One day, in 2018, when I was 12 years old, I went to Walmart and saw a book on the shelf called The Darkest Minds. Because the movie adaption had come out relatively recently at the time, there were copies everywhere. It seemed interesting and it was summertime, therefore I was bored and needed a book to read.
Quick summary of the novel in my own words: A YA novel set in a dystopian America where children have been infected with a disease in which 95% of them die, but the remaining 5% gain superpowers. These kids are called ‘PSI’ kids and are categorized into 5 different colors based on their ability: Orange, Red, Yellow, Blue, and Green. The protagonist, Ruby, is categorized as Orange, the most dangerous. In a camp where they claim she will be ‘rehabilitated’, she pretends to be a Green (the safest one). But when her secret is threatened, she must escape and, with the help of new friends, find a safe haven for PSI kids just like them.
I fell in love within five minutes of opening the book.
The thing that captivated my interest in the book was what I perceived at the time as ‘realism’. Unlike all of the books I had read before (aka children’s books), bad things were happening. The setting expanded throughout the whole country. The chapters were long. And, as someone who was always obsessed with assigning meaning to colors because she could, you can bet everything I was *ecstatic* to find a story that did the same thing. And they had superpowers!?!? And there were mysteries!? And they were hard to solve!?
Now, assuming you’ve read YA novels before, I’m sure that the inclusion of a plot twist isn’t groundbreaking to you. Or a dystopian society. Or superpowers. But to a 12-year-old (who was probably too young to be reading a YA novel), this was the ‘seriousness’ I craved in books. Plus, it made me feel like a big girl because I was reading a chapter book!
The author of The Darkest Minds is Alexandra Bracken (pictured below). She has written many popular novels: the Passenger series, The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding series, Lore, and her most recent series, Silver in the Bone. She has her own website as well. My favorite features on there are the playlists she has for all of her books and her book trailers (all of which can be found under the ‘Extras’ header). Oh, and a really cool logo. You can also sign up for her newsletter (which I have) to get updates on her new books. Although I haven’t had the time to read most of her books, I still like to know what types of books she’s working on.
It is because of Alexandra Bracken that I learned the capabilities of books and that they could talk about nuanced things. Yet I wouldn’t consider her the person that made me want to write.
After I was done reading the series, I felt very…lost. What was I to do with all these thoughts in my head about a completed fictional story? I remember the day after, waking up and wanting so desperately to read more of the series but there was nothing else to read. I wanted to keep thinking about it and making theories for what could happen next, but there were no thoughts to be had. And the thoughts I did have had no outlet.
So, I went to Google and searched up the book series to find more content. I discovered the amazing world of Pinterest, where I could find photos and fanart of the book series I loved. I also decided to look on YouTube, and that’s when I found this:
The video above was posted by Christine Riccio, also known online as polandbananasBOOKS. And if I had to pick one person who made me want to write a book, I would say it was her.
After watching her video over TDM, I began to look through the rest of her channel and was stunned to find a YouTube channel that was about books. I’d never seen that before. And I could not only see her reaction to the series, but I could see hundreds of comments about the books I was reading. I could see theories, what stood out to people, what didn’t stand out to people, etc.
And that was when I realized: I wanted people to talk about my books that way too.
I also credit Christine Riccio for how I try to write as she’s not only a youtuber, but also an author. She has written Attached at the Hip, Better Together, and Again, But Better and she posts update videos on her channel. In fact, she has a playlist called THE BOOK WRITING CHRONICLES in which she talks about how her goal is to write 500 words a day. Because of that, I try to do the same things.
As time has gone by, I have realized that YA novels may not be a good fit for my writing style, so I cannot guarantee that this dream will be fully achieved. However, as I’ve spent time learning about myself and figuring out why I love to write, I’ve realized that perhaps I don’t really want a ‘fandom’ behind my books (although it’d still be really cool) or maybe I don’t even want to write books at all. Maybe I want to write blogs like this or something else. But in no shape or form does that mean that Christine Riccio is not the reason I want to become an author. The passion that she and the people in her comments have will always remind that my book-loving nerdy self has a place somewhere, and that if my future is just sitting in front of a computer and type-type-typing away, I’ll be making someone happy. Sorry to get cringy, but it’s true.
And, of course, I can never forget about Alexandra Bracken brought me on to this journey by introducing me to the complexity of YA novels and fantastic plot twists. Even now, The Darkest Minds holds a special place in my heart and continues to inspire me to create.