"I had a dream about it."
This is how 13-year-old author Kyla LoPresti describes the origins of her debut novel, Flashback.
"When I woke up, I started writing," Kyla explains.
Kyla LoPresti, of West Haven, will be at this , where you can pick up a copy of Flashback and speak with her about it.
From Idea to Finished Novel
It took four months for Kyla to finish the novel's first draft, followed by another eight months of working with an editor, Richard Krawiec, in order to finalize the book.
When asked how Darcy LoPresti, Kyla's mom, discovered her daughter's novel, Kyla playfully interjects, "She went into my bookbag."
Darcy read those initial pages and "thought it was really good."
Plot-wise, half of Flashback takes place in the 1800s, during the main character Isabelle Violet Halloway's past life. She is reincarnated in present day, where her killer is still alive.
The love of Isabelle life attends the same school as her, adding to the conflict. Darcy explains that Kyla did a great deal of research for the novel's 17th century sequences.
At first, Darcy ordered a small run of self-published books through Amazon, but as she explains, "those sold out in a day."
Kyla's Process
"I have to write with a mechanical pencil and a notebook. I edit errors when I type it," Kyla says, noting that she types all of the pages on her computer after having written it all out by hand.
When asked how she balances writing novels with school work and other obligations, Kyla quickly responds, "No sleep."
Darcy seconds this, "She's always up." Darcy notes that she used to take Kyla to a pediatrician, who told her that some people don't need a lot of sleep.
"She gets high honors in school," Darcy said, displaying further evidence of Kyla's great balancing act.
What's Next
Kyla is hard at work on a follow-up to Flashback. "I ended on a cliff-hanger," she says. "I think there's going to be either four or five books."
After high school, Kyla is hoping to studying at NYU. Kyla's father, Richard LoPresti, has joked that when Kyla goes to college, she can commute into New York City with him, since he works there.
Those long train rides would provide Kyla with a lot of time to write.
