Inspirational People and Stories
Introduction
Hello and welcome to another of my personal posts. Today, I thought it would be good to talk about some of the people and stories that inspired me to tell stories of my own. These are going to be books, authors, even games that originally gave me the drive to sit down and put pen to paper… or fingers to keyboard, as the case was later on. I’ve been writing since I was extremely young, honestly. I don’t remember exactly when I started writing stories, primarily about my classmates. However, I do remember that even from a young age I was checking out books about writing, publishing, editing… all things related to becoming an author. A few key players were definitely responsible for inspiring this.
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People
Family
Well, I've got to start off with family, two members in particular. Both my mother and my grandmother were very supportive of my writing from early on. They read through some of the absolute worst writing that I think has ever been created, cover to cover (of the composition books I used to write my stories back then). They gave constructive criticisms and encouraged me to keep going. So, family for sure. If I didn’t have an audience of one or two, in the beginning, I don’t know how much dedication I would have had toward continuing to learn how to tell stories.
Bruce Coville
There were a couple of authors whose stories--or even interactions--made me feel like I could tell stories of my own. The earliest one that I remember, though, is Bruce Coville. I read his books religiously when I was very young. Unicorn Chronicles, the Magic Shop books, Aliens Ate My Homework, My Teacher is an Alien… Seriously, I think I read every single one that I could get my hands on.
One day--and I don’t recall exactly how old I was, but I think probably about eleven or twelve--I actually emailed him. And he responded, eventually. And then we started emailing back and forth. I’m not sure exactly what I said, but I do remember that I once pleaded with him to come and visit my school because I’d heard authors did that. Not sure what he said to that because I was promptly grounded from using email because I had just told a random author where I go to school and what times I’m there.
I was very trusting.
Once I got my access to email back I apologized to him for not emailing (as if he probably wasn’t relieved to have a break from that kid who wouldn’t leave him alone) because I’d been grounded, and--I remember this word for word--he replied: “Goodness, what in heaven’s name did you do?!”.
I wish I remembered more of those conversations or still had the email threads. It’d make me cringe, but it would be sweet to see those interactions. Being able to talk to my favorite author when I was a kid and tell him that I loved his books, wanted to meet him and wanted to write books of my own absolutely served as a pivotal moment in my pursuit of storytelling.
So, Bruce Coville--or possibly Bruce Coville’s manager of some kind--thank you for responding to a kid who was probably annoying you.
Other Authors
The works of numerous authors have definitely contributed to inspiring me to write. Terry Pratchett is certainly among them, but there were others whose stories made me feel like I could potentially tell my own. I loved Terry Brooks and Feist, both of whom were the reasons I originally wanted to write high fantasy. Before them, I was inspired by the likes of Mary Pope Osborne, Garth Nix, and Beverly Cleary. Beverly in particular is someone whose contributions to literature have been incredible and I think her works should be go-to reading for children who are starting to read more advanced literature than what’s handed to them in kindergarten.
Stories
Stories inspire me in the same way that their authors can. I want to talk about a few in particular that really inspired me to tell my own stories. These are those tales that showed me just how flexible and beautiful the art of storytelling is and can be. I think that, especially when we're reading stories in the same genre at the same reading level for years and years, we have a tendency to feel like there are laws that must be followed when it comes to telling stories. There are molds you just don't break and story beats that you have to hit. These are stories that told me that storytelling can be so much more than what I initially thought it could be, in one medium or another.
Ender’s Game
I already talked about Ender’s Game briefly in my video about my favorite books. However, I want to go into a bit more detail on that here. Without spoiling the story, the reason that Ender’s Game was an inspiration to me is because of the way that it approaches war. The book does an amazing job of making the reader really think about how we view those we consider our opponents. Having my own perspective changed and shifted in this way was an important moment in my life. I thought that, if this book could shape my own views on matters of war and conflict, maybe someday I could write something that would give someone else a new perspective, too. It showed me how powerful stories can be.
I want to add on here, just as a note, that I know the author of Ender’s Game has said some bigoted things. All signs show that he still holds these beliefs, too, so I don’t think he has redeemed himself or cares to. I am strictly stating that I love the story and the book, not the author. While Ender’s Game is one of my favorite books, I would never put the author on a pedestal or top ten list. Particularly given the content of some of his other books, the author just isn’t someone to emulate in many regards. He’s a broken watch, to me. Read Ender’s Game and love it for what it is. I fully believe you can separate authors and their works. Authors don’t always believe everything that they write, either. Ender’s Game is a great book with an excellent message. I choose to see it for what it is.
If you want to experience the book without giving the author any or much money, there are ways to do so.
Inkheart
I’m talking about the book here, just so you know. The movie… no. The book Inkheart, and really the entire trilogy, is beautiful and magical. I love the idea of pulling entities from books and putting others into them. The amazing story and chaos that ensues from this is a lot of fun. Inkheart’s zany, “anything goes” approach to storytelling was a huge inspiration to me. This is another story that I’d recommend for younger readers--and older readers, truly. It’s a story everybody should experience at least once and it’s an easy read.
The Last of Us
Just like Ender’s Game, this is something that was on my list of favorites. The Last of Us specifically made me feel like I could tell stories through video games, which got me serious about figuring out how to develop one of my own. Telling stories through video games opens up an entirely different avenue of storytelling.
You, the consumer of the story, are in control of the protagonist (or protagonist). This has numerous possible uses. You can make consumers do things they wouldn’t normally do, causing them to feel that guilt and horror more than they ever would have otherwise. This is why I’m iffy about the Last of Us movie. We grow attached to Joel and Ellie and we empathize with them so well because we’re playing a game. We’re controlling them and interacting with them in small ways throughout the entire game, which builds a relationship between us and the characters that is challenging to do in a single movie. The movie might still be good, but I’m not confident it will elicit the same emotional response that the game did.
The Last of Us made me want to tell stories through video games because it made me see just how intensely you could make a player empathize with the characters in your story by having the story be told over the course of a video game. While my pursuit of video game development is currently on hold as I mentioned in my first video on this channel, this is still a medium I want to learn more about and pursue when the time is right.
Conclusion
These aren’t all of the stories and people who have inspired me, but they’re definitely prominent and at the forefront of my mind when I think about those tales and individuals from my past that got me where I am, now. In some ways, every story that I have read and enjoyed has inspired me. If I listed every single story and person, here, this would be a twenty-four-hour live stream at least. However, these have been some of the most crucial components that have kept me writing for more than twenty years.
Thanks very much for taking the time to check this out. I hope you enjoyed getting a little insight into some of the stories and people who inspired my younger self to crack down and write books. If you did enjoy this, please support me with a like, subscription, or just by commenting about some of the stories and people you’ve found inspiring or life-changing in some way. You can also follow me on social media, where I'm @TLBainter on most platforms! I'll have those links down below.
Thanks again for checking this out; until next time... bye!