I kept my head down. I said all the right things. I had gotten good at swimming with little air left in my lungs, barely making a sound as I splashed. The end was finally in sight.
I was going to Fade, whisk away into nothingness. Just like everyone else. But I was content with it. I had done my part. I was ready to Fade to Ahret, ready to reach peace and bliss.
But then Parker challenges me about the truth behind the Fadings. I ignore it. I ignore him.
Until my best friend, Layla, becomes a Gardner. She slinks and lies. It makes my prior beliefs waver, forcing me to turn to Parker in pursuit of the truth.
This world has answers. Answers that want to be found. Answers that took my best friend from me. And I’m going to find them.
I describe my novel as a mix of science-fiction, dystopia, and fantasy. It doesn't fit in a box, and I love that about it.
I hope the journey of these two characters who explore love, friendship, and ikigai, inspire and empower you to stand up for a life you want to lead.
I was a junior in college when I first had a seed of an idea: what if people knew exactly when they were going to die?
Of course, that ended up not being my story at all.
But as someone who always loved dystopian stories like The Giver, or movies like Monsters Inc/Toy Story that played on the origin story for everyday encounters, I had the urge to explain a world that would manifest like that. And one by one, in attempts to explain phenomena after phenomena, I created an entirely different and unique world than I originally planned.
As much as I loved reading, I never thought I could write a book. Authors were too brilliant, weaving strings ways that left satisfying reveals in ways I thought impossible to do myself.
But I let the ideas simmer, writing random things down here and there between my science classes and research lab hours.
And then I saw the posting: Writing the Novel, taught by Dr. Joseph Scapellato at my university. I thought, this could be my chance to really take a stab at it! Having a class and some sort of training gave me confidence.
Except it was the highest creative writing offered, and I had none of the prerequisites. I emailed the professor, and he was kind enough to let it pass if I sent him a 5 page writing sample, something I definitely did not have. I still remember my research advisor saying "Take the afternoon in lab off! Go write that sample and get into the class." And I am forever grateful for his support in exploring multiple passions.
I wrote the first 50 pages of my novel in that class. I think I even got to page 70 in my senior year. And then I didn't touch it for a long time.
It wasn't until end of year 1 of my PhD that I decided to pick it up again. I had been procrastinating it, aware that I had lost momentum and the ideas I had built for a long time.
It took 2 dedicated years of meeting every 3 weeks, with the requirement of 1 chapter each time. These meetings were with another PhD student who I convinced to write a book, Francisco Torres-Torres. And eventually, my husband joined later on who I also (coincidentally) convinced to write a book.
I am proud to say that in May 2024, I completed my first full draft at 85k words. An idea that sparked 5 years prior to that, finally seen through. Draft 2 is going through a complete rewrite, with the goal of having a polished version by the end of 2025.