James Dashner On the 5 Things You Need To Be A Successful Author or Writer

Be a voracious reader: Devouring hundreds or thousands of books is your most important education to prepare yourself to become an author. People often ask me what I studied in college.

As part of my interview series, I had the pleasure of interviewing James Dashner. James is the New York Times bestselling author of the The Maze Runner series, which was adapted into a trilogy of movies by 20th Century Fox. He has also written the Mortality Doctrine series, the 13th Reality series, the Jimmy Fincher Saga, and two books in The Infinity Ring series: A Mutiny in Time and The Iron Empire. Dashner was born and raised in Georgia but now lives and writes in the Rocky Mountains.

Can you share a story about what brought you to this particular career path?

I’ve wanted to be an author since I was a little kid. There are so many tiny little instances, constant throughout my childhood, that built this desire brick by brick. I can still remember the musty, stony smell of the library in my hometown, located on the top floor of the old courthouse. I can smell and feel the books from the summer, excitedly brought home for the reading program. I wrote short stories…