Fighting to the Top- Senior Writes Novel

Senior Taylor Thompson poses with the paper copy of her first novel.

Senior Taylor Thompson is just like your average teenage girl; she acts in her free time for the school theatre, watches movies, stays up to date on her favorite celebrities (Leonardo DiCaprio and Chloe Grace Moretz) and somehow found the time to write her first full length novel.

“I think I realized that I really loved writing when I was in 6th grade,” Thompson said. “It just hit me that writing was something that I was meant to do.”

This summer Thompson took only 35 days to write her debut novel Fight. According to Thompson’s Goodreads page, Fight “explores the hardships of two characters pasts while showing that the future can be unexpected.”

“The song ‘The Fighter’ by The Fray gave me a picture and I expanded the picture into a storyline,” Thompson said. “The ending came to me far before the whole plot. I didn’t have to constantly strain myself for inspiration- the characters just became a part of me and I fell in love with their story.”

Fight was originally available only as a Kindle version, but now the book is available in paperback online on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

“Holding the book in my hands for the first time was crazy!” Thompson said. “I couldn’t stop smiling and I wanted to constantly look at the book just to make sure it was still real. It just seems so surreal that I have to keep checking to make sure I didn’t dream it up.”

Thompson, who plans on attending Texas State University to pursue a degree in English, aspires to become an editor for a publishing house in the future.

“One way or another, books and writing will always be incorporated in my life,” Thompson said. “I can’t imagine ever having the urge to stop writing.”

Thompson admits to having constant doubts about Fight during the writing process, but still persevered due to the support of her friends and family.

“Most of my friends seemed that they were in awe,” Thompson said. “My mom kept asking when it [Fight] would be finished so she could read it and my dad was just happy for me. This experience is really crazy.”

Thompson herself is still in awe of having her own book in her possession and with having author profiles on Amazon and Goodreads, two accomplishments that set her apart from her peers.

“It’s something that I never believed would happen to me, yet it did,” Thompson said. “So now I know to continually go with the belief, ‘If you want something, go for it.’ It worked for me, why shouldn’t it work for anyone else?”