This spring, four West Boca High School students’ books were published. Not only they have the determination and an extraordinary talent to write their own book in high school! But the ability to have their own style of writing, that blew our minds away! Maggie and Olivia are two of the four high school authors that have published their books. Both won the BAM festival, a Palm Beach based non-profit organization that hosts annually to celebrate young writers creativity and literacy.
Both were asked the following questions: What motivated them to write?If they could give one piece of advice for a new writer, what would the advice be?Little backstory of their journey of becoming a high school author, What was the inspiration behind the story of their book?
Maggie response:
- What motivated you to write?
“I’ve always loved to write. I started making up short stories around the age of four. I’ve continued to write stories since then. While I have been working my whole life toward a career in medicine, writing has always been a great outlet for me when I’m stressed or just need something to do”.
- If you could give one piece of advice for a new writer, what would it be?
“For all authors just getting started, whether that means you have an idea or you’ve already started writing, have fun and keep going. This process can sometimes feel hopeless, and I found myself thinking I wasn’t good enough to be an author. But with the support of my friends and family, I kept going, and now I am proud to say I have my own published book. There were also so many times that I didn’t appreciate the journey of writing my novel. I was worried about deadlines and how people would react to my book, rather than enjoying the experience. If I could go back, I wish I hadn’t stressed so much and enjoyed the writing process more”.
- What is the backstory of your journey of becoming a high school author
“As I mentioned earlier, I love to write. When I saw that Stephen Kozan was doing a Flash Fiction contest at the BAM! At the festival, I started coming up with ideas. Around November of 2024, my grandmother fell in her apartment and broke her hip. She had a hip replacement and was discharged from the hospital. My grandmother and grandfather moved into our house to recover. My grandmother took my bedroom, and my grandfather took my brother’s. One night, my brother fell asleep in my parents’ bed, and my Dad was kicked out of his room and slept on the family room couch. I was one room away on the living room couch, trying to sleep. I couldn’t get to sleep that night because my Dad was snoring really loudly, which gave me plenty of time to come up with a story idea. That was how the concept for ‘The Others’ was born. After that, I just started writing down more and more ideas, which eventually became characters, a plot, and eventually my first novel”.
- What was the inspiration behind the story of your book?
“I wanted to take the concept of racism, but instead of skin color, I changed it to eye color. I’ve seen so many of my friends be bullied for their race and ethnicity, so I wanted to show this concept in a new way. In my book, there are people with gold and amethyst eye colors. Amethysts are seen as higher, while Golds are treated poorly. Amethysts and Golds haven’t been getting along for a while, pretty much all of human existence. It’s gotten so bad that Amethysts call Golds Others, to show that they are not equal. A nuclear bomb goes off, and the government tells everyone that the Others are to blame for this attack. All the survivors are told to rush to the U.S. Capitol to find a safe shelter. A group of Amethyst kids are among these survivors and have no choice but to try to reach the U.S. Capitol. But they will have to face Others along the way if they want to survive”…