From Deseret News archives:
Accountant to author: James Dashner trumps the odds
But he can hardly be accused of idleness.
After all, Dashner is producing books that have him poised for arrival on the national youth fiction landscape. With a little risk, a lot of hard work and a vast imagination, he has transitioned from wishful college student to restless professional to full-time author.
Accounting wasn't his forte, but it appears story-telling is.
\"I'm a creative person trapped in an accountant's body, not the other way around,\" said Dashner, whose third fantasy series will kick off this fall with the nationwide release of \"The Maze Runner.\"
Dashner's unlikely career as an author began as a student at BYU, when he felt \"a sudden and overwhelming urge to write stories.\" He began writing but remained practical, earning his degree and finding a stable job in materials management for the LDS Church.
__IMAGE1__One decade later, Dashner has a three-book deal in place with Random House. \"The Maze Runner\" is one of the lead titles this fall for the publishing company, which took the 36-year-old Dashner around the country on a recent \"pre-publicity buzz tour.\"
\"Every day, it seems too good to be true,\" Dashner said.
A husband and father of four, Dashner left his job last summer to write full-time. These days, when he's not at publicity appearances or conferences, he is usually writing at a local bookstore or library, where he can take breaks and browse through books and periodicals. It's an ideal environment for cultivating his imagination.
On occasion, he'll even catch a matinee, which he says helps him with plot, pacing and revealing mysteries.
\"Some of my best writing has been after seeing a movie,\" he said. \" ... At least that's what I tell my wife.\"
Dashner, who grew up in Georgia, fell in love with reading as a child and was especially influenced by Madeleine L'Engle's \"A Wrinkle in Time\" and Orson Scott Card's \"Ender's Game.\"
His big break as an author came when Shadow Mountain, a publishing arm of Deseret Book, signed him to a deal that gave him a larger audience in the LDS market. The result was \"The 13th Reality,\" a series that follows a teenage boy who is pulled into a world of peril and alternate realities when \"curious\" letters start showing up in his mailbox.
Brandon Mull, author of the best-selling fantasy series \"Fablehaven,\" says he and Dashner share a similar philosophy — just make the story fun.
\"He's a big kid in a lot of ways, just trying to write good books,\" Mull said.
Sara Zarr, a friend and fellow young adult writer, says Dashner will speak at events and have rows of 10-year-old boys \"just totally in awe of him.\"
