Mischa Fox

Share one of the best gifts you’ve ever received.

I usually surprise people when I say “Critiques I don’t want to hear”–but they are where you grow and improve the most! I mean this in all areas of life.

As a writer, the best gift I ever got was advice that changed the way I thought about writing forever. When I was 19, I got to meet Robert Jordan.

It was a whole epic road trip that I’ll never forget! 🤣

But straight to the point:

Because of bad weather in Chicago, my best friend and I got to run back to my car, unload a full set of the series (the signing was for Winter’s Heart’s release) and due to the lower than expected turnout, we got to go through the line more than once, 2 books each a time, to ask him 2 questions each turn. Everyone did this!

I don’t even remember the answers to any of the other questions…. in fact, I only remember the last two questions.

I asked him about how his experiences with comparative religion shaped the worldbuilding. He set his pen down and gave me a delighted LONG answer about his entire life on the spiritual side that I was not expecting. It was a delight to get a few relaxed, non-writing genuine moments with him.

Honestly, at that point… I ran out of questions. And thought I blurted out the dumbest thing I could possibly have thought of: “Who’s your favorite character to write?”

He grinned and gave me pure gold.

“Whoever I’m writing right now. That’s my favorite. I love writing them ALL. That’s the secret. That’s the key.”

Everything I worked on after transformed, leveled up. And I really began to fall in love with antiheroes and villains.

To this day, I feel so grateful I got to meet him, exactly then, as a knees shaking overawed barely adult writer, meeting one of the first people who built a world I wanted to live in when I was 12, and really ignited in my soul the possibility that I could do this too someday.

Bonus story:

To my delight, right behind me on the first trip through the line was a little girl who was 7 or 8 at the time with her mom. She shuffled up to the table and almost started crying in embarrassment because her copy of one of the books was held together with duct tape and rubber bands.

He laughed with delight. “Are you kidding? This is the best book I’ve ever gotten to sign! Do you know why? Because this means you read it so many times you wore it out! I’m honored that you loved my story this much! And I’m honored I get to sign this one for you!”

It was a beautiful night.