Mary Shelley

'As a child I scribbled; and my favourite pastime, during the hours given me for recreation, was to 'write stories'. Still I had a dearer pleasure than this, which was the formation of castles in the air - the indulging in waking dreams - the following up of trains of thought, which had for their subject the formation of a succession of imaginary incidents. My dreams were at once more fantastic and agreeable than my writings. In the latter I was a close imitator - rather than doing as others had done, than putting down the suggestions of my own mind.'

- Mary Shelley, 1831, Introduction to Frankenstein (or the Modern Prometheus)