Some readers open a book hoping to find themselves in it. Others open one hoping to find someone entirely different. Greg Soros Author builds his stories to serve both kinds of readers at once, a method he describes as writing mirrors and windows at the same time.
Soros explains that some children need to see their own experiences reflected back to them, so they know they are not alone in what they are feeling. “Others need windows into experiences different from their own, building empathy and expanding their understanding of the world,” he says.
Two Purposes in a Single Character
For Greg Soros, a single character can often do both jobs simultaneously. A child facing a specific struggle might recognize themselves in that character, while another child, unfamiliar with that struggle, gains a new way of understanding a classmate or friend. Getting both outcomes from one story, he says, is the clearest sign the writing is working.
That dual purpose changes how this author approaches diversity on the page. “It’s not enough to simply include characters from different backgrounds,” he emphasizes. “Those characters need authentic voices, realistic challenges, and their own complete emotional arcs. They can’t exist just to teach other characters lessons.”
Representation With Full Arcs
That last point shapes his process from the earliest drafts. Rather than adding a character to check a box, Soros builds full emotional arcs for every character who appears, regardless of how large or small their role in the plot. A character exists to grow, he argues, not to illustrate a lesson for someone else.
As an author, Greg Soros treats the mirror and window idea less as a marketing concept and more as a working standard, one he applies quietly to every manuscript before it reaches a young reader’s hands. In a recent interview with Walker Magazine, Greg Soros argued that children’s literature must function as both mirrors and windows. He framed the discussion around the dual responsibility of authors, illustrators and publishers to reflect readers’ life experiences while also opening vistas onto unfamiliar worlds.
He also applies it in reverse, checking early drafts for gaps rather than waiting for feedback to point them out. Before a book goes to an editor, Soros asks himself who might not see any part of their own life in the story, and who might not gain a new window either. That extra pass, he says, catches blind spots a writer can miss after months spent close to a single manuscript. Refer to this article for related information.
Follow for more about Greg Soros on https://www.instagram.com/georgesorosfx_/?hl=en