Posted: July 30, 2024
Coming up with this list was both easy and hard. There were a few I just knew would be on the list, but coming up with five was tricky, as most of the time I just read an author’s books without getting to know them too well. Other times, I learn more than I want to about an author—which is especially discouraging if I don’t like what I’ve found. What am I to do if I like the book but don’t like its creator? Can I still be a fan of that book? If I am, will I ever be able to look at it the same, or will I keep finding things in the book that reflect the author’s views? I’ve always had a difficult time separating creator and creation.
I try not to think about it too much, and I aim every day to take positive lessons from the books I read, instead of focusing on the bad. So, without further ado, here are the five authors that really stood out to me through my life—as a reader and as a writer.
I think every reader has one of these, but Rick Riordan (lovingly called “Uncle Rick” by his fans) was the author who really got me into reading when I was a child. I read Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief for the first time when I was seven years old, and it unlocked reading for me in a way that had never been done before. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I read and reread these books when I was in elementary school.
More than that, the more I got to know Uncle Rick as a person, the more I loved his works. He acts in the way that all authors of children’s book should act: a decent human being. He was doing something with his writing that I didn’t see from other writers at the time. While other writers of middle grade fiction were shying away from inclusion in their works, he started with it. The whole Percy Jackson series features children with learning differences—so they too could see representation and know in their hearts that they can be heroes. From there, he just expanded. Racial differences, cultural differences, gender and sexual orientation differences—in Uncle Rick’s eyes, we’re all equal and equally welcome. It’s inspiring, and I hope to inspire others with my writing the way he does and continues to do.
Like how Uncle Rick was the author that made me a reader, Paolini is the author that made me a writer. I’d been writing before then, of course, but it was when I discovered that Eragon had been written and published while he was still a teenager was what really turned my writing up a notch. I was determined to succeed the same way: to publish a book before I was twenty.
And I did. Looking back, I cringe at it—as all writers do as they evolve, I guess—but I did it. I wrote the middle-grade fantasy book Broken Compass in my Creative Writing class and self-published it: all while I was sixteen. Back then, I knew far less about the self-publishing world than I do now, and I wish I could’ve had a proper mentor to show me the ropes. I’m honestly surprised it sold as well as it did, but… Anyway, I continue moving forward with my writing, and my motivation is high, even if I’m no longer “the teenager who published a book.”
I only discovered Neil Gaiman in the past three years, and already he’s shot to the top of my favourite author list. I never read Coraline as a child, both because I saw a snippet of the movie (the scariest part right at the end) at Superstore as a child, and because I didn’t like that her name was so close to mine, since I hate when people get my name wrong, and they always compared my name to Coraline’s.
What really introduced me to his work was my friend Emma. It was almost completely by chance. She was one friend of mine who always gifted me books—a difficult gift for a reader, since they always either have the book already or the gift doesn’t fall into their interest range. Emma was amazing at this, though. She gave me Good Omens, among others, and I absolutely fell in love. It was a bit over my head at first, but it was amazing, and the TV show was even better.
Gaiman was a pioneer in writing fiction about people and their differences, about true romance and character development. His ideas were all so complex and mind-boggling—but in a way that made me want to figure it out rather than be discouraged by their complexity. While I’m not a fan of all of his books, I still draw a lot of value from his writing, and as a person he inspires me to grow and change for the better.
I only know Clare through her books, not so much about her as a person. Her writing is good, and very well suited to the audience she writes for, but I don’t know her very well. One thing I do admire about her, though, is her dedication. I admire the amount of research she puts into her writing, not only for flare, but for total immersion of the reader.
I pondered hard about the last person to put on my list, but I honestly haven’t read from such a diversity of authors—even more so from those I know beyond the pages of their stories. With much consideration, I decided to put the fanfiction community as a whole in this final spot, not only because it was a community I joined and which encouraged me to write more, but also because I could continue enjoying the books, characters, and worlds that I loved through the people that also loved it. Not every fanfiction is good—truthfully, most are expectedly amateurish—but once in a while you find a real gem. You find a story that perfectly portrays the characters that you love. A story that has a unique, fun, and engaging plot. A story that brings nothing to the author but the joy of writing it and sharing it with others.
It’s these authors that I strive to be more like. I strive to share my work without shame, without fear of those disparagers on the internet that you know you’ll get. Like them, I want to hone my craft just to give more to an audience who likes what I wrote.
5 Books That Inspire Me
5 Characters I Love
My Top 10 Favourite Plot Twists
My Top 10 Favourite Tropes
My Top 10 Least Favourite Tropes
Tigerpetal Press is a small book press dedicated to publishing local authors and poets.