Creating my very
own superhero
A.T. Raydan
When I was a teenager, growing up in a house full of
boys, I was obsessed with wonder woman – but in fairness, there weren’t that
many other female superheroes for a young girl to choose from.
I’ve always loved superheroes and YA fiction, but it
wasn’t until I was expecting our first son (and so got to take a really long
time off work) that I decided I wanted to create my own superhero, one that
didn’t fit in to the usual ‘female-superhero moulds’ like Wonder Woman or Cat
Woman. The lead character in Chopstix, Wendy Wu, is a Chinese girl that has
grown up in the west.
In my free time (when I wasn’t feeding or changing or
just generally getting to grips with our new baby!), I started to jot down a
few ideas and then, when I built up the confidence, I shared these with my
friends and family, and to my amazement, rather than laugh, they encouraged me
to develop the ideas further and see where my creativity would take me.
I would sit for hours at my computer tapping away,
writing draft after draft; it was a long time until I actually had the first
tangible chapter of Chopstix. Part of
the reason it took me so long was because I wanted to create a whole-new fantastic
world and a brand-new story full of unique characters, hidden magic, which is no
small task, but most of all I really wanted the plot to capture the essence of
true human feelings, and evoke my reader’s emotions.
I also am a firm believer that literature can empower
people, whether young or old, and YA literature has a great potential to do
this. So with the book, from the very beginning I wanted it to incorporate
sensitive issues that readers could connect with, like bullying and loss which
both play big parts in the narrative of the story, for example when I wanted to inspire readers to be true to
themselves in a fun way, and also be kind to others.
And so with all this in mind Chopstix was born, A
superhero born in New Valliant City, as simple Wendy Wu, who loses her parents
in a heart-breaking fire and discovers a world of myth and magic that she has
been ancestrally bound to from birth.
Chopstix
by A.T Raydan is published by Unique Inspiration (paperback, £6.99). Available
online from Waterstones here.
NEXT STOP: Check out SuddenlyLorna as she
kicks off the Chopstix Challenge over on Youtube!
YESTERDAY’S STOP: See
Pretty Little Memoirs’
Q+A with YA superhero Chopstix!
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