Fallen
This was one of the first Dystopian type novels I conceptualized, and I developed the story probably about a year and a half ago or so, in my second semester of eighth grade. The only way I remember that is because I was assigned to write my own short story for our exposition subject, and I was trying to come up with a storyline, staring out the back door at my dog, pacing the patio. I have no idea why that spoke to me so much, but suddenly I had an idea: I could write a preview to a full novel I wanted to write but hadn't quite been able to conceptualize yet. The story is mainly about the government taking over the country, forcing helpless civilians into captivity and forced labor, until a small resistance forms in efforts to take the government down. Ok, so it sounds really lame. A lot of it stems off some (ok, a lot) of crazy conspiracy theories I've heard circulating around my family, and thought would be interesting to write about.
**Side note: You probably have no idea what the whole dog pacing the back door thing has to do with any of this but trust me. Read the book and you'll quickly find out.**
Sky High
This book has actually been on my project tab for quite a while, but I've barely written it at all, mainly because the depth and expansion of the story has waxed and waned so much since I first came up with it. The story is about a rodeo bronc, from first person perspective, starting from the colt's birth and early training, through his early career, and into his true career as a bronc, and the experiences a horse of this level goes through from a more personal perspective. Of course, I can't put into perfect detail how an animal like this would think, but I like to add my own more personable spin to the equine character. But the main plot takes a twist when the colt is separated from his world and his job, through one life changing event which eventually throws him to the wolves he never knew existed.
Because I knew You
I had planned on writing a book along these lines for about a year before I actually began to work it out and develop it into the story it is now. About the time I came up with it, I was really into sports movies but didn't really have any sports books to channel that interest into. The truth was, I didn't really know anything about sports in general. That's why I chose track. I love running, and I had the basic idea, right?
Wrong.
Ok. I knew how the actual sport worked. I knew each of the different events. I knew the general feel and strategy of it. But what I didn't know was how the team worked. And after experiencing my first season of track alongside my teammates, I knew that that love, that chemistry, that bond had to be the very sole and focus of this book. So that's where the title changed, first off. My original title was Run for Glory, which immediately makes clear the pure selfishness I assigned to such a so-called individual sport. I changed the title because that's what I experienced as a member of my team, surrounded by other people who supported and encouraged me more than I would've ever expected. They're the reason I succeeded the way I did. They're the reason I love the sport so much. And I want this book to make all of my readers feel the same way I do.
Blue Mountain Ghost
This story follows a 17-year-old girl, Kennedy, and her 19-year-old brother, Cooper, after the loss of their parents in a plane crash and their move out to their uncle's cattle ranch at the bottom of the Blue Mountain in northern Montana. Cooper, having been involved in the crash, can barely remember their parents anymore, but for Kennedy, the memory is painfully fresh and real. She feels hopeless. Until one night, she wakes up to the sound of a stallion's scream just outside her bedroom window, and everything changes. The Blue Mountain Ghost has led his band through this valley for years, and the mustangs and their wild habitat fascinate Kennedy, especially after hearing all the local ranchers' fond memories of the infamous stallion. But when the BLM decides enough is enough, Kennedy is the only one willing to keep these animals wild and free from captivity, and her drive to save them starts an awakening that will spread to cattle ranchers across the land of the Blue Mountain Ghost.
Hunted
It took me literally forever to find a way to make this book happen without about a million sides of copyright. Ever since I'd seen Jurassic Park and the first Jurassic World, the idea of a similarly developed story had rattled around in my head for quite a while. But it wasn't until I saw Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom that I decided this had to happen. Mainly because, after watching the movie, it pushed me to make something better. Something just as exciting and thrilling as the initial concept, but rawer, less... predictable.
But how on earth was I supposed to do that when the entire concept of my story was just a rip-off of the film?
I must have written at least twenty different story pyramids, plot line synopsises, and concept chains before the image finally began to take shape. The story is about two brothers, Vance and Will, who have always grown up in a community they believed to be invincible, a sanctuary from the now cutthroat outer world. But when that sanctuary is penetrated, tearing the boys from everything they've ever known and trusted and believed in, it's up to them to decide where their path will lead, and how the choices they make effect lives other than their own.
