Warriors – I started reading the Warriors series when I was in third grade, and I’ve been reading it regularly ever since then. It’s funny, really, as an adult I can acknowledge that the Warriors books are of highly varying quality, and yet I still enjoy the series so greatly. I’ve easily read over sixty of these books, and I still check out the new ones when they’re released. I would say that this was the start of my writing journey, as the Warriors books, even at their worst, have this astounding effect on people that simply inspires them to create. The Warriors fanbase have created fully animated videos, playable video games, millions of words of fanfiction, songs, lengthy video essays, meticulously-maintained wikis, and so much more. The sheer quantity of Warriors books is nothing to sniff at either – there are easily over 80 books in the entire series, and many kids grew up reading all of them. This was the first time I had connected so strongly with a series, and it had a lasting effect on me that will surely influence all of my future writings.
Wings of Fire – Like Warriors, this is another series that I read as a child (I started at age thirteen, I think) that has followed me into adulthood. This was one of the first series I had read that had in-depth world building and actual rules for how the fantasy world worked. As I started reading the series when there were only three books out of the series published, I feel like I’ve followed this series through its growth as the world of dragons in the fictional continent of Pyrrhia fleshed out and became more real. I watched the stories build on each other, setting up future plot threads and connecting various pieces together to form a world that feels truly interactive. Like Warriors, this series has an inspirational effect on those who read it, leading fans to create their own stories in the world created by Sutherland in her series.
Heroes of Olympus – Though I read Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Riordan’s first series in his many tales of Greek mythology and Camp Half-Blood, it was the second series, Heroes of Olympus, that I connected to on a deeper level. What made this series stand out was that it was one of the first ones I read that made a noticeable effort to represent various minorities in the cast. More specifically, this was one of the first times I’d read about an openly LGBT character, and that had a pronounced effect on how I would perceive and create media for the future of my writing career. I believe in the importance of representation, and I’ve made it my goal to provide diverse and interesting LGBT fiction to fill the need for those kinds of stories. Though both Warriors and Wings of Fire would later go on to have LGBT characters, it took until further into their lifespans to do so. Heroes of Olympus is what paved the way for me, and I realized that maybe it was my ‘calling’ as an author to represent those who find their sexual, romantic, or gender identity fall outside of the perceived ‘norm’.
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe – Building on the above, Aristotle and Dante tells the story of two young boys coming into their LGBT identities through their friendship with one another. I read this story while I was coming to terms with my own identity, and this on top of the Heroes of Olympus really made me realize how important these stories were to me, and how important it would be to make sure there were more for others. It was crucial to my growing identity as a person and as an author to start considering who needed their stories told and how I could tell them.
The Great Gatsby – It feels kind of odd, to end here, but it seems like a good place. I could not stand this book, and frustrating hardly began to describe how I felt about how this was considered such a ‘classic’, while many novels that were infinitely more enjoyable were passed over time and time again. They say spite is the best motivator, and having to slog through this book was nothing if not spite-inducing. But, more constructively, I learned through reading this book that I couldn’t stand the dry monotony of what others call ‘literary fiction’, and much prefer genre fiction, even if it’s considered to be ‘lesser’ by literary scholars (or, more aptly put, ‘literary snobs’), it’s what I enjoy. I want to be brought on a journey with these characters, one with humanity, development, exploration, humor — not a boring shamble through the lives of people as interesting as cardboard. I’m not about to generalize all literary fiction as such, of course, but the fact that I’ve only managed to get through one out of my many attempts to read them really should say quite a bit. Stories in that category often feel as though they’re told through a ‘glass wall’ of sorts, like there’s always a distance between the reader and what’s occurring on the page. That’s not my style, I like to sink my teeth deep into a story and its characters, getting personal and messy. These stories just don’t provide that for me, and so I just can’t say I like them.
Inventory:
(Note: I’ve been reading the Warriors series since childhood, which is roughly 80 books, so I’m condensing that into one item on the list for everyone’s sanity. I’ll be doing other series separately though.)
Roughly in chronological order…
- The Reluctant Dragon – Kenneth Grahame
- Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat – Lynne Jonel
- Warriors – Erin Hunter
- The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
- Catching Fire – Suzanne Collins
- Mockingjay – Suzanne Collins
- The Fire Within – Chris d’Lacey
- Icefire – Chris d’Lacey
- Fire Star – Chris d’Lacey
- Dark Fire – Chris d’Lacey
- Wings of Fire: The Dragonet Prophecy – Tui T. Sutherland
- Wings of Fire: The Lost Heir – Tui T. Sutherland
- Wings of Fire: The Hidden Kingdom – Tui T. Sutherland
- Divergent – Veronica Roth
- Swamplandia! – Karen Russel
- Wings of Fire: The Dark Secret – Tui T. Sutherland
- Eragon – Christopher Paolini
- The Lightning Thief – Rick Riordan
- The Sea of Monsters – Rick Riordan
- The Titan’s Curse – Rick Riordan
- The Battle of the Labyrinth – Rick Riordan
- The Last Olympian – Rick Riordan
- Wings of Fire: The Brightest Night – Tui T. Sutherland
- The Lost Hero – Rick Riordan
- The Son of Neptune – Rick Riordan
- The Mark of Athena – Rick Riordan
- The House of Hades – Rick Riordan
- The Blood of Olympus – Rick Riordan
- Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe – Benjamin Alire Sáenz
- A Wrinkle in Time – Madeleine L’Engle
- Wings of Fire: Moon Rising – Tui T. Sutherland
- Wings of Fire: Winter Turning – Tui T. Sutherland
- Wings of Fire: Escaping Peril – Tui T. Sutherland
- Infinite in Between – Carolyn Mackler
- The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
- The Sword of Summer – Rick Riordan
- Wings of Fire: Talons of Power – Tui T. Sutherland
- Wings of Fire: Darkness of Dragons – Tui T. Sutherland
- The Hammer of Thor – Rick Riordan
- Wings of Fire: Darkstalker – Tui T. Sutherland
- Wings of Fire: The Lost Continent – Tui T. Sutherland
- Wings of Fire: The Hive Queen – Tui T. Sutherland
- A Danger to Herself and Others – Alyssa Sheinmel
- The Beast of Noor – Janet Lee Carey
- Wings of Fire: The Poison Jungle – Tui T. Sutherland
- The Thirteenth Tale – Diane Setterfield
I find that I often read books for entertainment, preferring stories with more whimsical and fantastical plots, though I do enjoy a dip into darker novels as well from time to time. I find this is why I often read books meant for younger teens, such as the Wings of Fire series and Rick Riordan’s work. I believe this makes my priority in reading Mimetic.
I often find that literary fiction or ‘classics’ are incredibly dull in my opinion. The only one I’ve really made it all the way through was The Great Gatsby, and I couldn’t stand it. It was an unpleasant experience, and I just didn’t enjoy it. Unsurprisingly, this isn’t the kind of fiction I enjoy writing, either.
I figure that my future as an author will probably have me writing for a young teen demographic, as those are the stories I enjoy the most and have influenced my writing so much. I may as well write what I’d like to read, after all.
Read the Room 