Maricopa author pens young-adult superhero novel

“Most superhero stories start with a meteor shower or a nasty insect bite, but mine actually starts with a kiss.” 

This is the opening line of a new, young-adult genre novel called “Being Jamie Baker,” written by Maricopa author Kelly Oram.

Protagonist Jamie Baker, 17, gains “a slew of uncontrollable superhuman abilities” after an accident. She has to deal with her romantic interest, Rocklin High’s quarterback Ryan Miller, while trying to retain her anonymity and protect her powers from media exposure.

Oram says she has always loved to write but became obsessive about the hobby when she quit working to stay home with her first child. She started out writing fan fiction stories about celebrities or television shows and, eventually, decided to try creating her own characters.

“The young-adult genre has always been my favorite to read, so, when it came time to write a novel, there was never any question that I wanted to write for teens,” said Oram.

“Being Jamie Baker” was born from a desire to write a story about a girl with superpowers. “I’m a sucker for superheroes. While you can find hundreds of teen novels about vampires and werewolves, if you want a good old-fashioned superhero story, you pretty much have to look to comic books.” Oram said.

Her first draft took roughly seven months to write. Coming up with a story and its characters were just the beginning of a long writing and publishing process.

Oram was in the writing query letters to publishers and agents phase at a time when her husband was doing some graphics work for a multi-media company called Bluefields. They were looking to get into book publishing and were seeking mainstream material, preferably aimed at young females—the “Twilight” crowd. Oram’s husband gave them her manuscript, and they wanted to publish it, allowing her to be part of the creative process because they are a smaller publishing house.

From writing the very first sentence to seeing the book released has taken nearly three years. “It has been as frustrating as it has been exciting, and there were more than several times when I wanted to call it quits. But, I can’t tell you how rewarding it is to see all of my hard work come to life. I’ve learned so much and grown so much as a writer.”

Born in Mesa, Oram recently returned to Arizona after living in Los Angeles for six years. She and her family, husband Josh (to whom the book is dedicated), Josh Jr., Jackie and a baby boy expected this month, moved to Maricopa a year ago in May to be close to siblings and parents.

When she’s not chasing after children or writing, Oram said, “I read. I read, and I read, and I read. I love reading as much as I love writing. To me the two go hand in hand. In fact one of my favorite quotes is by Stephen King. ‘If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write.  Simple as that.’”  

I’m very excited to start all over and see what I can come up with next,” said Oram, but first there will be a new baby. Then, she adds, “maybe a vacation.”

To learn more about “Being Jamie Baker,” go to the website.

Submitted photo