My Favorite Writer

Walter Dean Myers

As a Journalist, I tend to draw inspiration from many different authors and styles of writing. My first inspiration come from Walter Dean Myers, an author and poet whose stories are told through relatable characters, most of whom are African American. To date, he's written over 90 books, including picture books, poetry, fiction and nonfiction works. He wrote his first book as early as 1968 and his latest book was released in April of 2013.

When I was young, his writing spoke to me because his characters looked like me and there was much more substance to his stories than the typical urban literature. As I've grown older and looked more analytically at his work, I've admired how easily he can connect you to his characters and place you anywhere in history through his vivid descriptions. Some of my favorite works by him include: Monster, The Glory Field, Shooter, Autobiography of my Dead Brother, Sunrise Over Fallujah and Here In Harlem: Poems In Many Voices.

From reading many books by Myers, I have learned three main lessons about writing techniques that I have tried to include in my writing, especially feature style stories.

Connect Readers To The Characters
Myers has a way of bringing his readers to life through intriguing back stories that unfold throughout the entirety of the book and through expressive descriptions of their physical appearance and personalities. Not only does he give you a character to follow while reading his book but he gives you a character to love, empathize with, cry for, have sympathy for and even delight in their triumphs as if they were your own. This connection to the characters of any story - whether it is fiction or journalistic - is extremely important. When I write a feature story, my characters are the individuals I interiew but many times I am writing for an audience that has never met them. It is my goal to bring my sources to life on the page so that my readers can  relate and connect to them.

 Use History As A Tool 
Many of Myers books are classified as historical fiction. That basically means that the characters and maybe even the setting are made up but the time period and details about how life was lived are taken from some point in history. Myers has this way of being able to transport you to that time period; making you imagine that you are with the characters positioning your gun over a mound of dirt during the Vietnam War in Fallen Angels or that you are picking cotton alongside those who were taken as slaves from Africa in The Glory Field. Myers writing taught me that history is important no matter what style of writing you are doing, Researching the time period something happened  and conveying what you've learned to your readers can help them to understand the context much better.

Be Versatile 
Myers has authored picture books, novels, series, non-fiction books and poetry books. Through all of that, he has taught me how to be a versatile writer. Being able to write whimsically, informatively, humorously, and conversationally is beneficial to any kind of writer. For journalistic writers, especially those who write in feature style, their articles will be more interesting if they are able to be more creative in their writings and this starts by reading works by versatile authors.