Alana begins work on her third book

What time do you compete?

I compete at 12.

Okay, so you got a while. Does your brother compete before then?

He does. Since he's younger, he competes at 9, so in an hour for me.

Good, good. Well, yeah, how is your summer going? What have you been up to?

It's been great. There's definitely— there's more tournaments been— there's more tournaments just because it's summer and we've been doing some of those.

Mm-hmm.

Um, um, let's see, we were out and about a few days ago. Um, I've been hanging out or going to friends' houses and stuff a lot, um, working on projects and things like that. It's been awesome.

Wonderful. What kind of projects you've been working on?

Um, so there's the Abigail Williams book that I've gotten more into, um, and my idea for some other project was to make a card game, but I really have no idea how I'm gonna do that. Um, so I'm definitely gonna have to look more into that.

That's interesting. Um, what gave you the idea to create a card game?

Um, there's, um, one of my dad's or one of our favorite spots in OB, Ocean Beach, that we go to a lot. Um, and it has all sorts of games and things like that. And one of the games was really, really hilarious, but it was sort of inappropriate for children. So, and I want— so I wanted to make a version that was appropriate for children. Uh, it was really funny.

Do you have somebody to work on that with you, or would you do it solo?

Um, I mean, possibly my brother and then definitely my dad.

Mm-hmm.

Um, but no friends outside of that so far.

Got it. Very interesting. Um, there's actually a card game that we're going to use, uh, for one of our electives next fall that somebody created. I will send you— there's a virtual version. There's actually a physical card version. There's a virtual version. I'll send you a link and you can see it. And I have no idea if it's anything like what you're thinking about, but I think it is an interesting thing to create card games. And I think people need new ways to have fun together. So good for you. And Abigail Williams, we spoke a few months and you were kind of taking a pause from your writing. Tell me what brought you back.

Um, I was thinking about it and I thought I had some really good ideas. Um, I want to have some kind of draft before August, um, just so that I can edit and then go off from there.

So you have two completed Abigail Williams books, is that correct?

Yes.

So this would be number three?

Yes.

Can you tell me the exciting ideas, or are they top secret?

Well, they're not top secret, but if you're going to read it, um, but you might. I do want to keep them the surprise.

Okay, no spoiler alerts allowed. Okay, um, we had talked about, uh, you know, the, uh, oh, what is it, the pyramid? I'm forgetting what it's called, but the kind of narrative structure. Do you remember, um, what I'm talking about?

Somebody's Arc or Triangle or something.

Yes, Triangle or Pyramid. One of us will remember it shortly. But remember, do you remember the pieces of that at all?

Um, there was the beginning. I know rising action, climax, something about decreasing the climax and then resolve.

Yeah, it's wonderful how well you've got that internalized. So are you going to think about that kind of a structure as you write this, this third novel, this third book?

I don't think it's exactly like that because there's a lot of climax, or I want there to be a lot of climax points instead of just one. And then maybe multiple resolving and then another problem. I'm not quite sure how it'll go.

I've seen version, and it's annoying that I can't remember the name of that, but I've seen versions where it's kind of like a jagged— I'm going to try to do with my hand— kind of like a jagged up. Let's see, it's hard to do it, but, you know, instead of just one climax, it kind of goes up and down, up and down. So it's possible to have multiple resolutions, multiple climaxes, and multiple resolutions. But one way, I guess one way you can think about it, and it really is up to you, is are they all of the same intensity, or are they building towards a bigger one, or do you have the biggest one at the beginning and then it goes down? Do you know what I mean? You can kind of, you can have the overall trajectory, uh, even with multiple climaxes. And have you thought about, is there one really big one that it all builds to, Or are they all kind of equivalent in kind of importance?

I think I was thinking about that, and I think that they're all leading, or I want them to be leading to something bigger or the ending or the big moment of whatever happens.

That's my instinct. I think one of the reasons this pyramid is often used is even if you have multiple climaxes building to the biggest one, I think having one real big one, there's this sort of emotional building. Does that make sense?

Yes.

And so you can kind of build and then have a little resolution and then build and a little resolution, but I think it's more exciting if it's all building to something really intense at the end. Um, and it sounds like you have a lot of plot details decided, but you do not yet kind of have the, the overall arc. Is that correct?

