Friday, May 6, 2016

My Writing Role Models

Hello everyone! Sorry for the crazy sporadic posting schedule--school is absolutely insane, I hope I can post more regularly more often. Summer is coming up, so that will probably be easier soon. Either way, I decided to share with you four of my author role models: authors who inspire me to keep doing what I love.

Neil Gaiman

I read Coraline for the first time when I was in elementary school, and I haven't been the same ever since. Now, I follow Mr. Gaiman on Twitter and Tumblr. His social media outreach is very admirable and something I'd like to work on as an author myself, and when he talks about writing I always feel validated, included, and motivated. His awesome book American Gods is also being made into a TV show with two of my favorite actors, Ricky Whittle and Emily Browning! He also has a freaking awesome wife, Amanda Palmer, who is an innovator in her own right.

J.K. Rowling

Now, what up and coming author hasn't been inspired by good ol' JK? Some of my earliest fanfictions, where I learned the ins and outs of writing creatively, were about Harry Potter, and I am still a Potterhead. Whenever I get worried about that whole "starving artist" thing and think I'm going to be poor forever, I think about how Rowling herself didn't have much when she was writing Harry Potter--you never know where your creative journey will take you, so you have to keep following the path.

Scott Westerfeld

Westerfeld has been one of my favorite authors for a very long time, and I've read many, many of his books. Something about the way he writes and his concepts never ceases to enrapture me in the world of the story, and I often wish I'd come up with his ideas myself! He executes them all to a T--I've never been disappointed, and I want people to feel the same way about my books someday.

Sara B. Elfgren

I read Ms. Elfgren's collaboration with Mats Strandberg, The Circle, a couple summers ago, and I've loved Ms. Elfgren ever since. Not only is she a great writer with lots of vision, she has an active Tumblr and follows me on it!!! I asked her her advice on a class project I was working on a year ago, and she was sweet enough to respond with fabulous insight on how to improve my writing skills. It's moments like that, thanks to social media, that I feel at home in the writing community, and know it's the place that I belong.

Well, I could go on and on, but there are a few people that inspire me. I want to give thanks for all the teachers in my life that inspire me to keep aspiring to my dreams. Comment down below who your writing role models (or motivators) are! See you next week!

Kekai