G. A. Chartier

No. Moma read to me multiple times a day, using her finger to follow the words, and that's how I learned to read. I remember the first story my mom ever knew I was reading, though: I'd gotten a Rainbow Brite doll (kids of the 80s, unite!) and they came with a little story booklet. So I started reading it out loud, my mom in the other room, and she rushed in to ask where I was getting the story. I was all nonchalantly like, "it's right here," and she was all, "zomg you can read," and I was all like, "yeah, duh, I've always been able to read."

Point being, we often learn how to write through osmosis by reading. A lot. Reading was always my favorite thing to do until I started seriously writing my own stories, because now, unless I'm learning something from the book, it's very hard to not put it down and get back to writing.

The book that made me want to write, I do remember, however. It was assigned to me and the two other kids in first grade who could read: A Wrinkle in Time. That was it for me. That was what I wanted to do. Thank you, Madeleine L'Engle.

As soon as I could form words from letters. I don't mean it flippantly; as soon as I had letters in my toolbox, I was recording stories that came to mind, trying my tiny hands at poetry, probably one of the youngest She-Ra fan-fictionists of my time.