Yes. Um, I like writing as I go sometimes where, um, I get ideas as I go because I've done the usual way where you write out all of your ideas and then that's your official story. But then after a while, like, I don't stick with it most of the time. And I lose interest.

Yep.

So I like doing it my way.

No, that totally makes sense. The other thing is character development. Do you think that Abigail Williams will develop as a character more this time than in previous books?

I'm trying to make her develop in some way. I just haven't put enough thought into that besides the actual plot.

So I have known writers, famous writers sometimes, who say the way they write is they get so inside their characters' heads that in some ways the characters almost write the book, which, you know, is an exaggeration if taken literally. But do you feel as if you're inside Abigail Williams' head, or are you getting there? You muted. I can't hear you.

My bad. There was a family walking by and they were making a lot of noise. Um, uh, I think I'm not quite there, but that is sort of like 5% what I'm doing. But that's a good idea.

You're my— it seems like you're a lot older and more mature than you were last time you wrote one of these books. Wasn't it like 2 or 3 years ago when you last wrote one of these?

Um, I don't think it was quite that much. I wrote my first one when I was 7 or 8.

Okay.

Second one when I was 9, and then this one when I'm 10 or 11.

Okay. So yeah, kind of 2 years apart. Um, but yeah, I expect that because you are more mature, that the character development side is also something that can be more sophisticated. That is, you're an older and wiser and different person than you were when you were 9. Is that fair enough to say?

Yes.

And so in a way, yeah, it's not about Abigail Williams' age, right? I don't remember her age being too important. Is that correct?

Yeah, I never really mentioned her age. I thought that wasn't important.

Yeah, I totally get that. But just as a character, you know, if she was to develop, will Tell me, do you like the idea of character development or not?

I do.

What's the value of character development? Why is it when you read things, for instance, do you like to read things where there's some character development?

I do. And I think that one of the main reasons is because when they learn a lesson, as in some stories or a lot of stories, there's some moral or lesson. And if the character doesn't develop from that and learn it, then the character is just the same as he or she was.

Mm-hmm. Um, and yeah, I, I remember your first Abigail Williams more clearly than the second one. My sense is that in the first one, there's very little character development. Does that sound accurate?

Yeah.

Okay. And you were only 7. Okay. So I think character development is not something that 7-year-olds probably get into a lot. So do you have any idea what the lesson might be that Abigail learns or how her character might develop over this, this new book?

I have some sort of a plan on how I'm going to do that. I want there to be some sort of moral that kids could learn, but We'll see.

Okay, no problem. So I, again, I'm excited to hear you're back into writing. It was actually— I was actually a little bit sad when— do you remember we were talking like 2 or 3 months ago and you said you're not interested in writing right now?

Yes.

Why was that? What changed?

Um, I mean, to be honest, I think it was just because in my mind, I already had 2 books, and I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with the 3rd. I was— I mean, it took a really long time with a lot of delays, but— or not a really long time. It took some time with delay that I started forming ideas. But I think that now that I'm more back into it, I'm definitely on that train. Got it.

Do you think maybe it helps that it's summer and maybe during the school year you're so busy you didn't have kind of the bandwidth for this, and in summer you have more kind of time for your mind to imagine?

Yeah, but I don't think I should just poison on that reason because I had a lot of time. It's just I wasn't really focusing on what to do with it.

And that's okay. We all go through phases. Some— I go— sometimes I'm into this project and then that project. I've always got lots of projects going on. And sometimes one kind of just feels ready to go. Yeah, so does that make sense that sometimes, for whatever reason, you're ready for a project and other times you need to put it in the background?

Yes.

OK, well, cool. I'm so glad you're back into it though. That's very exciting. And I want you to think about narrative structure and character development. And just to check in, are you still working on Harvard CS50?

I am. I'm almost done with the Week 0 project. It's taking me a little while because I had some bumps in the project that I had to figure out. But it's okay.

No problem. Bumps are good. Bumps mean you're struggling and learning. It's just like, I assume in jiu-jitsu, it's hard to have— I mean, it's good to have a challenge because challenges help you grow. Is that accurate?

Confident.

So I think it's just the same in anything. So in your Harvard CS50 and Scratch project, having bumps is good. It means you had to learn. All right, in which case, very— I wish you a really great competition today. And I can't wait to hear more about your book developing over the summer. OK?

Awesome. Thank you, Michael.

You're welcome. Take care. Bye-bye.