Saturday Spotlight: Guest Post: Reading Inspirations by Curtis Jobling

I blame Star Wars.

The year was 1977, I was five years old and had just seen a movie that almost caused my tiny head to explode. My imagination has never been the same since then; wild, fantastic and ever so slightly silly. I recall the first time I bought a Fighting Fantasy (“choose your own adventure”) book, aged 10 – Warlock of Firetop Mountain. I cheated my way through it of course (who didn’t?) but it got me into reading in a very big way. From there I remember getting down to my local library and finding The Hobbit. Took me a whole summer holiday to read that bad boy, and even then I had to pay quite a few pennies in fines – but what a book!

The first BIG book I ever purchased was The Fellowship of the Ring, and that was when I hit high school. It took me ages to get through the first Rings novel but I’m thankful I stuck with it – Tolkien and Star Wars are the main inspirations that set me onto a path as an author. As much as I love film and television (I work in both fields as a creator and designer of animation) my first love is still reading. While writing Wereworld: Rise of the Wolf I’d often have a book on the go myself, although it can be hard to find the time to read when you’ve spent the whole day writing! Reading becomes a habit, and a splendid one at that. It can transport you to magical places, fantastic scenarios full of engaging characters.

The mind is a powerful thing – I’ve always found that regardless of what I see on the screen (large or small) nothing can compare to what I see in my own imagination. I used to run role-playing games throughout my teens and young twenties, my mates and I gathering round a table with a collection of pizza boxes and bottles of fizzy stuff. I would run the games, I would tell the story, I would explain what was happening. I LOVED the reaction I got from the players as they imagined what I described. I get the same kick as an author now, and can only hope that when YOU read a book you get that same thrill.

Imagination is a beautiful gift – don’t waste it!

Hope you dig Wereworld: Rise of the Wolf, in fact I hope it excites and scares the pants off you in equal measure – do follow the adventure on the official website http://www.wereworldbooks.com/ and keep up to speed over on the Jobling blog – badablingthing.blogspot.com!

Review Here

Enjoy the booky thing and Bada Bling!

Curtis

A huge thank you to Curtis and Puffin for the guest post - answering my question:

What was your reading inspiration?