My favorite books when I was younger was definitely the Warriors series by Erin Hunter. I started reading them in Jr. High when my library ran out of the Guardians of Ga’Hoole books by Katherine Lasky (another series I thoroughly enjoyed).
You can say I became a little obsessed with the Warriors series. I mean, it’s a series about cats surviving in their own clans in the wild. I got a lot of the books, drew the characters in my schoolbooks, checked out the original website where you could figure out which clan you belonged in and even made my family do it to. Based of their results, I started writing my own fanfiction. Then, I learned about the online writing roleplay and I got hooked into that.
I enjoyed the series and not because it was about cats, but because it involved characters becoming warriors. Characters that stuck to their code or followed their heart. There was a lot of potential for conflict and the first series does a really good job making a zero a hero. Jr. High to high school was rough for me, but it was nice to read about these cats who always had each others backs or followed their ambitions or put their clan before themselves. My favorite characters were the most loyal ones.
This series also helped me become a better writer. By joining the online, writing roleplay, I was able to hone my skills in description and story development. I even learned leadership skills when I created my own online clans for others to join. I would roleplay as the leader of the clan and I found it enjoyable when new members would spring new ideas into our ongoing stories. It was exciting not being in control of every variable and having to adapt to the responses of others. I’ll always be grateful for that roleplay I made and learned so much from.
Now, I must be honest. Warriors by Erin Hunter has many different series or sagas to it as well as branch off novels and graphic novels. I could only make it so far in the series as, in my opinion, the series has gone down hill from the first two sagas. It’s a whole can of beans that I won’t bore you with. I may not be a fan of the series today, but it was that series that led to my roleplay characters and their conflicts that helped me want to grow and face everything with the heart of a warrior.
nikki diekemper 