Authors Every Aspiring Writer Should Follow on Twitter

Writing is hard. If you don’t think so, you’re not doing it right. You can love it, enjoy it, and have a great time writing but it’s still hard work. It’s easy to get discouraged, to have no idea where to start, to think you can’t do it, and to want to quit before you even sit down. That’s why I like to follow authors: they motivate me, inspire me, remind me everyone struggles, no one is a success over night. While no one can actually make you sit down and do the work, here’s a little help in the inspiration, motivation, and learning department.

 

Victoria Schwab is currently in grad school AND writing/editing three books—to add to her already long list of published books including Vicious and A Darker Shade of Magic. You’d think there couldn’t be enough time in a day for that amount of work, let alone for any kind of social interaction, but Victoria proves she must be a time fairy because she finds time to chirp on Twitter. You will be inspired by posts about her daily writing, editing, and reading—which she keeps track of using star stickers on a calendar. Her genius reward system to finishing projects (TV and yummy treats) will motivate you to find a system that works and her screenshots of her editing will remind you writing is hard work! 

 

 

Nova Ren Suma is the author of the much buzzed about The Walls Around Us. If you’ve even thought about being a writer, you’ve already heard the one piece of advice all writers seem to agree with: You must read! During May, Nova took on, and regularly discussed, her challenge to read one short story a day for the entire month reminding us all the importance of reading and that stories come in all sizes. 

 

 

Daniel José Older is the author of the Bone Street Rumba series and Shadowshaper, which was on the must-read lists before it was even released. His tweets are thought-provoking and eye-opening as he discusses women’s issues, and the lack of diversity in publishing.

 

 

Matt Haig is the author of The Radleys, The Humans and recently Reasons to Stay Alive. Along with posting about distractions when writing, he openly discusses his battle with depression, helping to remove some of the stigma associated with mental illness, and inspiring writers to know it can get better and to keep writing.

 

 

Shannon Hale is the author of enough books to fill an entire bookshelf including Austenland and The Princess in Black. She tweets about writing, her experiences, and more importantly the gender bias she encounters that still seems to teach boy’s books are for everyone but girl’s books are only for girls. 

 

 

Lauren Oliver is the author of Rooms and Vanishing Girls. Every month she posts a writing challenge on Tumblr, open to everyone, and publicly posts her favorite entries. Think you’d be a great writer if you could just come up with an idea? Here you go! 

 

 

Kody Keplinger is the author of The Duff, which she wrote while in high school—motivation to all young writers that age ain’t no thing. In between fun posts about television and books she also discusses her writing—even talks about stepping away from failed attempts—and gives great advice like a reminder to always research!

 

 

Saeed Jones is the author of Prelude to Bruise and perfect to follow at the moment for those writers who need to eliminate distractions in order to actually sit down and write: According to Saeed’s feed he’s on a social media hiatus while he writes his memoir. 

 

 

Susan Dennard is the author of the Something Strange & Deadly series. Sign up for her writing advice newsletter and you can get a free query letter worksheet. 

 

 

Roxane Gay is the author of Bad Feminist and An Untamed State. If you’re quick you can snag a book when she does giveaways. The last one was HUGE!

 

Courtney Summers is the author of This is Not a Test and All the Rage. Her Tumblr page not only has a writing advice section she also answers questions. 

 

Ksenia Anske is the author of Rosehead. If you need or want serious motivation Ksenia regularly posts her writing/editing/reading AND asks how yours is going. 

 

Ben H Winters is the author of The Last Policeman trilogy. Just in case you need more assurance that writing is hard, even for award winning authors. 

Who are your favorite authors to follow? And what have you learned from them?