Madeleine Chin has been a bookworm her entire 11-year life, or at least since she learned to read about five years ago in kindergarten.
But her literary passions didn’t stop at reading. When she reached the first grade, she spent endless recesses writing stories with her friends.
“We’d sit around this small table, we would get printer paper and we would pour over ideas,” Madeleine said. “It was just so exciting for me and I guess it was really intriguing because I was pretending that I was an author even though the entire time all we ever did was draw the cover and sometimes the table of contents.”
Madeleine, a Great Neck South Middle School student, can now call herself an author as her second self-published novel “Behind the Spotlight” is released – going well beyond the cover and the table of contents she used to stop at.
Madeleine’s shelves are filled with fantasy books, a genre she said she is addicted to and a style she loves to write in. An aspect of fantasy writing she said she loves is how flexible of a genre it is and the liberties she can then take as a writer.
“Ever since I was in kindergarten, ever since I could read, I’ve been a bookworm practically my entire life,” Madeleine said. “I just really love reading books.”
Madeleine’s latest book “Behind the Spotlight” takes a step away from the author’s favorite genre.
“Behind the Spotlight” is a 350-page realistic fiction novel, pulling from Madeleine’s personal experiences as a dancer for inspiration.
The novel details the life of talented dancer Mella Zhang as she traverses challenges in dancing yet works to overcome them and learns the true meaning of being a dancer.
Writing “Behind the Spotlight” included its challenges, Madeleine said, due to its limiting nature compared to fantasy writing.
Madeleine’s first novel “Protector Stones” explores the world of fantasy, following a young girl who discovers she is a Marked One and must prevent her possessed grandmother from taking over a magical land she was suddenly thrown into.
“[When writing] ‘Protector Stones’ I felt like I could really go wild because I made a whole atmosphere with the environment and the school and the entire world,” Madeleine said.
Madeleine’s parents gifted her a laptop when she was eight years old, a pivotal moment for Madeleine as she said her writing limits were then diminished.
“Now I didn’t have to spend all the time on the cover and the table of contents because now all I had to do was just write,” Madeleine said. “So my drafts started getting to like 2,500 words and that was then I really felt motivated.”
Madeleine said she thought she could be an author when she grew up, but Madeleine didn’t wait to grow up to seize her aspirations.
Now, the biggest challenge Madeleine said she faces is keeping up her writing every day.
“There would be times I was just staring at a blank screen, trying to write and I just can’t,” Madeleine said. “It doesn’t matter if I had it planned out or not. I just can’t twist words into what I want it to look like on my screen.”
But Madeleine said sometimes the only solution is to step away and pick it back up the next day.
“But the next day my brain is always a little more awake,” Madeleine said.
In coming out with her second novel, Madeleine said her focus this time around was ensuring the “editing was on point.” She said this wasn’t so much the case in her first novel due to the exciting nature of getting it out there.
But the second time around she wanted to make sure everything was done right and took about three months to edit her book. She said this was one of the most challenging aspects of writing her sophomore novel.
“Seeing words on a screen for extended periods of time is just so exhausting,” Madeleine said.
But Madeleine didn’t achieve her feat all on her own, finding support from her parents along the way. This included them lending a hand in editing.
Madeleine said she found a lot of support from her mom.
“Even though she’s not a writer, she’s always helped me,” Madeleine said. “She was the one who really helped me with editing and basically carried me through the journey and she helped me with keeping a growth mindset to move forward.”
Madeleine’s mom, Margaret Chin, said it has been a good learning experience for her daughter and has been amazed watching her dedicate herself to writing.
“We’re definitely really proud but we also try to keep her grounded,” her mom said.
With her second published, Madeleine has already started crafting her third novel – which she is keeping under wraps for now as she continues developing her idea.
Madeleine will host an author event at the Great Neck Library at 3 p.m. on Sept. 29. Patrons are invited to attend at the Main Library Branch.