Writing is a big part of my life and my greatest passion. I did not develop this passion alone though. All my life I have been reading and it was the words from those who I have read that inspired me to write myself. It is hard for me to pick out which authors are my favorites or which ones I try to emulate the most when I write but one thing I am certain of are the five who have had the greatest impact on not just my writing but my whole life.
1. Rick Riordan
I do not think that there is a bigger Rick Riordan fan in the world than me. Usually when I bring up Riordan people treat him as just another one of the many cookie cutter young adult fiction writers. In my opinion though Rick Riordan has always brought new ideas to the table in a genre that has been done to death. His series are typically focused on the idea of blending ancient mythology in with modern teenage life. I first encountered his works when I read "The Lightning Thief" and since then I have read all of his series, from the Kane Chronicles to the Trials of Apollo. The two things that I like the most about his novels are the mythological themes (anyone who knows me knows I am a huge history buff and especially obsess over ancient religions) and how he allows his stories to be humorous instead of dramatic and tense like most young adult stories these days.
2. Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman is my personal hero in life. He set out in life with one goal: to be America's greatest poet. That was all that he really wanted, and he spent his whole life chasing after that dream. Along the way he watched as America changed during the late 1800's, and he became politically active. He was a staunch abolitionist and saw slavery as something that was holding back the country from becoming something greater. During the Civil War he even served as a nurse for the Union. He worked as a teacher, a journalist during the war, various jobs in the government and several other short lived careers all the while writing. He published relatively little in his life despite his constant writing. This is because he spent his whole time creating his magnum opus, an epic of America that he called "Leaves of Grass." I frequently read over Whitman's work for inspiration in my own poetry and in life itself.
3. Elie Wiesel
Time to take a dark turn. When I was in middle school I ended up picking a book for a school project that would change how I saw life. The little book that I honestly had not expected to get much out of was entitled "Night" and by a man named Elie Wiesel. What I found in its pages was the grim and terrible world of the Nazi concentration camp has told firsthand through accounts from Elie who lived through the Holocaust. Never have I been as shaken as I was by his words. I would go on to read "Night" four more times and use it in several other projects, and it is one of the few books that I think everyone, and I mean everyone, should read.
4. Daniel Handler
I am going to be honest. Until just a few minutes ago when I did a quick google search to verify my sources I had no idea who Daniel Handler was. The reason for this is that I have always known him by his alias, Lemony Snicket. I can best describe my life from fifth grade to 10th as being the sad story of a boy who sat in the back of the room reading books whose titles would make any passersby cringe. As the boy read the awful and overly descriptive pages he could not help but feel that he too was going through "A Series of Unfortunate Events." Those books were my religion, and I have the complete collection of the series in a drawer by my bed in case I ever need a quick dose of sadness and vocabulary lessons from Mr. Snicket.
5. J. K. Rowling
Who doesn't love "Harry Potter?" Who also doesn't love woman writers who were brave enough to hide their identities so that teenage boys would be utterly surprised when they realized the world of wizardry they had walked through came from her mind? Or a woman who has given so much of her wealth from the series to charity that she technically is not considered a millionaire despite all of her earnings? Only a deatheater could not love that.
