Heya what inspired you to write a book and what was the first book you read and enjoyed? :)

Elena May Hey Jessica! Thanks for your question! Inspiration can come from anywhere, and I often find it in the places I visit, the people I meet, or simply observing the world around me and filling in the gaps in my mind--who was here a hundred years ago? What did they do? Who will come here in the future? For example, whenever I visit a historical castle, I'd think about the nobles who lived there centuries ago. I'd imagine the king sitting in that chair, or receiving visitors in that room, or working in that study, etc. I make up stories in my mind, and something the stories come together into something bigger, while more often they are just random and go nowhere. I also draw lots of inspiration from mythology and history, which is more apparent in my second book.

The first book I read and enjoyed? Wow, that's a tough one! As a kid I was reading a book after a book, so much that at one point my parents had to forbid me to read fiction outside of school holidays, so I wouldn't read too much and ignore my studies. I think the first book that really made an impression on me was The Children of Captain Grant by Jules Verne. I must have been 5 or 6 when I read it because I clearly remember something weird. There was a scene where the adventurers arrive at a strange place and meet child soldiers, and the narrator remarks, horrified, that the youngest ones are "barely seven." I remember being surprised and thinking "What does that mean? Barely? Seven is a perfectly grown up person." :D:D Honestly, I don't remember much of the book apart from disjointed scenes, but I still remember the way it made it feel. I was rushing to get to the last page, and at the same time I was terrified to get to the end. When I finished, I stood for a while just holding the book in my hands and thinking how I'd never read anything as good again. Thankfully, I was wrong and I've found many special and life-changing books since!

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