What name means the number nine? What flower represents family? How do you hold a gun?
These are just a few questions junior Ella Siengsukon has typed into her computer’s search engine. She’s not looking for baby names or picking flowers. She’s writing a 50,000-word novel.
Siengsukon unofficially participated in a discontinued writing event in November, known as National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo.
She wrote 1,700 words a day — whether that’s quickly jotting down all the ideas she has or struggling through a period of procrastination towards her IB diploma course load.
“Getting in the zone with writing is absolutely the best feeling,” Siengsukon said. “It kind of feels like, have you ever had an argument or a discussion with someone, and then the words just click, and you just say the right thing? It's like that.”
Siengsukon’s original novel, “Eagle Feathers and Rose Petals,”has been a way for her to express herself through characters and themes, as well as help her grow as a writer.
Her story, set in a fantasy world, is about two siblings, a young girl named Beatrice and her older brother, Evan, and their family’s turbulent relationship after a violent fight.
Siengsukon’s been able to project the passive side of herself in Evan, as he usually sits on the side and watches events unfold. At the same time, Evan reflects Siengsukon in positive ways. Siengsukon loves art. Evan’s artistic. She’s the oldest sibling, and so is Evan. Siengsukon and Evan both have many inward thoughts that they don't want to share with the world.
“Me and my parents have a practice of venting to each other whenever we just need to get something out,” Siengsukon said. “[Writing Evan’s character is] kind of like that, but more of you talking to yourself, but just sounding a little less crazy.”
She also uses her story to get across messages based on her own experiences. A few years ago, she was in a restaurant when the waiter asked her, “What are you?” in reference to her race.
While it wasn’t the worst question, according to Siengsukon, biased comments like these have influenced her to make some of her characters judged by their eye color in her own novel as a hidden way to discuss discrimination, while it isn’t the main focus of her story.
“I more wanted [discrimination] to be a hidden second message that's like racism doesn't have to be in the forefront for it to be a problem,” Siengsukon said. “It can still be in the background in small comments or small gestures to make someone feel unhappy.”
Siengsukon first joined the contest after her friend, junior Ella Bruce, asked her, “Hey, you want to write for a month straight and write a ridiculous amount and probably get burnt out somewhere along the way?”
Siengsukon’s immediate answer was “Yes.”
A month later, with her schoolwork, Siengsukon often had to stay up late writing her novel to keep up with the word count — and she’s still not finished.
Even though she’s reached her 50,000 word count, she still has plans to continue her novel past November and is interested in publishing it eventually. She’ll continue having the late nights to write after finishing all her homework, but also experiencing the feeling of motivation when she could type out 1,700 words in 90 minutes.
“You can just articulate all the messy, incomprehensible stuff that happens in your head that's so hard to explain,” Siengsukon said. “And it just comes out in a way that’s articulate and makes sense to someone else, and that’s just you, and it's amazing.”
Read an excerpt from Siengsukon's book below.
Eagle-Feathers-and-Rose-Petals-excerpt-for-Harbinger
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