Todd Herzman is a fantasy and science fiction author who never could have imagined he’d become a writer, but now can’t imagine being anything else. He was a late bloomer when it came to reading and writing, and in kindergarten, his teacher put him in the corner for not being able to write his own name. It wasn’t until he was ten, when he read Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, that his love for reading gripped him tight. In his teens, he discovered authors like Garth Nix and Isobelle Carmody, shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Stargate SG-1, games like Diablo II and Final Fantasy (his favourite is IX), and dozens of other things that sparked his geeky interest in genre works.

 

In his early twenties, he finally read the Magician by Raymond E. Feist—along with twenty other of Feists’ books—and fell in love with reading once more.

 

Todd was working as a postman (in Australia they’re called posties, and they get to ride little red motorbikes all day) when he first tried to write something of his own. He always thought writers were mythical beings, sipping whiskey in French cafes or drinking black coffee in New York diners as they penned their magnum opuses. You couldn’t just become a writer, you were born one.

 

Right?

 

Then, in 2014, his best friend showed him a fantasy story he’d been writing, and it was good. Todd looked at his friend and thought, perhaps rudely, But you’re just a regular guy, how can you write something like this? That weekend, Todd wrote something of his own, and never stopped.

 

A few months later, he quit his full-time job (the one where he got paid to ride motorcycles), started a Bachelor of Writing, and depleted his life savings getting a degree of questionable benefit.

 

And he doesn’t regret a single thing—especially since he met the love of his life in one of his classes.