Young-adult novels are published constantly, but not many of them are written by actual young adults.
St. Helena High School freshman Taylor Buchanan, age 14, self-published her debut novel on Amazon earlier this month.
“Abducted: A Stolen Girl’s Hero” started as a writing assignment in Robert Louis Stevenson Middle School teacher Jennifer Marinace’s eighth-grade English class. The assignment, coinciding with National Novel Writing Month, called for at least 10,000 words, but Buchanan submitted 15,000 words and felt there was still plenty of story left to tell.
So she told it, ending up with a manuscript of about 30,000 words, the equivalent of a short novel or novella. By comparison, the classic “Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde,” by her old school’s namesake, is just under 28,000 words.
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“Abducted” is about a teen named Skylar and her friends who go on a cross-country trip from their hometown of Miami to a glamorous party in Los Angeles. They break down in Texas, where Skylar meets a handsome young mechanic. After they exchange numbers, Skylar and her friends continue on to L.A., where Skylar is kidnapped.
Buchanan describes the story as a “romantic thriller” – chances are Skylar hasn’t seen the last of that charming mechanic.
“I wanted it to be something that I would enjoy reading myself,” Buchanan said.
The effort earned Buchanan a scholarship and the Coppola Family Award for Achievement in Writing, presented by author and filmmaker Eleanor Coppola.
Buchanan said Marinace encouraged her to keep working after the initial assignment.
“She was a huge help,” Buchanan said. “She edited it online, and then she decided to print it out, read it, and then circle more things for me to edit.”
Marinace edited the manuscript in terms of punctuation, but she also gave Buchanan suggestions on how to improve the story. Marinace kept helping Buchanan with the publication process even after she’d moved on to St. Helena High School.
“I didn’t have to change it because it’s my book, but as a reader she had good suggestions,” Buchanan said.
Buchanan doesn’t plan to become a novelist; she wants to join the military instead. And she feels like Skylar’s story has reached a natural conclusion, so she doesn’t envision a sequel. But she hasn’t ruled out the possibility of writing another book if she latches onto a great idea.
Buchanan encourages other teens who are thinking of writing a book to go ahead and do it, even if they – like her – are working a part-time job and juggling extracurriculars like FFA and basketball.
“You have to put in a lot of effort and you have to persevere,” she said.