Victoria Schwab, a Thirteen New York Times Best Selling Author, visits Taft to speak to students about her books and encourage them to read overall.

Victoria, or V.E, Schwab is currently thirty-one years old and has already accomplished writing so many books in her life and explores new ideas for more. She shared great advice to aspiring writers and students. By sharing her story, she not only connected with students but inspired them to be true to themselves whenever doing any piece of work. Though her work schedule is always uncertain and busy due to her current seven-country tour, she finds time to write in between flights and when she’s not running to another meetup. Schwab has already accomplished writing so many books in her life and explores new ideas for more. The following are all her most known books and book series.

• The Near Witch (2011)

• The Archived Series

-The Archived (2013)

-The Unbound (2014)

-Leave the Window Open (2015)

• Villain Series

-Warm Up (2013)

-Vicious (2013)

-Vengeful (2018)

• Shades of Magic Series

-A Darker Shade of Magic (2015)

-A Gathering of Shadows (2016)

-A Conjuring of Light (2017)

Recently she had visited Taft High School and students learned more about the author herself and what it takes to become one. Indeed she has accomplished writing many great books as a young author, but who is Victoria Schwab?

From an early childhood, Victoria Schwab felt she wasn’t the book type but rather carried many sports in her hobbies. The best memory she recalls that got her into reading was the time when her aunt got her a newly published Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s  Stone book, signed by J.K. Rowling herself. Schwab says she is thankful she grew up the same time as the Harry Potter Series did. She felt that the Harry Potter books were what enchanted her into the world of reading and the emotions she felt through it.

“When you’re reading this really great book, this phenomenal thing happens where you forget that you’re reading. The page disappears, you stop looking at words, and you start having a movie in your head.”

At an early age, she began experimenting with poetry and now looking back on it she laughs at how cringey it was. Then in her teens she denied getting creative because she thought she only needed one profession and could only do that. But she discovered Neil Gaiman. He chose all creative career paths rather than just one, and he inspired her to create stories and to be able to tell them in many forms: a book, a comic, a song, a movie, etc.

“J.K Rowling made me a reader. Neil Gaiman made me a writer.”

When she reached college, she had created stories in many forms except a book, only because she felt scared of failing. From her experience, when she feels scared she likes to tackle on the fear by doing just what exactly makes her scared. When she was afraid of heights, she went skydiving for her 18th birthday. When she was afraid of change, she cut her hair in a pixie cut. So as she was afraid of writing a book and failing, she sat down and actually wrote one. Within three months she had finished and knew exactly that  it wasn’t the best. Keeping that in mind, Schwab was proud that she made a first attempt, before she could have a second and third. The book had no plot, no rhythm, no beat, but still felt proud and got her first literary agent, to sell the book. It didn’t sell but she kept moving forward. She tried again a couple years later and published “The Near Witch,” but it went out of print because of low reader count. Her second book, “The Archives,” and sold better than the first. With each book she still wasn’t happy with how things went. At 25, she decided to give it one last shot and only to stay true to herself while writing all of it. The book was “Vicious” and it’s about two men in college who discover the key to superpowers are going through near-death experiences. “Vicious” was Schwab’s way of expressing her weirdness. That was the book that launched her career and each book afterwards got bigger, and more popular. Schwab continued her career the following years with more books and continuing series.

“I wrote weirder and weirder things, but I found my audience, and my audience found me.”

This year she republished “The Near Witch,” and it went on the bestseller list within a week and sold more than it ever had in its lifetime. The Near Witch which is a stand-alone book that includes the fairytale mysteriousness of a girl, a town, and children that mystifyingly  go missing. In the town of Near, an old folk tale of the Near Witch is told to scare children for them to behave. The protagonist, Lexi, encounters a boy who visits and vanishes. The wind, haunts people and Lexi, but it’s just lonely and looking for company. After the boy’s first visit, children start disappearing and he is seen as a suspect. As people search for the missing children, Lexi does all she can to unfold the mysteries of the boy, the wind, and the secrets of the town of Near. This part love story- part fairytale, touches readers and engages them so they feel the pages and words disappear, as Schwab intended it to.

“You read a sentence on a page, and it has the power to make you forget who you are. That’s powerful.”

A big thanks to Victoria Schwab for visiting Taft, telling students her story, and inspiring others to be true to themselves in whatever they do. Schwab is always writing news ideas and working on her next big thing for the weirdest of audiences!