Edmond Santa Fe had the privilege to host author Scott Reintgen on Mon., Apr. 29. Students from North and Memorial were also invited to attend this book signing event.
Reintgen is known for writing science fiction, young adult, dystopia and fantasy novels. Mostly known for his Nyxia Triad series, Reintgen said he enjoys getting paid to use his imagination. He talked to students about his family, which included a story about his second son going viral for opening every Christmas gift at 2 a.m. It gained so much national attention that he was interviewed on Good Morning America. He never thought he would go viral for something besides his writing.
At an early age, Reintgen knew he wanted to be a writer. When he was in high school, Reintgen said he would go to his local Barnes and Noble and carve out space on the bookshelves where his future books would be placed, manifesting his own success. He was inspired by the storylines of popular video games like Call of Duty, Halo, and World of Warcraft. From there, he started his journey to becoming the author he is today.
During the discussion Monday, Reintgen encouraged students to dream big.
“I give you permission to dream something big for yourself, like something that maybe you’ve never seen anyone in your family do,” Reintgen said. “Something that you don’t think you can even do, you have my permission to do that.”
Following his presentation he opened the floor for questions.
Q: What advice would you give a new writer?
A: “My advice for new writers is mostly just to get into the good habit of working on their writing, That’s truly the biggest thing to focus on: actually sitting down and making time to write. The more you do that, the better you get. It’s such a simple recipe, I think.”
Q: Did you expect your books to get as big as they did?
A: “Not really! You always hope that might happen, but I don’t think when I was young and writing books I ever dreamed I’d be a New York Times bestselling author or anything like that. When I got my first book deal, those dreams started kicking in–but even then, you hold everything loosely.”
Q: Who was your biggest inspiration for writing when you first started?
A: “Honestly, my grandfather. He’s not a writer. Not much of a reader either. But he was the hardest-working person I’d ever met. I always wanted to work the way he world–but on my own stuff(writing).”
Q: Where do you think your career would go in the future?
A: “I mostly just focus on keeping the career going for the rest of my life. That, to me, is the ultimate goal. To do this until I’m old enough to retire. I do kind of hope to keep hitting bestseller lists, maybe even a movie deal in the future, etc. But the truth is that I can only control what’s right in front of me, and what’s right in front of me is the next book.”
