By Laney Figueroa, staff writer
Aspiring writer, junior Kaia B. has already written 3 completed YA novels, each book having somewhere between 200-300 pages each.
Kaia tried writing for the first time in the summer of 2016 but quickly dropped it because she lost interest, but she picked it back up during quarantine as a hobby and has been writing consistently since then. Kaia was inspired by a friend to pick up writing again, and she also believes that her love for reading is a big part of why she enjoys writing.
Kaia’s first book is a fantasy that took about 5 months to finish because she was on and off while writing it, finishing in December of 2021. The second and third books, which are contemporary romance novels, were written much faster though as it only took her about 2 months to complete each one.
The first book she wrote was inspired by a TikTok she saw, and the comments of the TikTok post said – “someone needs to write this” which is what Kaia eventually did. The book is titled, “What the Ruler Says, Goes”.
Her second book was originally going to be a murder mystery but Kaia wanted to keep it YA, so she made it a romance book, called. “Couple in Training”. Her third book was a spin-off from the second, about the best friends of the main characters from the second book, called, “Battery in Training”.
Friends who have read Kaia’s books have been impressed. Junior, Yousra C. said “I like her books, I think Kaia does a good job at describing the setting of the book for the readers.” Sophomore Rory F. added, “I like how Kaia makes the characters interact with each other, it makes the story interesting.”
While writing her first and third books, Kaia received help and feedback from her friends and family. Her friends would help by commenting on what they thought about the flow of her story or the structure of the conversations the characters have. However, Kaia worked on her second book all on her own as a secret project.
Between writing her books, Kaia takes a break for a couple of months to think about ideas for the next book and to prevent from being too stressed out. When asked if it’s stressful to balance school work and writing, she says, “Definitely not stressful, it’s very relaxing for me; I wouldn’t do it if it stressed me out. Sometimes there are scenes I have trouble with, but otherwise, writing is my favorite thing to do.”
Kaia has decided not to publish any of her books yet for 2 reasons; one, her parents would get the money and sign contracts when she wants to handle and be responsible for her own writing, and two, the stigma around young writers, where she feels that people won’t take her seriously and won’t publish a 16 years old writing. So she’s decided to wait until she’s a legal adult to publish her books.
As for her more immediate future, Kaia plans to go to college as an English major with a focus on creative writing. She also wants to continue writing because she has other ideas to add onto her second and third book, and write a sequel to her first book or rewrite it to make it better. She will continue to write, as she says she has enough ideas to keep writing for a while.
