Sometimes, I come across a story so evocative, I feel compelled to draw it. Any scene from Maggie Stiefvater’s The Scorpio Races deserves hours spent with acrylic or watercolours, but I had minutes and a pair of brush pens, so here it is. When you can’t make the art you want, make the art you can!

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater is brilliant and brutal and it captivated me (possibly because it resurrected my inner horse-mad kid and had me daydreaming about long rides in the bush and cantering across paddocks).

I loved the two main characters. Puck, a young woman seeking to enter a race traditionally open to men, is admirable and relatable. Sean’s love and respect for the horses under his care makes him a standout.

But what intrigued me most about the story was one of the side characters.

At first, it’s not clear if this person is a force for good or an antagonist, but they end up being a wonderful addition to the story, a sort of catalyst. If they weren’t there, unafraid to speak their mind and prompt characters to look within and consider their dreams, would any of the story have unfolded as it did? I became rather fond of this character, at least as much as I was of Sean and Puck.

It’s those stories that tend to linger with me longest because no one in our lives is just a side character. Every person has their own loves and desires, wants and needs that tangle with our own. How often do we put aside personal goals to accommodate another’s, or find our priorities shift when we encounter someone new? How much of our life is shaped, for better or worse, by relationships?

Stories where people are the agents of change, rather than only external events, feel so real. Something to aspire to!