Teen writes novel to cope with tragedy

In today’s age of Amazon and Wattpad, it’s easier than ever for fledgling writers to get their work printed and in front of readers.

A Maricopa teen has used the formats to begin a series of teen novels. It wasn’t just the love of writing and the opportunity provided by the publishing platforms that drove her.

She wanted to write her way through a trauma. Writing her novel “I’ll See You Around” helped her do that.

“It was a way for me to cope,” said Sierra Wright, 17, a student at Sequoia Pathway Academy. “To get that out of my head I had to write it down.”

Sierra was friends with Nate Ford, who died more than a year ago in a traffic accident. Sierra attended early-morning Seminary class with Nate through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She had spoken with him the morning of the crash that took his life.

Though she never saw the accident scene, Sierra said horrible images kept coming into her mind.

Nate’s passing is mentioned in “I’ll See You Around” as a flashback for the main character, a college student trying to get over a difficult past while falling in love.

Sierra said she will donate the first $500 she earns through Amazon.com sales of “I’ll See You Around” to the Rocking 4D Foundation, which was established in Nate’s memory.

“He was very kind and loving,” Sierra said. “I never saw him without a smile on his face.”

The 84-page novella sells for $6.99.

The fact she was writing a novel surprised her parents, Tyler and Melissa Wright.

“It blows my mind,” Tyler Wright said. “I said, ‘You’re writing a book?’ To go from not liking to read to being an author, that was amazing.”

Sierra has a learning disability tied to her premature birth. Reading was initially an unhappy exercise, but Lara Price, who teaches at Sequoia Pathway turned that around.

Her teaching style connected with Sierra. Now she loves to read and has a particular love of writing. She got hooked on Rick Riordan’s “Percy Jackson” teen novels and Suzanne Collins’ “Hunger Games” trilogy.

Friends helped edit “I’ll See You Around,” and Sierra’s cousins Jack Looney and Sydney Irving agreed to be models for the cover. She has already started Book 2 in the planned four-book series.

“I’m hoping the next one will be a little bit longer,” Sierra said.

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This story appears in the December issue of InMaricopa.