My Inspirations as an Author

In today’s society, adolescents are seeking more opportunities to pursue their dreams. Whether it be becoming a professional athlete or a world-renowned artist, many teenagers choose to take the first steps towards accomplishing their goals. As an adolescent myself, I hope to continue writing stories for my readers to help others like me realize their dreams can become a reality. On February 2, 2021, I achieved my goal by publishing my first book on Amazon, called Weapons of an Empress. However, as much as I would love to share what the story is about, I hope to share what inspired me to write.

I always thought of myself as having a creative mind as I had an affinity for telling stories in my early years. A few years later, my school had a guest speaker named Alessia Dickson speak about her experience of publishing her book as a teenager. However, I only began writing in the following academic year after realizing I should take advantage of my imagination. Using my fascination with television shows I watched during that age range, I set out my storyline, which could compare to my attempt at putting myself in those television shows with my spin on each of the powers.

As I transitioned into high school, I had a problem with my self-esteem, often seeing myself as inferior to everyone. I hated my physical appearance, and my self-esteem became worse when I struggled in some of my classes during my second year of high school. Often, I felt there was nothing to keep me going. However, the only thing that kept me going was my writing. Eventually, writing became therapy for me, as I could express my emotions and struggles while making it into something that would shape the plot and the protagonist. Eventually, things became better, and I was proud I had something to help me persevere through those painful hardships. However, deep down, I knew many others were experiencing worse struggles, leading me to write my story to reach out to these individuals and motivate them to persevere through their tough times. I also wanted to convey my message that individuals should not allow their past failures to define the extent of their capabilities. Ultimately, I want to help my readers become comfortable in their skin, along with encouraging them to do what makes them happy.

Besides overcoming obstacles, I wanted my writing to embody equal representation as I find the media today contains characters from the Eurocentric community. As a woman of colour, I often found my culture under-represented in the various forms of media. I also knew that this was the case for many other cultures, leading me to create characters that shared similarities to the prominent ethnic groups in our world today. Likewise, as I want to share that people who look like me can also be in these stories, I wanted to add that exposing myself to different cultures also shaped the story. As music is one of my primary sources of inspiration, music by Spanish, Korean and other foreign artists helps me write from a different angle.

The last reason I pursued writing was to help express my frustrations and feelings. Although I have my family and friends to talk to, I found that expressing myself through my characters and the story helped me relieve my stress. Whether it be through their personality traits or their backstories, parts of my story embody a part of me I have a hard time sharing. Subsequently, through my journey as an author, I hope to be a role model for others to help them kindle their passions and to find something where they can express themselves when social interaction does not work. Throughout all of my work, I hope that my accomplishment will spark the creativity of all those who read my book and interact with me. With all the different opportunities, I believe it is never too late to take advantage of what the world offers to do something that will benefit you and your community. Conclusively, I hope through sharing my inspirations, it will motivate you to find or continue what you love doing, not to mention pursue a goal that will make you proud when you reflect on your achievements.

If you are interested in buying a copy of my book, click here.