People assume I’m obsessed with ghosts and that’s what inspired the Kara Michelson series. Others expect some epic origin story for why I decided to write about teenagers who see ghosts.
The truth? I’ve read maybe two ghost books in my entire life. Definitely not an obsession. Simple, fourteen-year-old logic inspired the fantasy aspect of my novel.
As I was nearing self-publication with my children’s chapter book Secrets, Lies, and Blurry Minds, I knew I wanted to keep writing—I just didn’t know what about. I wanted to publish something fresh, something people weren’t reading every day. So, at fourteen, I figured ghosts hadn’t taken over the fictional world in a while.
That’s how I landed on the fantasy element of my novel. Simple as that. Except I was wrong—Stephen King released Later, another ghost story, in 2021. I contracted Living in Silence, also about ghosts, in 2022. I started my novel before King’s came out, but still: swing and a miss.
Why did I move on from children’s literature and write a young adult series?
I read a lot of action, adventure, and fantasy—books that never slowed down and twisted the real world into something new. As an advanced reader, I dove into young adult books earlier than most. They made me view high schoolers, 14- to 18-year-olds, as people who had their lives together, were practically adults, and could do everything on their own.
That’s so… wrong. When I entered high school and continued to read books about kids my age going through turmoil and witnessed how they interacted with their peers, it seemed… off. Well, the authors of those books were usually in their forties when they wrote them. They weren’t feeling the hurt and anger they tried to capture in their writing right then. I was.
So, at fourteen, I wanted to keep writing and was annoyed with how kids my age were portrayed, whether they had wings or not. That’s why I chose to write a young adult book. A teen writing about teens: I thought I was brilliant. I lived the ups and downs of high school, made up fictional but realistic interactions between teens, and shoved them down my characters’ throats.
I wrote most of the Kara Michelson duology during my junior and senior years and finished the rough draft before graduation. (The cover photo of this post is from the year I started writing my book!) I’d assumed I’d self-publish like before, but after asking many people to edit my book––adults I am beyond grateful for––I saw a future of traditional publication as a possibility.
That prospect marked the beginning of the slow death of my hope to publish fresh out of high school.
During my freshman year of college, Written Dreams Publishing reached out to say they wanted my book. Yes, I called the Kara Michelson duology “one book” on purpose—it used to be a single, lengthy novel. Too long, apparently. Written Dream’s speed reader determined there was enough story for two books. Hence the cliffhanger in book one!
Four years and a novel split into two later, I’m a published young adult author. Publication took longer than expected, but people get sick, life happens, and eventually, you end up where you need to be. I’d hoped to be published before turning twenty, but working with Brittiany Koren, a professional editor who’s collaborated with New York Times bestsellers, was a surreal experience that I wouldn’t trade for anything.
As you read Living in Silence, remember: the majority of the story was written by a seventeen-year-old. It may have taken until August 25th, 2025, to see print, but I wrote a story about teens while I was living amongst them.
Point, Nora.
