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Jun. 23rd, 2009 09:49 amToday 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.
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.
