Sharjah 24: “Daydreaming is an important component of my writing”, professed American author Claire Legrand to a full house of schoolchildren at an exclusive student’s session organised at the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF) 2022, running until May 22 in Expo Centre Sharjah.

Speaking to students, the well-known writer of the Empirium Trilogy and Sawkill Girls discussed the different aspects that charecterise her writing, which budding writers could employ to become successful. Honestly confessing to the pain of multiple rejections by book agents, Legrand advised the attending teens to realise that their “voice has value; that daydreaming is important”, urging them “never to give up and find the things that feel right”. 

Getting feedback is important, she told the aspiring writers in the audience, and encouraged them not to think about wasted time as all those experiences make up one’s voice. The New York Times best-selling author of 11 novels reminisced how she managed to publish her first work Furyborn in 2018, after 16 years of trying and failing 

“You don’t give up on things you love,” the fantasy fiction writer told her fans as she unrolled before the audience reams of rejection letters that preceded her writing journey. 

Regarding the power of daydreams, Legrand maintained that they help the brain to wander and cleanse itself while helping unlock problems one is struggling with. “If I hadn’t believed in the value of my voice and the power of my daydreams, imagination and creativity, I wouldn’t be able to see my characters in shops around the world,” she asserted.