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”.
Olivia responses:
- What motivated you to write?
“My main motivation is a mix of a lot of things, but right now is just the urge to write stories and make those fictional worlds exist to be seen by other people and not just bullet points in my notes-app. I’ve always been writing but only for myself. Recently I have tried to put my work out there to be read by other people. Kind comments and encouragement from my friends also plays a part with me being motivated to write. Without them I don’t know if I could’ve seen creative writing as anything other than something I just do sometimes”.
- If you could give one piece of advice to new writers, what would you say?
“My one piece of advice to new writers is to write every single writing idea down, all of it, even if you think you won’t ever use it, even if you think it’s a dumb idea. Because, the regret that engulfs you is the worst. Imagine, you have this great idea for a book but you didn’t write it down at that moment because, well, you’ll remember, right? An hour or two pass, maybe even a day. You finally go open your notebook to write it down, only for the pen to be still as the realization dawns on you. You forgot. The frustration after as you try to frantically try to remember is the worst. Lesson learned, write every writing idea down, and if you can’t write, make a voice-note, pull up your notes-app, text it to a friend who you’ll give the context later, etc—just write it down”.
- What is the backstory of your journey of becoming a high school author?
“I’ve always been writing since elementary school, only in high school did I start writing more consistently. I always wanted to be an author and publish books and becoming a high school author is the dream for me—along with being a happy accident. Every year, since my freshman year, I would attend a school trip to the BAM Festival—Books Music Art. Festival. This is the place where a bunch of authors and illustrators come together to talk about many subjects like different book genres, themes, and concepts, the publishing industry, and how the real world can affect your writing. Many workshops and other events happen too, one of those events was the Flash Fiction contest that was being hosted by Stephen Kozan—my now publisher. Admittedly the first year I went I didn’t do the contest, fully interested in doing other things at the festival. However the following year, my sophomore year,I signed up to try to win the opportunity to publish a book, but that didn’t happen. My friend Vee won though so I didn’t care, I was just happy for her. My junior year, I went in without the intention of winning, this year was one of my more academically challenging years so I didn’t have the energy to be competitive and add something new on my plate, I just wanted to have fun at BAM. Anyway, I won, along with Maggie, the shock and excitement was immense as I called my Mom to tell her about the good news. That summer I started writing my debut book Beyond the Fog and the rest is history”.
- What was the inspiration behind the story of your book?
“This is the silly event that spiraled into being a book. It was a foggy morning, me and my brother are being driven to school and I went and said something along the lines of “Can you imagine, we get dropped off at school, and instead of it being our school, it is instead, like, a haunted shadow version of it where monsters come and attack us and we’ll need to fight back?” It’s been so long I don’t actually know how my brother reacted, probably a mix of terror and a laugh—my Dad was concerned that I came up with such an idea. That idea lived in my notes app for a long time until I wrote it down in that Flash Fiction contest and proceeded to win. Other pieces of media that I pull inspiration from besides that moment with my brother are games like: Mad Father, Misao, Detention, and Corpse Party. All horror games have the same vibe of being trapped in a large haunting place filled with monsters that makes the main character find the exit”.
Overall, Maggie and Olivia’s journeys show that high school students can accomplish incredible things through hard work, creativity, and determination. Their stories show that writing can be both a personal outlet and a way to inspire others. From turning simple ideas into published novels to encouraging new writers to believe in themselves, both authors demonstrate the power of persistence and imagination. Their success not only highlights the talent within West Boca, but also encourages other students to pursue their passions and share their voices with the world.
