Daughter Has a Novel Idea

Friday, August 29, 2008

Page 15

AT THE SIDEBAR (Column)

Daughter Has a Novel Idea

By J’AMY PACHECO

“If there’s a book you really want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”

—Toni Morrison

My daughter has always been an avid reader. It’s probably genetic – our family library has grown to the point that we’re going to have to learn to make furniture, or even food, out of books one of these days.

I still have my childhood copies of some notable books: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Island of the Blue Dolphin, and the whole series of “Little House” books. I’ve kept them because every year or so, I start pining for the familiar words and re-read the well-worn books.

My daughter has a few favorite series of her own. It started with Cornelia Funke’s “Inkheart” trilogy (the third installment of which we’re STILL waiting to see translated into English). It hit a high note with Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events, which resulted in her first visit with a real author (and, ironically, an overnight stay in a bookstore while waiting behind thousands of people to see him).

Her love of books hit a high note a few months ago, when she fell in love with a fictional vampire named Edward and his human girlfriend, Bella. Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight Saga” became an obsession for my little bookworm, and she read, re-read, then practically memorized each gigantic volume.

Now, she has a new favorite book. I won’t mention the name, because you haven’t heard of it – yet. Its author is my 12-year-old middle schooler.

The story started out as a game played by my daughter and a bunch of her friends at the end of their sixth grade year. It was a sort of fantasy-adventure they acted out on the playground.

When everybody else moved on, my daughter kept thinking about the story, and started writing it down. Before long, she was spending hours at a time typing away on her laptop, and after a few weeks, she presented me with a 100-plus page novel. I couldn’t believe it.

Before I even finished reading it, she was hard at work on the sequel. As I read her pages, I couldn’t help noticing that the stories about two girls, some fairies, a bad guy and a magical rock started out as an adventure, and morphed into a kind of love story with phrases like “his arm snaked around her waist,” and lots of kissing. (I believe I have Stephenie Meyer to thank for that…but it’s all good.)

I made some suggestions that I thought would improve the story, but she pretty much blew me off. She had e-mailed it to all her old school pals – who pronounced it “great!” and begged for more. It’s hard to compete with comments like that.

A few days ago, she started on another book. This one, unconnected to her first two, is set in the present and involves a trendy girl who likes shopping, and who possesses an unusual paranormal power. Even I can’t wait to hear what she does with it.

She bounces ideas off me from the back seat on the way to school, amazing me with her thoughts and ideas. Her dialogue is extraordinarily entertaining, and makes me hope she’ll hurry up and finish the book. (Fortunately, there will be no waiting for a translation on this one.)

She has a Barbie doll that she feels personifies her main character, and keeps it on her desk. She finds it to be a great inspiration – except for the time the doll tipped off her stand and took a header into a bowl of vanilla bean ice cream.

A few days ago, she confided something: her first book is her favorite book of all time. She can’t stop thinking about it, and wants to know how to get it published.

I’m no expert in such things, but I’m pretty sure that’s a very difficult nut to crack. If it wasn’t, wouldn’t everybody have a book or two floating around out there?

On the other hand, my little wordsmith is a product of the Internet generation, and is already sending her stories off to her fans in cyberspace, who are clamoring for more.

It’s a little bit scary to have a child I can still carry who produces story pages at such an astounding pace. It will be interesting to see where the words take her, and when.

Who knows – maybe one of these days, I’ll be able to add some new classics by a familiar author to my overcrowded bookshelf.

Or to the soup pot, at the rate we’re going…