A 16-year-old author from Maple Ridge has published her second book.
The Trio is Leanne Van Dongen’s latest novel released by RoseDog Books over the summer and is the second book in her Showtime series.
The story is about three sisters, Trina, Trixie and Tracey Blaze, triplets who are looking forward to an upcoming dance competition. But Trina breaks her ankle and doesn’t think she will be able to compete. Her sisters, however, are still hopeful.
“So it’s kind of a debate whether they are going to compete or not,” said Leanne about the book.
Her first book, called Kate the Great, came out last year. That book is about a girl who wants to take part in a talent show at her middle school. Kate McClora wants to learn her older sister’s magic tricks for the show, but instead of being fun, it turns into a competition with her rival Abby that Kate is determined to win.
Leanne needs silence to write and sits in a corner nook in the kitchen of her house when she does.
She prefers to write everything by hand before typing up on her computer and sending it to her publisher.
Leanne told her mother Anita that she wanted to be an author when she was 10 years old. At the time, her mother told her she could be whatever she wanted to be. Now Leanne has realized her dream.
She started writing Kate the Great when she was 12 years old
“I’ve always loved writing, even when I was younger. And to be doing it for real, I just think it’s really cool and I really enjoy it,” said Leanne, adding that even though it is a fun experience, there’s a lot of work in writing a book.
What Leanne enjoys most is being able to use her imagination to create a story.
“I kind of think of a book title and have faint ideas of what they are going to be about,” Leanne explained about her process.
“Also, what characters I want to be in them, like their names. Sometimes as I’m writing, it just comes out. I don’t have to mentally think it through, sometimes it just happens as I go along,” she said.
Leanne’s final book in the series is already in the works, called Stage Fright, about a girl who plays piano. One day while the girl is giving a performance, there is an incident and she becomes scared about returning to the stage. Her friends and family try to help her through it.
Her next series of books is going to be based in fantasy. Leanne has always been fond of Disney princesses and fairy tales. The collection of three books will be called Unicorns about a little girl in a magical land with dragons, fairies and unicorns. When one unicorn goes missing the little girl tries to find it.
Leanne’s books are for those ages nine to 12. But she doesn’t want to stick with this age group forever. Another idea she has is writing a frightening series of novels for adults. She already has a working title, Hunters of the Night.
• Trio is available at Black Bond Books in Haney Place Mall, 11900 Haney Place, and on Amazon for $15.