Writer's as Readers

The end product of a writer may be completely original and witty, but it's hard to say that at least some part of every story is derived from another story. In this way, all writing is sort of linked together in this big chain of knowledge and passion and mystery and everything that makes a good story great. I am an advocate of reading everything you can get your hands on, I think it affects us in more ways than we realize; broadening our vocabulary and general understanding/learning abilities, sparking our imaginations, tugging at our souls and emotions, and tucking away ideas subconsciously for things we will write, or even do in the future.
The first books I remember reading were the Junie B. Jones series. This loud mouthed elementary aged girl has made many appearances in my writing throughout the years in subtle ways. I am a bit infatuated with the name Jamie, which is very similar to Junie, and is the name of the main character in the first book I ever wrote. Junie always speaks her mind, and as it turns out so do all of my characters. I try to implicate a lot of observance of the worlds around my characters, I put myself in their shoes so I can truly portray their feelings about things as simple as how the weather feels outside, or what shoes they are wearing that day. Despite how long ago it was, Junie B. still lives in me and that breathtaking childlike wonder and discoveries are things that I will never let go of, they will continue to live in my writing as well.
Some people may say they prefer to write instead of read, but reading is a key factor when it comes to writing. If you have not been published, it's good to study the structure of other writer's works, the do's and do not's of book writing. Notice what the public did and didn't enjoy about their work, not so that you can copy them, but expand off of them. Books are like mirrors all facing each other in a row, each reflecting off of each other in some way; they are all different and hold their own colors, but once upon a time each book was just a person staring at a blank page about to invent something based off of their own experiences, including things that they have read. Maybe one writer won't pick out something from the plot of another book to insert into their own, but there could be a word you have never heard before that fits somewhere perfectly in your story. I love reading for many reasons, but mostly for new vocabulary. It just makes me feel so intellectual.

I most likely am enthralled by new vocabulary because I drool over descriptive details, I like to be able to envision what I am reading, I want the story to leap off the page and for it to feel like it's actually happening to me, like I'm having a telepathic conversation with the book, like it's alive with a pulse and a rhythm. One book that really spoke to me in this way was Before I Fall. It was a 2011 Gateway book that made it to the top ten of it's year. It's about a rich, popular girl who cares little about anything else other than herself, but is taught a lesson when she dies in a horrific car accident, but wakes up the next day, and the next, and the next. She relives the same nightmare for a solid week until her eyes are opened to the reality that the world does not revolve around her. I get chills just thinking about it, I could not stop reading this I was addicted. I was not, however, happy with the ending in the least, but it was so suspenseful I couldn't wait to put all of the puzzle pieces together. Books that can keep you on the edge of your seat like that, that can take you on a journey with surprises around every bend, that make you feel as though you've known the main character all of your life, those are the kind of books that make literate distinguished and exciting. That's the kind of book that I am striving to write.
As I mentioned before, I did write a book, in the fifth or sixth grade actually. It was fairly short at only ten chapters and a little over 100 pages. It is titled The Voice of Jamie Stewart, and it follows Jamie through her second year of middle school as she struggles to find true friends, a passion for music and for God, and even an infatuation with a boy. I began writing a sequel, but it never quite came together. I would like to eventually go back to my middle school level of writing and edit it so that maybe it could live on a shelf in a bookstore someday. I would also really just like to start fresh and write a novel, if I ever had the time and dedication to sit down and put my whole self into this novel. At present, I am really into writing song lyrics and poetry, I can write a song within an hour or less and have it perfected to my liking in a day or two. My mind is all over the place, so when I write something, I want to finish it right then. I know that with a novel, this would not be the possible. It would take years, or in my case just one year depending on my patience. I typically will get an idea that I'm very attached to and begin writing, but I will get in a few chapters and then lose interest. I assume that when that award winning idea swims into my head I will never get bored of it. I am anxiously awaiting for that day when some light is shed on that perfect story that I am destined to write, but until then I cannot seem to finish anything. I suppose that is ok though, because how can anyone else stay interested in what I have written if I, the inspired writer, cannot? My book will be written in due time. Until then, my brainstorming process is restless and bottomless.