Hey guys,
So, I have been getting a lot of questions lately, which is awesome :) I always love to talk about my craft (as you might have noticed lol), and sometimes it's good to go back to the very beginning. And, although I have written a few blog posts about the time I started out as an author, my journey (as every other author's I believe) started way before I put pen to paper. When one of you asked who inspired me to write, I thought I should share the answer with you all.
Knowing that you are an author and actually becoming one are two different steps for most of us. For me, the realisation that I wanted to create something that will survive long after I'm gone has always been lingering at the back of my mind, I think. I wasn't entirely sure what I could create though.
When I was a kid, I loved making flowers, trees, animals, jewellery and pictures from beads, so I assumed it would be something along those lines. But then I started reading, and I fell in love with the process. I wanted to be just like those famous authors who shared their thoughts with the whole wide world.
But alas, all that came to me back then were mostly poems. I was writing in my mother tongue then (Hungarian), and I was eight when I wrote my first short story about a dirty sock that was sad, because he couldn't find his pair. Silly, I know, but I was quite impressed with my creation.
Still, something was missing. I could feel it in my bones.
It took me a while to figure it out though. I always loved reading, and I was devouring page after page, book after book, but inspiration was yet to struck me. And then it happened, as suddenly as it possibly could.
At school, I started learning English, and I soon found out that I had a knack for the language. I loved it even more than my stories, and I made a decision to learn enough, so I can read in English. It took me 3 years and lots of practice, but by the time I was ten, I had a 400-page book in my hand. I read many before that were made easy for beginners. You might remember those ones that had a number on their spine, telling you how easy/difficult they would be, and they only contained a certain amount of words.
But the real thing was unedited, in the author's own words.
And you never forget your first. My one was Dracula by Bram Stoker. I was so proud of myself for being able to read it and have a deep understanding of even meanings between the lines, that I went on to read many more books by famous authors, including classics like Jane Eyre, Moby Dick, The Age of Innocence, The Rainbow, etc.
However, apart from Dracula, only a few had a major impact on my later life. Poe and Dahl, for example. I loved how intricate their plots were, and I soon wanted to become like them.
So, what was the missing piece, you ask?
It wasn't the lack of inspiration or lack of idea, no. It was that I was trying to write in the wrong language. As funny as it sounds, I was always more confident communicating in English than my mother tongue. I even started teaching it at some point, but that's another story for another day.
I guess the bottom line is that I came to the realisation that I only ever felt my true calling was when I expressed myself in English. So, that is how it all started, and the idea came when I was 16. Since then, I've written over 100 short stories and 4 full-length novels, with many more to come in the near future.
But I always say that I couldn't have done it without that one book.
Do you have a book that changed your life for ever? Let me know in the comments, or via email. Until next time,
Love,
Timea x