Meet 17-year-old writer Samantha Seto.
Samantha lives in Tampa in Florida and loves traveling: ‘I’ve been all around the world,’ she says. ‘I’ve visited Europe, Asia, South America…’
Samantha loves photography and hopes to become a professional writer.
In keeping with her passion for travel (and literature), Samantha says: ‘since my parents don’t come from an artistic background, the way I come to writing is a new path on the road less travelled.’
Find out more below!
Tell us a bit about yourself…
I find that nature walks are an essential element. It’s peaceful to breathe and reconsider your storylines by contemplating it. Most of my life I work on my laptop or with my notebook scribbling ideas that inspire me. I love to explore my talent by attending various writing workshops. I’ve attended Interlochen, Sewanee College, and Smith’s College writing intensive to contribute to other writers’ work as well as improve my own.
I’m interested in poetry and fiction. It’s a way to filter all of my madness prone to obsess about things I read to debate it over in my mind. In other words, I’ve discovered my own voice through what I write about. I’ve been published in Ceremony, Soul Fountain, Carcinogenic Poetry, and Black Magnolias Journal. It becomes an experience that you work with for a lot of time. Recently, memoir writing has ways of reminding me of my own identity. I’ve spent some time working for a school newspaper publication, but most likely won’t center my career around this part-time interest.
What are your inspirations?
I am most inspired by diverse works. Examples include Sylvia Plath’s collection of depressive poetry; Letters to Yesenin written by Jim Harrison; Natalie Jeanne Champagne’s wonderful story about being diagnosed with bipolar called The Third Sunrise: A Memoir to Madness; Nick Flynn’s novel Another Bullshit Night In Suck City that premiered in theaters as Being Flynn; and several playbooks. For me, creating my art depends a lot on my emotions and fascinating concepts that I can express myself through and make a part of my world.
Other authors I admire include Stephen Dunn, Tobias Wolff, Ben Mitchell, Thomas Lux, Ransom Riggs, Sharon Olds, and Richard Yates.
What is your favorite piece of work you have produced?
For writing, the best piece I’ve written was a short story, Thinking of You, that was dedicated to my sister, Sarah. When she read it, she gave me some constructive feedback but also came to appreciate and respect my work. Since everyone inspires me in some way, it’s always nice for the person I wrote it for to read it and take to heart every word.
Who is your favorite ‘creative’ in your chosen field?
My favorite fiction writer of all time is Alice LaPlante. She wrote a well-crafted story called Turn of Mind that greatly introduced me to the professional aspects of writing. She is recognized as an award-winning author amongst several thousand writers that aim to succeed in the writer world.
The grandest poet, Beth Bigler, is an Interlochen Academy alumni that is very knowledgeable about the foundations of writing poetry. She was my mentor for a summer workshop that I attended and has been my favorite instructor ever since. She has written many astounding poems and early on in her childhood, pursued a playwriting career.
See examples of Samantha’s work here and here; say hello on Twitter (she’s new!) - @samantha36seto.
