Goodreads asked Micah Genest:

How do you get inspired to write?

Micah Genest How do I get inspired? I think about what I would like to read.

I often bite my tongue (before going on a rant of coarse) at the idea of how people often—too often—push away children’s stories/literature because of their ‘mature subject matter.’ It is as if children these days (oh in the old days we use too... ‘eat dirt? Grampa that’s gross’) have been turned into dust-balls of deathly combustable lint that will burst into flames at any moment, completely decimated if anything ‘questionable’ is read. Children are often no longer treated as a metamorphosis, but instead a chorus of do nots.

Children deserve to be treated like little people; they still aren’t adults, but they surely aren’t idiots (well unless under the age of two that is). One of the great benefits of literature is that children can use their imaginations to buffer out anything they cannot handle (and if they do go through imaginary difficulties, then literature can also help them cope through it and safley explore solutions).

How do I get inspired to write? I think about what I enjoy, as a child, as an adult (perhaps normal, perhaps not—I would hate to be ordinary). I read literature that treats children with dignity and responsibility. I explore tales of fairies and beasts, monsters and cheats, things that question the humanity in the child, questions we continue to ask ourselves.

But that’s just me.

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