So a good friend had to interview someone for his class, and felt inspired to grace me with the honor. He then wrote an essay on it, and I thought it was so cool that I had to share it. Without further ado:
Reading is a favorite pastime of many because it allows one
to enter into a totally different world, leaving behind troublesome worries for
the adventures of others. What we read is the product of creative minds, minds
where these incredible stories originate. Imagine what it would be like to be a
writer – a jumble of ideas constantly floating around in your head to write
down. Imagine how it would be to see your favorite story play out right before
your eyes, like in a movie. Then press pause and step into the screen. For
young writer Jordan Bell, this is a reality. “It may sound strange, but I
actually have regular conversations with my characters. It helps me get in
their heads.” Though it would appear
that Miss Bell leads a rather ordinary life, what she dreams up is quite
incredible.
Jordan Bell’s work has been
consistently voted to the top of GoodReads.com’s creative writing section (a
social book-reviewing site receiving over 20 million visits monthly), currently
#1 under ‘Fiction’. “Diary of an Agent’s Sister”, Bell’s first novel and most
popular work, is a story of intense action and espionage chronicling the life
of young Sascha Dell who’s older brother is an important government spy. Sascha
is sent to a top-secret witness protection/training facility that teaches her
skills she needs to survive while being hidden from those who would do her harm
to get at her brother. Eventually, thanks to all the training she’s received,
she starts going out on her own missions. While transporting children of
high-profile individuals to safety, she encounters mobs of angry men who seem
more interested in herself than her cargo. The thrilling tale puts you in
Sascha’s shoes as she chronicles her daily life and uncovers the alarming past
that’s been hidden from her. While you’d think Bell got the idea for her story
from the latest Bond movie, she says it was actually the real-life events of
her brother’s job that inspired her.
Being a Border Patrol agent, Bell’s
brother had to go through intensive training at a special facility to learn the
skills enabling him to protect our borders from drug trafficking and violence. It all grew from an idle thought – “I was
thinking about how, technically, my own brother is an agent for Border Patrol, and
that I am an agent's sister. From that point on, I began to wonder what the
life of a secret agent's sister would be like, and my story was born.” What sets Bell apart as a writer rather than
the average reader? It’s her ability to take a simple idea from life around her
and expand it into something greater.
Those who know Jordan more
intimately have commented on the manner in which she often comes up with new
ideas. Her good friend, [name omitted] says “We’ll just be walking around the mall
and Jordan will notice something like, say, a bug flying around. Then she’ll
think – ‘it would be really creepy if that bug were ten times bigger. What if
all the bugs in the world were giants? What if the more we feared bugs, or
anything else for that matter, the bigger they got? I just got a new idea for
my story!’ And it will happen all the time, and next thing you know she’s
pulling out her notebook and jotting down her next story idea.”
I was startled reading the comments
of those who follow her writing online. Every entry is filled with die-hard
fans begging for more to read. [Name omitted] on Goodreads.com comments “I've been
locked in my room for the past day and a half doing nothing but reading
this...okay, a few other things, but definitely unwillingly. Soo good. You have
a serious talent, girl :D” But what really amazed me talking to Jordan Bell was
how normal she was. She wasn’t an eccentric, socially awkward person, how I’d
assumed such creative people would be. Rather, she seemed almost remarkably
average. Yet those who know her only through her writing adore her. For Bell,
writing just comes naturally. “I have always had a passion for reading,
and I guess I had so many stories in my head that a few new ones started
forming. What else was there to do except write them down?”
Our world would be much bleaker if
not for writers who bring color into our often dull lives. These creative
heroes are everywhere, looking for the next great story to be told. Next time
you walk down the street, just remember that you could be walking past the next
great Rowling or Tolkien. While a writer may look just like everyone else on
the outside, put a pen and paper into his or her hands and you’ll see the world
around you transformed into something amazing.
How cool is that? I feel so honored.
And yes, I posted a new chapter of
Diary: Year Two. I never intended to abandon our favorite agents, I promise. I simply got very, very stuck, and had a really long writer's block. So I spent my time on other stories until I could get over it. One day, I was sitting around and thought, "What if Alex did this...", and suddenly I had a plot again and knew how things were going to unfold. Now I'm having to literally pull myself away from writing so I don't fail my classes. I've caught the bug again, my friends. Look for another installment of
Diary of an Agent's Sister: Year Two this Monday!
