Reading and writing are often solitary pastimes, but for Nikki Stampfl, these hobbies helped her build an online community.
Stampfl, a fourth-year English student, started her Instagram account @nikkiswritingjournal two years ago to share her literary passions. She highlights her favorite books alongside the writing process behind her current project, “The Key to the Cupcake Kingdom,” a middle-grade fantasy novel that incorporates Filipino representation, Stampfl said.
She posts on a corner of the internet known as Bookstagram and Authorgram – the social media communities for readers and writers, respectively – amassing thousands of views on her posts. Stampfl said she creates a variety of posts about her hobbies, such as writing vlogs and dressing up as book characters. Her Instagram account has helped her form a community both online and at UCLA, she added.
Stampfl said one of the hardest parts of being online is a fear of her work being seen as “bad” during developmental stages, since she posts some of her writing. She added that she sometimes compares herself to others on Bookstagram who are in the later stages of the publishing process.
Stampfl said she aims to build a safe space online for her younger audience and continues to build that safe space with her writing. “The Key to the Cupcake Kingdom” is age-appropriate for elementary schoolers, she added, though it uses a higher reading level to appeal to advanced students.
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“The lexical level is ‘Harry Potter’ and upwards to YA fantasy, except it’s fully appropriate for elementary schoolers,” Stampfl added. “I started writing it because my little cousin Charlie is really smart and an advanced reader, except there’s a lot of books in her lexical level she can’t read just because she’s not old enough.”
Another one of her goals is to showcase her Filipino heritage in her writing, Stampfl said. Delaney Ramos-Vincent, a fourth-year English student and friend of Stampfl’s, said they both have trouble finding Filipino representation in novels. Stampfl, who is half Filipino, added that writing about her heritage helps her feel closer to her culture.
“Filipino representation means a lot to me,” Stampfl said. “Seeing a part of myself in a book was huge, … and I just can’t imagine how much it would mean for a younger girl who is Filipina to pick up my book and see that she’s (the main character is) Filipino.”
Stampfl said she also plans to incorporate Filipino culture with a scene about the Pahiyas Festival, a colorful harvest festival that takes place yearly in the Philippines to honor the patron saint of farmers. The novel’s fantasy world will also have a sticky rice rainforest inspired by Southeast Asian cuisines, Stampfl said.
Stampfl also highlights Filipino culture in her writing projects outside of “The Key to the Cupcake Kingdom.” Clare Rolens, an English professor at Palomar College – where Stampfl transferred from – said Stampfl won the college’s literary journal’s 2026 first place award for prose writing with a piece centered on Filipino familial relationships. She usually writes about her grandparents, Stampfl added, as they helped raise her, and doing so allows her to feel closer to them.
Rolens added that Stampfl shows emotional depth and maturity in her writing. These qualities are also seen on her Instagram account, as Stampfl isn’t afraid to be honest online about her writing struggles, Ramos-Vincent said. She balances whimsical content with posts showing her struggles as a writer, Ramos-Vincent added, such as a post where she shows a realistic day in her life experiencing writer’s or reader’s block.
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Stampfl said she’s proud of this writing vlog because of its vulnerability and the way it resonated with her audience, helping her build a sense of community.
“I’ve had a little more hope when it comes to the writing field knowing that there are people who are willing to read my work even if they’re not my intended audience,” Stampfl said. “With my Bookstagram, I know that I have a bunch of online friends on there who are happy to read something.”
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