“Everyone walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them.” –Orson Scott Card, author of Ender’s Game
Famed children’s author Jennifer Nielsen shared this powerful quote with Hillcrest fourth, fifth and sixth graders while she visited the school on Thursday, Oct. 8. She challenged the students to simply seek one good story idea each day, noting that this practice will one day pay off.
“Keep seeing the story ideas in your life. They’re there. Find one every single day,” she said. “If you do this, and if you keep writing, I would bet that there’d be at least one student here in this room who will become a famous writer.”
Nielsen writes young adult fiction, including the popular fantasy The Ascendance trilogy and her recent historic fiction novel, A Night Divided.
During her visit, she also encouraged students to dream, work hard and to never fear mistakes.
"She inspired me to go out and do more things that I might be too scared to do," said Olivia, a fourth grader.
Afterward, Nielsen autographed books and answer students’ questions about writing and character development.
"She's a really good author. She didn't just tell us how to make a book, but why she wanted to make books," add Michael, a fourth grader.