Quicklets: Learn more. Read less. The trials that the children in The Maze Runner face arent based on the authors personal experiences. However, author James Dashner has worked through his own set of trials. The characters in The Maze Runneralmost mirror Dashners own never-say-quit attitude. Dashners well-regarded book series, The Thirteenth Reality, was an example of his personal trials. He submitted a book to a publisher in his early days as an author. The publisher liked his writing style, bu