For freshman Randi Ryan, her “dream job” is no longer a dream. She recently published her first novel in May, Cat’s Game.
Cat’s Game was published through a self publishing company called CreateSpace.
Ryan created a cover and uploaded the over 300 page manuscript, which were sent to Amazon after publication.
“The fact that she already has a book published, that’s a huge accomplishment,” her English teacher Jocelyn Henderson said. “I want to sit down and interview her.”
Ryan decided to write a novel in sixth grade when she wrote a country report for Social Studies. “I had never been praised for my writing.” Ryan said. “So when my Social Studies teacher presented my report to the class, she said ‘this girl should be a writer.’ And I thought ‘hey, that’s not a bad idea.’”
Angela Ryan, Randi’s mother and PHS American Sign Language teacher said, “She has loved reading ever since she was very little. I think that started giving her ideas to create her own stories from there.”
The inspiration for the novel came to Ryan through her school’s play, It’s a Small World. “When you read the final manuscript, I have no idea how [it happened], but that’s where the idea initially started, and it evolved over two years,” Ryan said.
Cat’s Game revolves around “the Crescent”. The Crescent, a group formed by three friends, focuses on controlling the energy within one’s self to gain magic capabilities. However, the group was torn apart by one member’s selfishness. Fifteen-year-old Izzy is suddenly given the responsibility to reunite the group and restore order.
“[Today’s teen fiction is] revolved around suicide and paranormal romance,” Ryan expressed her frustration with the modern novels.
“When it comes to paranormal romance, the characters are perfect. In this book…[the characters] have flaws that set them apart from the norm of teen fiction.” she stated.
Currently, Ryan is working on her second novel in The Crescent Trilogy. “ I’ve evolved… as a writer. The sound of the story has actually come out the right way, [now] just continuing it and improving my writing as I go,” she implied.
