We are thrilled to introduce you to our newest published author, Sophie Yao! Sophie recently published her book, Aerie: Outcast, through our Fresh Ink publishing program. In Fresh Ink, youth authors with a completed draft of a novel are mentored through a chapter-by-chapter revision process. At the end of the program, the author is guided through the publication process resulting in an ink-and-paper book they can hold in their hands and share with other readers! We interviewed Sophie about her experience in the program. Keep reading to learn more about Sophie’s book and Fresh Ink.
Interview with Sophie Yao
Tell us about your book.
My book is called Aerie: Outcast. It’s about 2 outcast eagles finding themselves.
What inspired you to tell this story?
My friends and I all love birds of prey, and so inspired me to write a book about eagles.
Who is your favorite character in your book and why?
Browntuft, because he is constantly looked down upon yet is never fazed by challenges.
Did you enjoy revising your story in layers? What did you learn about revision by working on it stage by stage?
Revising in layers was really tedious, but the process really helped improve my story. By reworking stage by stage, I learned that there is a lot more to revising than just reading it once and correcting errors.
What problems did you run into in your revision and how did you resolve them?
I discovered a lot of plot holes in the middle of my storyline. Because I liked the beginning and the ending, I had to rewrite a big portion to tie the two parts together, just like coloring the middle purple so that it transitions well from red to blue.
What is something that surprised you about revising?
I had a lot more errors than I expected when I was first writing my story.
What do you hope your readers will take away from your book?
I hope my readers will be more interested in learning about birds and that they will find the Philippine Eagles really cool.
What would you tell someone who wrote a novel and is not sure they want to do revisions?
Even though you might think revisions are a waste of time, they actually help make your story a lot stronger.
You can grab your copy of at Amazon, Bookshop.org, or by request it at your favorite indie bookstore!