Infinity
I don't think I will ever forget the night this story was born. It was Christmas eve night, and I had just recently watched the film trailer for Ten Thousand Saints, with Hailee Steinfeld and Asa Butterfield. I could barely sleep that night, ironic, since as the common stereotype goes, it seems kids never sleep Christmas eve "waiting for Christmas morning" or whatever. I found that amusing. Aside from that, I really liked the image the trailer produced, but after further research I decided the movie wasn't worth watching in full. So, what if I created a story based off the little piece I had seen?
So that's where Infinity started. I was in a major music phase when I created it, and I loved the idea of creating the story of a band and their experience together from their first basement recorded cover album to their first international tour. I pieced the band together, each member of a different ethnicity from across the world all joined together in the center of New York City, which is where the name of the band, New York Nation, came from. I really like the concept of the inner lives of people who have become the front and center of public attention, and how at the end of the day, they're just people, with feelings and emotions and thoughts just like everyone else.
Devil Cat
The actual storyline of this book hasn't changed much since I first came up with it, but the characters have... a lot. The plot follows four boys, Sammy, Jaiden, Zach, and Dylan, and the chain of events-- a trip to Chile, a missed flight, and a plane crash-- that land them on an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, the only survivors of the devastating wreck.
and it turns out they're not alone.
A tribe of natives are quick to take them in, to shelter them from the wildcats that swarm the island, desperate for any new meal they can get a hold of. They soon adapt to the tribe's ways, but just when they begin to feel safe, reacquainted with their new lives, the Devil Cat emerges from her years of hiding, seeking the weakness now implanted in the tribe's sustainability. The boys don't know how to fight. How to hide. How to outrun such a fierce, clever predator. Yet in the end, Sammy must make the biggest decision of his life: use what he has to save himself or take the risk to protect his friends and the tribe.
Traveler
This is the very first book I ever created. Not the first out of all of my current stories; THE very first book. Which just goes to show that it's a solid enough story to survive my self-criticism for that long. Hardly anything has changed about it: Not the title, not the overarching storyline, the characters. The only things that have changed are the cover design and some plot details. It started out as a regular packing trip through the wilderness of Yukon, Canada, the place twins Fern and Drew Ericson call home. But when a massive storm hits as they trek across the mountains, they're separated from their family with only two horses, two dogs, a mule, and their survival experience to sustain them as they begin this treacherous journey. They travel through the rugged mountains of the Yukon, encountering its majestic beauty, its abundant wildlife, and its brutal winter as they fight to survive in one of the world's most demanding landscapes in hope of finding their way home.
Olympia
I conceptualized this story within the past month. Even then, I'm really interested in the way this story could turn out. The main premise is that WWIII has broken out, been fought for almost two years straight, and gotten nowhere. So, the United Committee of World Leaders has concluded that the fighting can't be continued. The war must be resolved some other way. Their solution? To hold the biggest Olympic games ever held. Just one problem: Every adult on the planet over the age of 20 is required to be part of their country's military. So now, the weight of the war rests solely on the shoulders of each country's top athletes between ages 12 and 19, pampered and prepped for the Olympics that will determine the fate of the greatest world war yet.
6th Sense
This story is even more recent than Olympia, even though I developed it maybe a week after. It's set in a dystopian world where one in every 100 children of each gender is born with a "6th sense", either force sensitivity, hypersensitivity, mind reading, dream walking, voids, or savage impulse, the most dangerous and uncontrollable of the senses. And then there's Aiden, a specially developed SSS, born and trained to have the ability to help sense recipients control their powers and thoughts that trigger them.
Until she's kidnapped.
Connor Valintine was rescued by the Refuge, an organization to protect sense recipients from the government, whose goal is to permanently exterminate all those born with a sixth sense. Almost immediately he was tasked by the Hack Force to take hostage one of the Neuronico development's most promising assets, Aiden Simms. At first, she resents the Refuge for kidnapping her and forcing her to work against her will, but the more she gets to know the others- especially Connor and Roland- she slowly begins to love them, until her devout loyalty is the only thing that gets the Refuge out from under the government's thumb in the end.
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