(no subject)

[mistymassey]

Today is Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Day!

I've always liked imagining stories, from the time I was little. I was an only child until I was eleven, so I got used to entertaining myself. Oh, the complicated webs my Barbies wove! I would wander into the marshes and pretend that I could see the elves if I was quiet enough. I learned early that telling people I thought magic was real was a sure way to frighten parents and chase playmates away. I kept my stories a secret, and never really thought about writing them down. Writers were, after all, godlike beings who lived on mountaintops and created wonders for us to read. I was just ordinary, and maybe a little nuts. Who would want to read anything I wrote?

When I was in college, I'd been doodling with writing short stories, but again, hadn't tried to get them published. A friend read one and insisted I submit it to the school anthology, where it took an honorable mention award. Still, I didn't consider myself a writer. After graduation, I was working in a mall bookstore, where part of my job involved stripping books in the paperback section. One afternoon I was upstairs going through the books when I found a copy of The Anubis Gates. The back cover was intriguing, so I bought the book that afternoon. I stayed up all night reading it. For the first time, someone had written a book that spoke to my secret notions that there is magic underlying all the ordinary aspects of modern life. How had he known? Suddenly I wanted to write something that would make other people feel the way his book had made me feel. That was the moment I decided to be a writer. Thanks, Tim!

Help me celebrate this day, y'all. Post in comments or in your own journals (or both!) about your favorite science fiction or fantasy writer.

Comments

[kaeleigh-faire.livejournal.com]

Again, I find similaries between us. I too was an only child. (Two sisters and a brother came along much later but it's too complicated to explain. I never grew up with any of them.)

I remember making stories out of whatever location I was in. Due to a chaotic childhood, finding these magical places was my comfort and my lifeline to sanity. One of my favorite places was a large field, bordered by big leafy trees. In the middle was a small brook with stepping stones in it. This place was far behind my grandmother's house, and a place I wasn't allowed to go because it was too far. When I was able to sneak a visit, the fact that I knew I shouldn't be there made it all the more magical.

I had not thought of that place in years. Thank you for helping me to recall it through the "brain files."

[madkestrel.livejournal.com]

For a few years after college, we would spend a week each year at Holden Beach NC. The first year, I woke up early and went exploring. At some point I left the beach and wandered back into the brush off the dunes...and discovered a huge natural sand bowl. It was probably thirty feet deep, and utterly peaceful. One of those special places where you just knew the magic existed.