When the boys were in elementary school, I came across a newsletter for the parents of gifted children. It said something to the effect that people have the misconception that their children should read, read, read. It doesn’t matter what they read, so long as they read. The letter challenged that notion, saying there are millions of books available and a limited amount of time, so make sure your gifted children read the right books, not trash. It probably provided a list of appropriate books for various aged kids. In my opinion, children need to have positive experiences with books to enjoy reading. They need to experience all genres to determine their interests. Sure, let them concentrate on the classics in class, but outside reading of any material should be encouraged. Young readers should be able to choose their own books, even if two easies don’t make a hard. Reading for pleasure is part of the joy of reading at all.

When he was 11, one of my sons fell in love with Star Wars. He had never been an avid reader, and I was thrilled that he had found his Lad. The Star Wars books were written for adults, however, and they took him ages to read; therefore, I started to read them to him, and I became hooked on the stories! I found one of the books to be disappointing, though, and thought I could do better, so I wrote my first novel, Luke’s Legacy, at age 39. It was easy to write because many of the characters were already well defined in movies and books. I cheated by using someone else’s universe, but I created some engaging characters and a solid plot. I learned that writing was fun for me and based on comments from my few readers, that I could write! Of course, my story could never be sold, but it was published on a fan fiction website, which was encouraging.

The Star Wars franchise hired multiple authors to write books, including Michael A. Stackpole, who lives in Arizona. He was one of my favorite Star Wars authors, and I would definitely add him to my list of influencers. Because he participated in book fairs and conventions, I met him several times. I remember something he said. Stackpole mentioned that he avoids reading books in his genre because he doesn’t want to be influenced by other authors’ ideas or be accused of appropriating them. Maybe it’s a good thing I haven’t read zillions of books! Still, Stackpole’s books did influence me, but it wasn’t their subject matter that stuck. I especially admire his organization, use of strong verbs, and ability to make a passage flow without dialogue tags. I’ve tried to incorporate those strengths in my own work, The Adventures of Miss Becky McCoy.

Part 4 concludes this blog post. It will loosely summarize the content of the other three parts and answer the title question.

©2023 Sherrie J. Lyons