I worked with the author Frances Dowell to write a 25-page novel (the picture has to do something with it ;).

Anyway, in the process of working with her, I learned SO MUCH. She told us to start with a big What if?. Then put an opening scene, with info on the character. After that, we had to put some little problems (stick & stones). Later, the big problem (the monster problem). Finally, the resolution (I didn’t put that, my story’s a cliffhanger).

I and another peer met a lot. He gave me the idea of having a villain and putting a cliffhanger. His help was invaluable and great. Also, if anybody writing a story I suggest that you get together with a friend for editing. Trust me, it will help you.

Ms. Dowell said she liked my story and would love to read the rest of it. Honestly, I had sweaty palms and was pretty scared when she first started talking with me. But in the end, it was very fun receiving feedback from her. A lot of people in my class had a militaristic theme. Like, people are training in barracks to fight against enemies… That sort of stuff. They were all nice though.

I didn’t know I could write a 20-page novel. If anybody showed me this book in August and said I wrote it, I would’ve laughed. Out loud. At first, I was skeptical when my teacher said we would write books. My first story (which I wrote 5 sentences before I realized how bad it was) was terrible. Then one night as I lay in my bed, the big what if floated into my head. What if a person finds out their plane is crashing and tries to stop it? In the beginning, I didn’t have the end in mind. I’ve thought of about 5 different endings. As I said before this is a cliffhanger, so I have to (and want to) write a sequel. Maybe during summer break!

I want Ms. Dowell to know that my story’s a cliffhanger! Here’s Ms. Dowell’s website.

By, the way here’s an excerpt from my story. This is my favorite part. One more thing, if you want to read the first chapter for some introduction here’s the link for it. Enjoy!

 

The next morning, we woke up and went to the Hiroshima atom bomb museum (my buddy did want to strengthen his store of experiences). It was a nice museum, but something felt fishy. Someone was following us and taking notes. When we left, he took note of our license plate. Whoever he was, the looks he was giving were CREEPY. When we got back into the car, there was a package that said ‘From the Catalysts’. When I opened it, there was a sword! The letter said “We see you have great potential. The Jackals are after you. Use this, the “Sword of time,” the eternal sword of justice passed from Catalyst to Catalyst. It only works on evil people. Whack it at them and they will dissolve into mist. If you use it on normal humans, they will get a series of unpleasant shocks. Use this wisely. Touch the blade and it will condense into a pencil that will never get lost. This also a shield from a Jackal’s weapon which is laser beams from their hands. Put it in a correct position and you can deflect it. Again, use this wisely. You will find a need at your next destination to use this tool.” Wow! My buddy was also looking at the letter and he said “cool!” I put it in my pocket and talked with my buddy about the plan. He said we could reach Kyoto by about 6 PM (it was 1 PM now; we woke up at 11 AM, when the hotel manager told us to get moving. We paid him 100 ¥ to take a bath, left, and spent a good 2 hours eating and being at the atomic bomb museum). I pulled out the map and we set out for Kyoto. It was nothing like your typical road trip where you chit-chat. We were planning about what to do in Kyoto. It seemed like a pretty clear warning that the spying Jackal would attack us there, maybe with some more Jackals. I made a hotel reservation and watched the Japanese countryside as we were driving. We were driving next to forests, a rare town, and an occasional village popping up. The scenery got pretty boring and I retold my story (a worthy one, it was). We were bracing for Kyoto because something would happen there, no doubt. We were enjoying our last minutes of peace as we neared Kyoto. It was a big city, much bigger than the city where I live. We checked into our hotel and went sightseeing again. That’s when somebody caught my eye. I did not like the way he was looking at me and I told my partner to brace. I took my “pencil” out and tapped it. The people screamed and, to be honest, the sword looked wicked. He started shooting lasers and I deflected all of them with my sword. Unfortunately, the fire was too much for me to advance. He tired out for a sec and I went, slashed the sword and he dissolved into mist. Yay! Only I could celebrate for a second, because when I deflected all the lasers from the Jackal, they destroyed half of this castle, a Japanese national monument, and we were in big trouble. The police came and I told my partner to go and start the car. He did and I gave them a series of unpleasant shocks. In the ensuing confusion, we escaped. We set out for Tokyo, where the Catalysts told that Mitsuhirato and the Jackals’ mysterious commander would all come for a big battle in an effort to stop our arrival to Tokyo and their headquarters, where they were going to do something evil. We stopped at a little village for the night where we picked up my buddy’s dad. Turns out his dad used to be a Catalyst when he was my age and the senior Catalyst told me, he could do some basic training for me. He knew my story already. He taught me how to use the sword in just one evening. Night fell and I drifted into an uneasy sleep. The next morning, all 3 of us got in the car and started driving…