What began as a class project for Courtenay student Katie Faith now has turned into publishing her first novel - the first in her urban fantasy trilogy.
The Ravens is available for pre-order on Amazon, and Faith already has a book signing set for November.
She is being mentored by best-selling author Shannon Mayer, with whom she plans on working together in the future.
Faith is 12-years-old.
“I’m always thinking of ideas,” she explains. “(Collaborating) was a fun thing to do.”
Utilizing a connection with the 4-H Club, her mom Gillian Koster helped Katie connect with Mayer, who she saw once a week and “started her through the steps of a plot, characters, and brought to fruition the pieces of a novel.”
“It’s the best way to learn is just to do it,” added Mayer.
Last August, Faith sent her a completed rough draft and spent the following eight to nine months editing and reviewing the story.
“We picked (the novel) apart and went through each piece to understand what’s important.”
Faith added she spent a lot of weekends working on editing the story, and admitted even with plenty of ideas, she did occasionally get bouts of writer’s block.
“Sometimes you just never know how to start. I would take a break, read a book … or even sleep through it sometimes,” she noted.
Mayer, a USA Today bestselling author, said she valued the time she spent with Faith, and the mentorship allowed her to give back to the community of writers.
“We always looked at each other as two people of equal position; (Katie) is a very imaginative kid with real talent and a knack for writing.”
The Ravens - a young adult urban fantasy - centres around Marry Clad, a 17-year-old who moves to L.A. and finds herself caught in the middle of a war she didn’t know was happening.
She is taken in by The Ravens, and is taught to fight and finds out she has more power than she could have ever imagined.
While the Queneesh Elementary School student admitted she would like to pursue a career as a writer, “I’m still pretty young,” she added with a laugh.
For more information, visit katiefaithauthor.com.