Millie Florence
For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be an author.
My earliest memory is of laying under the cover at night, whispering stories to myself long after my parents had told me to go to sleep. Before I could type, I would dictate my stories to my parents, who transcribed them for me. I read voraciously, told stories to anyone who would listen, and filled notebooks with my ideas. For Christmas one year I received a small battery-powered recorder, which I told stories into until I had filled up all its storage. When I was nine years old I decided I was going to publish a book. I had no idea what this meant, or when it would happen, but to me, it was the obvious next step. After all, the point of stories is to share them. After a lot of research and writing, I published my debut novel, Honey Butter, at the age of thirteen and I’ve continued to pursue this career ever since. My second book, Lydia Green of Mulberry Glen, was published in 2019 when I was fifteen years old, and my third novel, The Balter of Ashton Harper, is coming out in 2023 with Bandersnatch books. Along with writing, I also create videos on YouTube and teach workshops for young writers. You can find out more, and read my debut novel Honey Butter, for free, when you visit my website: millieflorence.com
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What is your #1 piece of writing advice?
I have a lot of advice for aspiring authors, and if you would like to go more in-depth, you should check out my YouTube channel. My main tip would be “quantity over quality”. When you’re just starting out, often you’ll outgrow your current project, skill-wise, before you have time to finish it. Write lots of short stories, poems, freewrites, and writing exercises. There’s nothing wrong with attempting that novel you’ve been dreaming of, but I noticed a major improvement in my own writing when I started incorporating more short writing “challenges” into my day-to-day routine, which helped me a lot with those longer projects. Tell a story in five words, write a page describing your garage using all five senses, create a poem where every line must begin with the letter C. Just like athletes have warm-up exercises to make their physical muscles stronger, as writers, we should give our creative muscles (our brain) some warm-ups too.
Maseeha Seedat
Maseeha Seedat is an 18-year-old author, born and raised in sunny South Africa before moving to the Middle East in 2011. She made her publishing debut in 2021 with Twenty Hills Publishing in the spooky anthology What Darkness Fear and continued working with the team for their next four anthologies over the course of a year. Aside from short stories, Maseeha released her first novel and dabbled in screenplay writing as the chief editor of a student medical podcast and the author of a high school play. Her writing ranges from the fun and whimsical to the dark and serious, most of the time settling somewhere in the middle. Right now, she's just trying to survive senior year and make it to the other side. When she's not writing, Maseeha can be found surrounded by her family and friends, dreaming about dragons and werewolves, or clawing her way toward a degree in physiotherapy.
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What is your #1 piece of writing advice?
Write what you love. If you love a project, you're going to be motivated and enjoy the whole experience :)
Moriah Chavis
Moriah is the author of Heart of the Sea, a YA fantasy coming late summer 2023, and a two-time graduate from the University of South Carolina. She holds a Bachelor’s in Liberal Arts and a Master’s in Library and Information Science. Now she works as an elementary school librarian, which is perfect since her favorite two activities are reading or writing. Moriah is also known for perusing bookstores attempting to persuade strangers to read her favorite books, oscillating between watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy (her husband’s favorite) or Harry Potter (hers), and keeping her books from the clutches of her two feisty cats.
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What is your #1 piece of writing advice?
Even if the story never sees the light of day, finish it. Every new story or idea you write and edit makes you a better writer.
Interested in being one of our Mentors in the future?
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