Colleen McMillan

On fanfiction. There's nothing wrong with thinking up and dreaming alternatives to famous books and stories . But that's where it should stop. As soon as you decide to write it down -- stop. Don't. Instead, turn that energy into dreaming of your own book, your own story. Want to change Harry Potter? Write a better fantasy. Capture the feeling you want, but create something else entirely. Why live in someone else's world and cage yourself to using their scraps, their plot holes? Be free, writers. Be free, readers. You can leap from world to world. Imagine new places and people. Become infatuated with your own imagination, instead of that of others. There are limitless books out there. Find them, read them, write them. Dream bigger, dream deeper. Maybe it won't be as fun at first, but eventually you'll realize that your mind has superseded the tiny worlds of the Malfoids or Star Wars what-ifs or whatever else is popular. You'll be making your own worlds. You'll be the master. Your magic system. Your characters. You'll be free to defeat the potholes, to create romances, adventures, horrors, deaths. You'll dine on steak and wonder how you ever ate happy meals. I know this because I started writing with the Eragon series in mind, but I refused to make a fanfic. Instead, I imagined my own world, carefully molding it. It was a terrible book, but it opened my eyes to new ideas, new places, new dreams. Use your fanfiction ideas as inspiration, but never as the foundation. Build your own foundation, my friends. Sprout wings and fly. The world of stories is endless. Why chain yourselves?

Laid a wreath and paid my respects at the Aberfan Cemetery, along with the Lord Lieutenant and two survivors, in remembrance of the victims of the disaster 60 years ago.