I am reposting part of my questions here as the people on the YA form said this piece was more MG than YA.
I am working on story about a 12-year-old surviving twin who lost her parents and twin brother at birth in a car accident. Malika Evelyn (Evy) feels out of place so she creates this idealistic world in her mind with her birth parents and brother, calls her cousins who have been her "parents" since birth by their first names, and insists on being called by her middle name because it belonged to her birth mother. Evy learns to become a leader by organizing other students in an effort to raise money to save a sick kitten. Through the mentoring of her grandfather, Evy overcomes motor difficulties to perform in a traditional Native dance as part of the fundraising effort.
Partway through the story she gets lectured for calling her adoptive parents/cousins Dan and Rena and begins calling them Mom and Dad like she once did.
Her decision to be called Evy was a recent decision rather than something she was called all her life. At the conclusion of the novel should she decide to go by her origional first name? Her first name was given to her by her adoptive mother and is a deriviation of Rena's middle name Mikayla.
I think this change may symbolize the transition out of her fantasy world but I'm afraid it will also create confusion. If I did this, it would be in my final chapter of the book.
This is my planned last paragraph if I do decide to go this route
"You will always be a part of who I am but so are my family and friends here. I will end my story with the last paragraph of anassignment I did in class today because I think it says what I want to say best.
Not long ago, I thought I didn’t belong anywhere. I wanted to be anybody other than who I was. I tried calling myself by my middle name, trying to start my own country, and even wanting to run away from this world to a place where everything was perfect. None of these things worked. Making a difference in this world did. I found out I did not need to be Prime Minister to make a difference. I just have to be Malika Evelyn Deaki member of Earth club, citizen of the world."
I am working on story about a 12-year-old surviving twin who lost her parents and twin brother at birth in a car accident. Malika Evelyn (Evy) feels out of place so she creates this idealistic world in her mind with her birth parents and brother, calls her cousins who have been her "parents" since birth by their first names, and insists on being called by her middle name because it belonged to her birth mother. Evy learns to become a leader by organizing other students in an effort to raise money to save a sick kitten. Through the mentoring of her grandfather, Evy overcomes motor difficulties to perform in a traditional Native dance as part of the fundraising effort.
Partway through the story she gets lectured for calling her adoptive parents/cousins Dan and Rena and begins calling them Mom and Dad like she once did.
Her decision to be called Evy was a recent decision rather than something she was called all her life. At the conclusion of the novel should she decide to go by her origional first name? Her first name was given to her by her adoptive mother and is a deriviation of Rena's middle name Mikayla.
I think this change may symbolize the transition out of her fantasy world but I'm afraid it will also create confusion. If I did this, it would be in my final chapter of the book.
This is my planned last paragraph if I do decide to go this route
"You will always be a part of who I am but so are my family and friends here. I will end my story with the last paragraph of anassignment I did in class today because I think it says what I want to say best.
Not long ago, I thought I didn’t belong anywhere. I wanted to be anybody other than who I was. I tried calling myself by my middle name, trying to start my own country, and even wanting to run away from this world to a place where everything was perfect. None of these things worked. Making a difference in this world did. I found out I did not need to be Prime Minister to make a difference. I just have to be Malika Evelyn Deaki member of Earth club, citizen of the world."
Last edited:
