Drizzt, Tas, Flint, Silk, Barak...so many characters over the years that are like family to me now. Books that I pick up over and over again to dive happily into their world one more time. What a gift that is. That's what I want to accomplish as an author.

There's two things he taught me, directly and indirectly. One, to treat every reader with respect, as an individual.

And two, to create characters that stick with a reader long after they put the book down. Characters that get into your head, your heart.

It's amazing what an impact an author can have on their readers, both through their writing and through interactions like that. Even though he probably wrote thousands of those letters, it touched me deeply.

And you know what else? He was totally right, decades later I'm a MUCH better writer. 😆

Teenage me basically said, I can write just fine at this age, thank you very much! 😆 (I was writing fantasy stories by 5th or 6th grade). He wrote me back, and I was shocked. It was a kind, thoughtful letter, more than I deserved I'm sure. Still one of my prized possessions.

I wrote to R. A. Salvatore as a teenager, after reading an interview with him in Dragon magazine. He had said something about the best writers being ones with life experience, and this ticked young me off 😆. So I wrote him a letter probably with a bit of attitude in it, even though I adored him!

How fun! Here's my list:

Tolkien
RA Salvatore
Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Stephen King
Connie Willis
Raymond E. Feist
CS Lewis
Dean Koontz
David Eddings
Terry Goodkind
Anne Rice
Robert Jordan

That is completely my style as well!

One of my all-time faves! (and my introduction to fantasy as well, in 5th or 6th grade).

Interesting question, and I enjoyed reading the answers, as an inexperienced writer. I'd be a terrible one to ask, I just completed my first novel that I started 30+ years ago 😆. But that being said, I can't imagine completing more than one or two books a year even working on it full-time.

Thank you so much!! I appreciate you taking the time to read my story 😊

I wish I could like this comment a thousand times!!! 😊

You named four of my favorite fantasy worlds, and I adore those characters!

I remember reading your story, and loving it! So cool to come across this post. 😊

I started my novel roughly 30 years ago, putting it aside for ages. Recently I finally finished the story, and have begun this week to submit it to publishers.

I've also published one short story so far, on Orion's Beau, here: www.orionsbeau.com/fantasy-quar...

Check it out! 😊

Greetings! I've created this account to be my official writer/author page. I love the arts community on Bluesky, and feel this is the place to announce writing projects, collaborate, support other authors, etc. I'm excited to get started!