Hello! I thought it might be fun to have four young writers join me to be interviewed! I asked them all the same questions, and their answers are awesome! This is part two of the interviews, and we have Amber and Maya’s answers! You can see Gracelynn and Gracie’s answers here!

My questions for Gracelynn, Amber, Maya, and Gracie were broken into four categories. Spiritual questions, writing questions, book questions, and random fun questions!

We’ll start with Amber, and then we’ll hear Maya’s answers!

• Spiritual Questions:

1. What Bible verse has been the most impactful for you? (Feel free to share why. If it’s uncomfortable/too personal, you don’t have to!)
2. Who in the Bible can you most relate to?
3. Have you ever experienced something you would consider a miracle? If so, what was it? ❤️

Amber:

1. My favorite verse is Jeremiah 29:11 because it reminds me that God has a plan… You’ll see how that ties in later 😉
2. I don’t really relate to anyone specific. Esther was always my favorite because of her courage.
3. I have two things in my life I consider miracles. 1. For some background, I’ve been the girl who wanted to be a mom and a wife since I was 12, and have always had trouble making friends. Two summers ago, when I was breaking down over the first of these, God spoke to me. I can only describe it as a thought I didn’t think. But it was as clear as day: “You don’t have him yet, because you need to learn to trust Me.” As a reminder of this, I have a silver Eveningstar necklace (LOTR), as a symbol that there is someone in my future worth waiting for, like Arwen waited for Aragorn. 2. The second miracle was this summer when I attended the camp iGovern. After years of feeling alone, of having only one friend I truly contacted with, I felt the weight of the love and community of this group. I literally broke down in tears with the relief of it all. I’m still in regular contact with many of them and they have grown me more in faith in five months than I have in three years.

• Writing Questions: 

1. Who has inspired you the most when it comes to writing?
2. What is your favorite piece of advice to remember when you write?
3. What is something (anything!) you’ve accomplished in your writing?

Amber:

1. This is so hard. Various people inspired me at different stages. First, my mom and grandma that sat through me reading allowed my first full fanfic. Later on, my prolific writing friend Drew who ranted with me and held competitions over who killed the most side characters in our manuscripts. Currently, my inspiration is Brandon Sanderson. His quality of world building blows me away and I love listening to his podcasts and lectures on writing.
2. My favorite piece of advice is to read good books! Read classics, and romance, and fantasy and nonfiction. Just read! As my seventh grade English teach told me, the more you read, the better you write.
3. Maybe it’s a small accomplishment but I finished a first draft after four years on the same project! I tend to rewrite… everything.

• Book Questions:

1. What are your top three books every teen should read?
2. What book character (and what book are they from) can you relate to the most? And why?
3. What are your top five authors every teen should read?

Amber:

Only three? You break my heart. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo is one I can never not recommend. It changed how I see romance and faith. Inej (though not Christian) shows deep faith and devotion even with life gives her reason to question.

Next is a Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. It’s a cautionary tale about vanity and idols. It’s also an eye opening look into the lives of people who don’t believe in God.

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson is wonderful. It has a classic fantasy feel with a wholesome romance. Over the story, the main character, Tress, overcomes her tendency to put everyone before herself and learns to ask for help.

And lastly, (I did try to narrow this to three but I can only get down to four,)Yumi and the Nightpainter, also by Brandon Sanderson. Not only is the story riveting, but each character represents two extremes of the same issue. Painter struggles with needing an audience to be motivated to do his best, and then choosing to slack off when there’s no one watching, while Yumi is continually giving everything she has to give, even when no one’s watching. Over the course of the novel, they both learn to find a more healthy place. It also touches wonderfully on the importance of good friends, and choosing to define odds, and seek happiness.

2: You broke my heart when you said “book” character. I do have a character that I relate to on so many levels, but unfortunately she’s from a video game. For a book character, it would be Tress. I too have a tendency to people-please, and her development inspires me. (As for the video game character, Furina from Genshin Impact, I would need a thousand word essay to put into words how deeply she moves me. So I’ll simply say that her battle with loneliness, it’s something I’ve experienced and it was profound to see it put into visuals.)

3: I don’t normally recommend authors. My reason is that I used to recommend Leigh Bardugo to everyone, then she wrote an adult series that was very disturbing.

There is one author, I do think everybody needs to read. Yeonmi Parks. Yeonmi escaped from North Korea in her early teens, and is now a Christian human rights activist. She has two books, In Order to Live in While Times Remains. The first book documents her life in North Korea, her escape through China, and how she came to Christianity. Her second book talks about her life in America, and the warning flags she sees in our country. Both are extremely profound, and eye-opening.

• Random Fun Questions:

1. Would you rather never listen to music again or never watch a movie again?
2. If you could meet any character from a book, who would it be? And why?
3. What are three brands (ex. Nike, Wild Fable, Amazon, etc.) that you buy from frequently?

Amber:

1. I would definitely rather never watch a movie. In general, I’m not the biggest fan of movies. I would rather watch a show and get to see better character development and a more fledged story.
2. Once again, my top pick would be Furina. 😭 But I will play by the rules, and say that I would love to meet Shade from Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. He seems like he would be the sweetest older brother to have, and when gives the best hugs.
3. I generally don’t buy by brand. I buy items based on quality. So this would be the kind of material it’s made out of, or whether the makeup has toxic chemicals (which most do). Ralph Lauren is my favorite clothing brand because it’s high quality, and very elegant. I love the body butter from Glimmer Goddess. I did have to check my shelves for this one, but my most bought from publisher is Tor.

I loved hearing your answers, Amber. Thank you so much for letting me interview you!

Now, we have Maya’s answers!

Spiritual Questions

Maya:

1. Honestly, I’m gonna have to say Psalm 23. I love that verse soooo much!
2. Ooh, this is a hard question! Although I don’t know if I relate to anyone specific… but I’ve always liked Esther.
3. Hmm… I don’t think so, but God works in so many wonderful and mysterious ways.

Writing Questions

Maya:

1. Probably S.D. Smith or J.R.R. Tolkien! I’ve always admired their books and, in the series I’m currently writing, part of it was inspired by the Lord of the Rings 
2. That it doesn’t have to be perfect. I remind myself of this a lot, because often I find myself trying to make every sentence perfect. But hey, it doesn’t have to be perfect! There’ll be time to edit later.
3. I’ve finished two books, one published, and the other soon to be released!

Book Questions

Maya:

1. The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale, the Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson, and the False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen.
2. Good question! For me, Janner from The Wingfeather Saga. Probably because I can relate to all the older sibling drama 
3. J.R.R. Tolkien, Jennifer A. Nielsen, Kara Swanson, S.D. Smith, L.M. Montgomery.

Fun Random Questions

Maya:

1. This is such a hard question! I’m gonna have to say never watch a movie again… I love movies, but I thrive on music (:
2. Janner Igiby! And for the same reason above—older siblings lol
3. Old Navy, andddd that’s really all I can think of, lol