Books that Shaped my Writing

For the month of May, I planned a reading challenge of completing five books that have been on my “to be read” pile for months. As I picked the five books, I thought back to the ones that inspired me, from awakening my love for reading to pushing me to write my own stories. Each book, and the series they belong to, have their own lasting effect on me.

Through elementary school, I took part in a reading challenge that was optional for students. Almost every book in our library had a quiz attached that could be taken for points. By the end of the school year, the students who received the most points were given a small prize. I partook in this program for three years, mostly because I loved reading and it allowed me an excuse to read more books.

As a child, one of the first chapter books I touched was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. When my mother didn’t work nights, she would sit by my bed as I read a chapter to her. She’d help me sound out difficult words while telling me the definition to ones I didn’t know. By the time I reached Prisoner of Azkaban, I would venture ahead, then excitedly read to my mother at night. I vividly remember reading the end of Goblet of Fire, unable to hold back my excitement over what happened. I rushed to my mom after I originally finished it, asking if we could read it together, late into the night, so she could learn what happened to Harry. After that, I began reading at my own pace and wound up reading several books at once because I couldn’t get enough of books. I still remember crying throughout Deathly Hallows, refusing to leave my room as I wanted to see what happened next, how it would end.

When I was nine or ten, I discovered a new series by the name of Warrior Cats. My first pet was a longhair tabby cat named Boots and when I found a book about cats living in the wild, I used my allowance for the book. The long wait between books was terrible, feeling longer than it actually was as a kid, but I devoured each new book whenever I received one. I spent a lot of time both reading and writing Warrior Cats fanfiction, and it honestly helped me learn how to finish a story. The first novel I ever completed writing was a fanfic around ThunderClan. I recently looked back at it and couldn’t believe I was the one who wrote it. Some of the writing was meh, but I was impressed by some of the plot points I created and the pacing I had. I’ve wanted to get back into writing fanfiction but also can’t remember much about this series to do so. Throughout my childhood and early teens, I ended up collecting four complete series, several super editions, about half of the manga books, and the field guides, resulting in 60+ books. It’s mostly nostalgia, but I still have all of them on a bookshelf since I can’t bear to part with them.

In High School, I came across a series named Hex Hall and I honestly picked it up because of the cover and after reading the blurb, bought it. It’s about a young witch, Sophie Mercer, struggling to fit into a magical boarding school after stuff goes wrong. Sophie and her vampire roommate Jenna, were outcasts and I related to them, plus how awkward Sophie is. I loved the magic system, fantasy elements, and romance throughout. Had I found it later in life, I’m not sure if I would’ve related to the characters as well as I did. I still read through it every few years and it holds a fond place in my heart, though I finally got the side story and will be reading it this May for my reading challenge. I’m excited to visit the Hex Hall universe again.

My earliest memory of story writing is from the first grade. We created picture books to whatever short story we wanted. The most memorable one I wrote was about Boots, who got into a fight with a neighbor cat. I created a story about their fight along with a crudely drawn cat, a few specks of red on his nose where he was actually scratched. I wrote short stories through elementary school, often only having my mom or extended family read them.

In middle school, I exchanged short stories with my best friend. We would mail the stories to each other, or even type them up quickly whenever we had sleepovers. While they’re awkward to read now, I’m thankful for the time I spent working on these as it showed me what does and doesn’t work and how much my writing had grown.

The books that had the biggest impact on my desire to create my own novels are Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment, The Hunger Games, House of Night series, and to a small extent, Twilight. A high school friend of mine introduced me to vampire books, starting with Twilight and House of Night. Since then, I’ve been a huge fan of paranormal creatures, eventually leading me to write my own series about them. Though the first original story I tried to write was about magical girls, the first one I completed was about a werewolf, vampire, and a shifter dealing with their creature urges while going through high school. I wrote a chapter or two, handing them to my friends. They gave me feedback through my freshman year, all the way to the last chapter. From their feedback, my original novel morphed, my vision changing on the characters and plot.

The boost from my friends pushed me to write more. I noted all my ideas down, creating notebooks, computer files, and scattered papers with plots, characters, and scenes. Eventually, I finished a novel that has been polished to the point of querying agents. I believe encouragement is the biggest thing artists, no matter what the medium, will benefit from. It’s helped me through my journey and I try to encourage others who are artistic and expressive.

As always, have a good day and happy writing!