Maggie Stiefvater and thoughts about the life of a writer

Maggie Stiefvater is one of my favorite authors. For as long as I can remember, I've been that girl who always is reading something, so I've been read the works of many different authors. Maggie Stiefvater is definitely in my mental top 5 favorite authors.She's the author of Lament and Ballad (the first two installments in her Books of Faerie novels) Shiver, Linger, and Forever also known as the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy, the Scorpio Races, and the Raven Boys and the Dream Thieves, the first two books in her 4 book series, the Raven Cycle. Besides being a bestselling novelist, Maggie also has written short stories, sharpies guitars, owns a race car, plays the bagpipes and harp, and owns 2 goats with silky hair that faint when they're shocked. She's kind of amazing.

Maggie Stiefvater is plain awesome. She's really cool because she interacts with her readers so much via Facebook, Instagram, etc. Maggie is inspiring not just because she's a brilliant author with brilliant ideas, but because she doesn't just write. The general public get's the idea that if you write books for a living, you're obsessed with grammar and have an English degree and only read books. But great writers don't just read. Great writers live. Good writers have other hobbies besides reading and writing, they travel, have relationships, do crazy things, go out and eat expensive caviar because one of their characters is a Russian billionaire, they race cars and try to live an exciting life. It's important for writers not always be writing, they need to go out and experience the world as well. How can you write about life if you're not really living? Maggie Stiefvater in particular is one of those writers who just has a cool life. She inspires me, and other readers to try something new and do what you love. Even if doing what you love or trying something crazy doesn't make you any money, it gives you something to talk about. And when you can talk about something, you can write about something. And when you can write about something, you can use it in a story. As a writer, imagination can only get you so far. To properly portray the life through words, you need to experience the world as well.

Besides living an awesome life though, Maggie's books are quite original. In one of my previous posts, I talked about how many of the YA books you see on shelves today all have the same general plot line. As a reader, this obviously gets frustrating. But Maggie seems to have the coolest ideas for her stories. Her books are about everything from werewolves that transform because of the temperature (not the moon), dead Welsh kings buried in Virginia, homicidal fairies, and man-eating  horses.I wish that I could have more ideas like this honestly. Maggie Stiefvater advises aspiring writers to write the book they wish to see on the shelf, the book that only you can write. We live in a world where people are constantly trying to fit in and be normal, but when it comes to writing, it's okay to be weird. It's okay to be a little crazy because chances are, somebody out there is just as crazy as you are. Nobody wants to read a book that is just like every other book on the shelf. In order to be published, one has to write something that is truly original, so write the story only you can write. There's nobody like you, so why should there be another story like your story?

P.S. I highly recommend watching this video. Maggie Stiefvater pretty much talks about her own views on what I just wrote about: how it's important to multi-task as a writer. Plus, there's a Camaro. Which makes everything better I suppose.