86. Nnedi Okorafor from sports to writing to bestselling author, Black Panther, and Hollywood

Nnedimma Nkemdili "Nnedi" Okorafor (WOTF 18) grew up a great student and athlete, competing semi-pro Tennis. As a result of a surgery, she was paralyzed from the waist down. She turned to writing. The very first story she wrote was the character in her winning story Windseekers published in volume 18. She could fly, which was special to Nnedi who could not walk at that time. She became a Contest judge in 2013 and provided her first how-to essay for the contest, "The Sport of Writing." Her philosophy: if you don't love the craft and art of it, you'll never experience this pure form of success. It grows from that love. Her take on a blank page: if you fear something, you give it power over you. She also explains Nnedi Rule #1: Don't look a novel in the eye until you are done with your first draft. She is now writing screenplays for Hollywood comics in the Black Panther universe with her Shuri books for Marvel. Discover her writing at Nnedi.com.