3 Things I Wish I’d Read Earlier

Inspiration can be everywhere: in music, in movies, in books… This month, we’re spotlighting inspiration in its many forms. Today, Tanya, nine-year Wrimo and author of White Noise, shares what stories she wishes she’d gotten to earlier:

I shouldn’t have avoided On Writing by Stephen King for as long as I did. The rest of his writing is hit-or-miss for me, but On Writing is a fantastic book that helped me figure out how writing worked as a process beyond the initial point of getting words on the page. It definitely helped shape my own writing process, and it would have been an enormous help if I’d gotten to it earlier.

Comics would have been great to get to earlier, too. Comics taught me more about narrative structure than most books did. On top of helping me get rid of my own stigma against indie works, they taught me a lot about tightening up a narrative, cutting out unnecessary elements, and pacing in general. Comics often appeal to very individual tastes, so I would recommend three:

The Sandman if you want something more literary, and like non-linear narratives,  Transmetropolitan if you are in the mood for something a bit more political and vulgar, Pretty Deadly for the way in integrates myth and stories into its universe.

On a more personal note, I wish I’d read Sword of Shannara at a younger age, because that ignited my love of genre fiction. It was also the book that made me immediately take up a pencil and paper to start writing my own story as soon as I put the book down.

Tanya Lisle is the author of White Noise and The Looking Glass Saga, as well as a nine-year veteran of NaNoWriMo (Username: sheakoshan). When she isn’t writing, she’s working on websites, marathoning some show that everyone has already seen, or looking up adorable pictures of bunnies.