My Top 5 Children’s/Young Adult Writers. Inspiration is the word tonight.

Heya guys 🙂 I’m back for blog number five (oh God, is it six actually, I lose count!) and today I’ll be talking about my favourite children’s/young adult writers. Why? Easy….. because without them, I wouldn’t have penned ‘The Black Rainbow Slayer.’

Now, I’m not saying they were round my house, having cups of tea and breaking biscuits while they cheered me on with my novel, (although, spending an afternoon like that would be amazing) I’m saying that I have enjoyed the work of these authors so much that all of them have become role models. It’s not enough to be a talented author in this business. They have taught me that having dreams is not naïve.

They have shown me that with passion, determination and a damn good novel you can reach for the stars and get there. Every day, I think about all these people in a sense because even though they’re really not hanging out drinking tea in my room and spurring me on with their voices, they encourage me – just – for being them.

1. Anthony Horowitz: The ‘Stormbreaker’ series inspired me to write when I was at school. I was reading these books constantly, usually when I was on the bus, waiting for the teacher to come into the classroom or sometimes even walking in the street lol and writing villains, well, he’s got one of the prizes for that. What dialogue. Does anyone remember, ‘Come in, Alex. Sit down. Have a biscuit and let me tell you how I’m going to kill you.’

2. Darren Shan: His vampire series inspired me to write when I was at school and I remember being so engrossed in the library that I never wanted break to end. Me and some friends actually pretended to be Darren, Steve and some Vampaneeze for a drama project! I was obsessed with Darren v Steven, still am, and I’m sure we even made a pretend stake at the time as well.

3. J.K. Rowling: Her ‘Harry Potter’ series has been such an inspiration for me during the writing of ‘The Black Rainbow Slayer.’ Anyone who knows me is aware I am obsessed with Harry Potter and it all began with one woman’s captivating idea of a boy with a lightning shaped scar. I was lucky enough to meet her two years ago on my last day working as a Tour Interactor at ‘The Harry Potter studios, London.’

4. Malcolm Rose: His ‘Traces’ series was always an inspiration, especially book one when the main character Luke was framed! Since reading them, I have been in contact with the author over email and he has been so kind about my book.

5. Lemony Snicket: His ‘Series of Unfortunate Events’ has been a real inspiration for me because I was reading this series in secondary school and beyond. The characters were so dark and yet there were comedic moments as well. I like to capture this in my own work.

Through reading their series, through immersing myself inside their words, I have collected something from them all: Motivation. Of course it’s essential for me to like the books in general, but for me, you have to be so much more than an amazing author to get in a top 5, you have to be an inspiring person. Every one of those people ticks these boxes, and you can tell this from their works as they spend an extensive time researching.

Anthony Horowitz goes on various trips and does all the things Alex gets up to in the books so he gets an authentic voice. (I half climbed a little tree for mine, hardly life changing lol) Malcolm Rose and Darren Shan visit schools and do talks, boosting children’s love for books. Lemony Snicket (well, he’s a mysterious one but his series was fantastic, so we’ll let him off) J.K. Rowling went to Scotland and found a little café called ‘The Elephant Cafe’ , also finding certain graves with now-familiar names, ‘Riddle’ and even on a trip to Kew Gardens saw a plant called ‘Hogwarts.’

I’m drying up here, so I’ll say goodbye in a minute but really? I just want to say thanks, guys. If any of you ever read this, thanks for making me inspired enough to be here seven years later with a novel that still has another two books to go after editing the first! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx