Funnily enough, I lose myself in writing and reading the most. I often get so caught up in the fantasy world that I have created or someone has created that I lose track of time. There have been several instances in my life where I was reading a book, usually on Saturdays, where I didn’t move from that spot for upwards of five to six hours because I was so engrossed in the narrative.
Much of the books that I get stuck in are young adult fantasy and sci-fi novels (go figure, am I right?). I remember reading Licanius Trilogy and the Mistborn Trilogy for at least three hours per reading session for each of the books. The Licanius Trilogy in particular was the most memorable because I sat down and read the first two books in one day. For reference, those books were both over one thousand pages long. I haven’t managed to recreate the feat yet, but I have been working on it. Jay Kristoff’s Empire of the Vampire series certainly had me hooked throughout my college career, so there’s another set for you if you’re trying to pick out my reading tastes.
As for writing, I tend to get into flow states when I can connect the dots between where I am in the story and where the ending leaves off. When I first started writing, I endeavored to write only on paper (Something that I have since forsaken; I still journal on paper though). When I was writing the first version of the Fallen Wings series, I was finishing the first book and wrote over one hundred pages straight, only taking a break to eat dinner. The effort took me six hours, but I had an ending in mind, and I knew exactly what steps I needed to take to get there. It wasn’t pretty. Nor was that draft particularly good, but it was an accomplishment, nonetheless.
The first version of Fallen Wings was the second story I had written since making concept ideas with my brother in childhood. It was riddled with plot holes and had an overpowered main character (something I blame on watching anime during a large portion of the writing process), but it was my creation. I have since then toned down some of my characters to make them have more vulnerabilities like Sabrina needing a certain amount of blood to use her new essence manipulation powers (which will be expanded upon in future chapters).
Throughout my undergraduate years, I’ve been learning to refine my writing capabilities, which has resulted in me learning to write more nonfiction and sprawling narrative threads that reconnect in the end of a story. Perhaps, I’d say that I’ve grown in the capacity of my ambitions as a writer. At first, I just wanted to become a published author, but I want to do more than that now. I want to pursue a flame that has ignited within my heart. Who knows? Maybe one day, you’ll see me write a story fully in German…
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