I have three particular authors that really inspired me as I wrote The Crimson Hunt and all my other NA works. I was fortunate enough to meet each one of them this year, and I wanted to share them and the work that drew me to them!
First Up:
Jennifer Echols
Jennifer's book, Love Story, was the very first New Adult book I ever read. I was at Barnes and Noble one day looking for a book about college students. This was the category I was trying to write and had never read not one novel about one. I couldn't find a thing, but then my eyes stopped on this book. Why I don't know, but when I picked up the book and read the blurb I had to buy it because...it was about a college student! I was seriously on the verge of happy tears.
I immediately read the book and loved it. It had fire, smexy, diversity, drama, and everything in between. She was writing exactly the age I was trying to write for! After I bought that book, I quickly the devoured the rest of her YA titles. I was so relieved to find her and was sad when I was done with her books.
In a frenzy, I emailed her asking for recommendations, which leads me to my next author...
Simone Elkeles
OMG, this woman!!! Jennifer Echols told me if I liked her books, I should read Simone Elkeles because she writes very similarly. So I picked up her Perfect Chemistry series and quickly devoured. It has epic street fights, awesome smexy, and even more drama! Though her titles are YA, I still felt her characters had the maturity and spunk of a twenty-something character. The themes were deep and the content was slamming.
Her awesomeness for me raised even higher when I got to meet her at a writer's conference. I gave her a ton of books I needed signed for a giveaway and told her I was a blogger who reviewed books. She thought it was cool that I was a blogger and asked me if I wanted a bunch of swag for my giveaway. I couldn't believe she was so nice and offered! We met up and she signed everything. I don't have enough good things to say about her :D
SC Stephens
When I first started writing, I knew I had to deal with the issue of sex. I knew I wanted sexual content in my novels, but really didn't have a suitable source to look to because I couldn't find any novels that wrote smexy scenes the way I wanted to write them for my NA novels. YA either didn't have any or didn't explain them in the way I felt was best for the twenty-something characters in my books. So, when I found SC Stephens book, Thoughtless, I thought: "Eureka! I finally found what I'm trying to do!" Not only did she write 20-something characters, but she wrote sensual scenes in a way that I felt was appropriate for what I was trying to write myself. Not too light and not too hot = perfect for me!!!
She is also a self-published NA author who just got picked up by a big six for her Thoughtless series. As a self-published NA author myself, there's nothing more inspiring than that!
Now, I ask you: what books or what authors inspire what you write? How have they helped you become the writer that you are today?
Thanks for reading my inspirations and I can't wait to see yours!!!
