This month, we interviewed not one, but FOUR amazing, published authors! They are young writers from our Fresh Ink program – Lucas Kawamoto (World’s End: The Twin Files), Tvisha Gupta (Alone But Not Lonely), Rebekah Brown (Hi, I’m Socially Awkward), and Sloka Edara (Bridge of Starlight). 

In the interview, these young authors shared their experience writing and publishing their first books, what they do when they feel stuck, and what great stories are made of.

Writing Challenge

A Recipe for a “Great Story”

We all have our favorite stories – the ones that get our attention right away, that offer us a protagonist that we just cannot help but care about and champion, or the villain that makes us crave justice. Feeling something about what we read, be it truth or fiction, is what builds our deeper connection with the story. Building this bond between our writing and our audience is an essential skill.

Think about what you love to read and what has made you feel excited or connected in some way to the plot. Just like how a favorite meal contains key ingredients that make it taste so good, what key ingredients would your own “Great Story Recipe” have and why?

TIP: For your response, consider assembling your ingredients to look like an actual recipe

What do you think makes a good story?

Sloka: There needs to be a mix of adventure and emotion.

Tvisha: I think it not only needs to have the emotions of the writer, but it also needs to be able to evoke the emotions of the reader and really move them in a way that makes them want to feel impacted or is able to get a particular message that is within the novel across to them. 

Rebekah: It isn’t like all the other (books) on the shelves. I want different writing styles, unique characters, and voices in a world-building I haven’t seen before. 

How do you keep writing the same story when new story ideas are popping into your head?

Rebekah: Just let them come, get all the ideas you have down on paper. Write it as a short story if you must; as soon as you’re satisfied with that, you can return to your current work.

Sloka: Having a detailed plot helps me because I know what’s important to the story and what isn’t. Having a bunch of ideas out on paper, just makes me keep writing because I try and get as much in as I can.

Lucas: I focus on what inspired me to write the story. When I think about potentially beginning to work on another one, I just sit down and think about the great things I have envisioned for this one. And that keeps me going. 

What did it feel like to hold your book for the first time?

Tvisha: I will never forget this day because a lot happened on this day. I remember there was a huge box that was delivered to my doorstep, and I was just coming back from school, and I had opened the acceptance to my dream University at the same time. All my friends knew that my book was coming, so they were coming in with me. I remember my family was sitting in the living room and then my friends were there too and then I opened the box and literally when I opened it and I held the book up, everyone was excited and thought it was so cool. It just felt like the culmination of almost three years of hard work and there is a physical copy of something that was extremely important to me, and I was able to convert this personal experience into this universal narrative that other people can read. And I did it, you can do it, it’s possible!

Sloka: I was more excited to tear off the wrapping paper for the most part. Then I opened the book, and I was really excited about that because this had taken me a long time and I really wanted to do this for a long time.

A special thank you to Lucas, Rebekah, Sloka and Tvisha for sharing with us! Read more about their work @ https://www.younginklings.org/whats-new/. 

Sloka lives in Washington. She prefers fiction to nonfiction, fantasy in particular, and can often be found in a comfy corner or near a small table, reading or writing a poem or short story.

Tvisha fell in love with reading during her childhood in India. When she isn’t writing she can be found playing the piano, drinking coffee and watching the Gilmore Girls in her bed, or going for long-distance runs during the sunset.

Lucas Kawamoto lives in California, and loves reading and writing, swimming, and watching basketball. 

Rebekah comes to us from Florida where she plays trombone in the symphonic band. Her other interests include drawing, writing fantasy, watching movies, swimming, and fencing.