you've done that...you will have more confidence when it comes time to write the next, better piece; the one you submit and get published and get that interesting little contract form for, and then a few months later that really neat little check that the teller at your bank looks at skeptically...
But finish. First, and foremost, finish.
It's vital.

You really have to understand though, I'm not as old as you may think I am, and writing isn't my career. I began writing this story in late summer and then... Yes... School started. I've been so wrapped up in work and studies that the only real new story I've written was on new years eve when I wrote some of "Man" because it was just a fun idea.

I haven't committed myself to writing anymore of this story because I want to make it good. I don't want to end up forcing myself to write a page of it here and there when I have time because I know it will lack quality if I do.

I think the relationship between him and John will be more apparent as more of the story is read. In other words... That's only thirteen sentances and I wouldn't expect anyone to understand their relationship right away.

I wanted this to start out slightly vague. The narrator isn't going to explain everything at the moment.

And he does go on to talk more about Mr. Pineapple and The Old Drunk Guy. They are very important character in the story later on... But the reader doesn't know that.

Thanks for all the feedback.

Don't feel bad about still being in school. You have to start somewhere. And we all went through it at one point or another.

But..a page here and there gets it written, and re read what I said about first drafts. You can always edit them afterwards. In fact, you're expected to.

A few years ago I used to go on these message boards all the time. When did the 13 lines rule go into effect? Should I post more of the story later?

Just so you know, I wasn't going to post the entire story... I just think that thirteen lines is a little short. Oh well.

I do know what will happen at the end. I already know the plot of the story and have already in those first few sentances avoided saying things that would contradict the fact that the narrator knows whats going to happen. If that makes sense.

I made up the plot to this story backwards. Literally. I thought of an ending I wanted and asked myself how that happened and how the characters got there. Then worked backwards from there. Now that I had the plot worked out I could stop and write from the beginning. This working backwards allowed me to create a nice twist to the story.

I would greatly suggest working backwards like that. It allows the writer to add in little details at the beginning of the story that will be overlooked by the reader until the end of the story when they greatly affect the resolution.