Hermosa Beach teen author unveils fantasy world
Rashelle Hopkins used her visual-art skills to create her novel’s cover.
by Jayna Elce
Hermosa Beach13-year-old Rashelle Hopkins plunges readers into a world of warring kingdoms, and the quest of a young girl with a unique ability to read, with her first book, the teen fantasy novel Fionavar.
“I enjoy writing because you can form characters, places, and truly take control of a story you can call your own,” she said. “Sometimes the characters take control and have the ability to mold the story, and you can become attached to them as you write.”
Hopkins said books of fantasy and adventure “open your eyes and let you have a bigger perspective on things.”
Her favorite book is The Lost Conspiracy by Frances Hardinge.
“Usually when I read books, I read one and then move on to a different book or whatever is next in the series. But for this book, I’ve read it several times and enjoyed it every single time,” she said.
When she turned author, she chose the teen fiction genre figuring that people her own age would enjoy reading it.
She took the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) online challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. After the editing process, the manuscript grew to 80,000 words and became her first published work a year ago.
“NaNoWriMo really helped me get what I needed to finish my book,”Hopkins said. “It gives a lot of encouragement and it really helps you to know thousands of other people who are working on the book beside you, all going through the same challenges.”
After reading a lot and hearing different stories,Hopkinsgets little bits of plot or character, and over time she pieces together the things that she came up with.
“Eventually, usually over a month or two of time, I get enough ideas to make a novel where everything connects,” she said. “Sometimes the characters can take control of the story and you have to make them work with your plot, while other times they can help you realize things about the story and improve it.”
Although she is taking a break from writing, she is thinking of ideas for another novel and is really excited to work on it.
Hopkins said it will be “a teen fiction novel that is another adventure through a fantasy land — except it goes a bit deeper and I feel like it might be a more emotional story with a different feel. I’m also hoping it will be a lot better, since I’ve learned a lot from my last novel and I can use what I learned to make an even better one.”
Hopkins also likes photography, drawing with colored pencils, sketching, and spending a lot of time drawing animals, like the ones she created for the snow-swept cover of her first novel.
She also spends time going to the bookstore to get new books, going to church, and occasionally going out to dinner with her family.
“Her father and I are just so happy for her,” said mother Tracy Hopkins. “We are glad that she was able to recognize early what her passion and interest was and that we are able to support her and allow her to further excel in her writing interest.”
Fionavar is available on Amazon.com, or at BarnesandNoble.com for the eBook version.