A to Z April: "B" is for Books

Most of the writers I've spoken to had parents who read to them or were heavy readers themselves. I never had that. In fact, except for the Disney encyclopedia my mom bought me when I was five, I owned a total of 6 fiction books my entire childhood, right up until I was eighteen. In fact, other than school books, I don't believe I bought a book until I moved to Edmonton, just after graduating university.


My parents have low literacy skills. My mom dropped out of school when she was thirteen, as her income scrubbing floors was needed to pay the bills. My dad dropped out after grade nine because he could make decent money driving taxis and working construction.  The only books I ever saw read in my house were the bible and daily devotional books (read alongside the bible).


I don't remember when my love of books really caught on, but I believe it was around the time I was allowed to bike down to the local library. I have fond memories of spending the majority of my childhood summers and teen Saturday afternoons hanging out at the library.


However, they had the oddest collection of books. Many of the typical books SFF writers cite as their childhood favourites – Tolkien, Asimov, Heinlein – I never heard of until my late twenties. Sometimes, I feel defensive about that, because SFF folks are rather, err, passionate about their favourite authors.  I never got that attached to any one author as a kid. We never even had complete sets of series most of the time! Of course, that doesn't mean I wasn't well read, even if certain SF authors have publicly stated otherwise on their blogs/books.


In fact, I'd argue that being forced to read so many genres really helped me as an author. I got to see so many different kinds of worlds and possibilities, plus a variety of ways to "do" things. Also, I can write in a number of genres and subgenres and enjoy pushing my own literary envelop whenever possible. I don't know the proper way to write SF or the fantasy rules, since I have read too many other genres. I just know a good story. Personally, I like it better that way.


I always have new favourite authors or new favourite series. If I pick up your book one and enjoy it, I'll be loyal throughout the end. After all, I have two decades of book buying to catch up on!

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Published on April 01, 2011 23:05
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