Words matter. These are the best Rae Carson Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
The message was always, ‘It’s good to be pretty, but don’t look like you’re trying to be pretty!’ Inherent in that is a lot of misogyny, I think, because the implication is, ‘You must work hard to achieve a feminine ideal for which society has nothing but contempt.’
I saw ‘Star Wars’ for the first time when I was four years old. Sure, I thought Princess Leia was awesome. But the character I identified with most was Luke Skywalker. I left the theater certain the Force was strong with me, that I could train to be a Jedi and wield a lightsaber just like Luke.
I worked at a job where 90 percent of my coworkers were Spanish-speaking, and some of them were only Spanish-speaking. My rule was if someone came into the office needing something – I worked in HR at the time – they had to bring a Spanish word to teach me. That was the deal.
It’s important to not marginalize any people group in fiction. A complete, authentic-feeling world should include many different elements of life and culture. For this reason, my books will almost always contain people of faith.
I was a teenage girl once. I was not an overweight teenage girl, but I had really bad acne when I was 11 or 12 years old. It was heart-rending, and people made fun of me. People whispered when I walked by in the hallways, and I was sure they were whispering about me. My adult perspective is maybe they weren’t.
I’d love to see more middle and high school teachers who are not teaching English develop classroom libraries. Our message to kids should be that reading is for everyone.
I’m an atheist and a humanist, so I have no desire to evangelize anyone.
‘Lord of the Rings’ was a childhood favorite, though the adult Rae wishes the women in those books had more significance and agency.
I must be honest here; I don’t think there’s such a thing as ‘unconventional’ when it comes to YA. YA readers are the most open-minded in the literary world. They’ll read anything.
I grew up in a cloistered, conservative culture that adhered to strict gender roles. So it’s easy to understand why the ‘girl dressed as a boy’ trope resonated so much. In a world that didn’t want to give people like me adventures or significance, books with cross-dressing girls were treasures.
I was a Social Science major in college, with an emphasis in secondary education. I took as many courses on the American colonial era and westward expansion as I could. This turned out to be wonderful preparation for writing fantasy novels.
Some of the most common pitfalls I see occur when authors don’t check their privilege. Billions are living in a personal apocalypse right this second, so a little research and empathy can go a long way toward developing a convincing world.
I decided a long time ago to be unfiltered and wholly myself in these areas of social media. I’ve been very happy with the results of this decision. I feel that I get lots of interaction and loyal support. So I’m grateful for my Twitter and Facebook followers every day.
I love George R.R. Martin’s ‘Game of Thrones’ series.
The common thread in all my projects is ‘girls being awesome.’ Can we make that a genre?
