Featured Student Writer: Olivia Rivers

Olivia Rivers, a Visions' student in 11th grade, is already a published author of a young adult novel.  Olivia started writing seriously at the age of thirteen and eventually worked her way into the publishing business. Now, she is the author of Frost Fire, a YA paranormal romance.   Olivia donates some of the proceeds from her book to a charity called Dysautonomia Youth Network of America. Recently, the Word Squad staff had the pleasure of interviewing Olivia Rivers.

Q: What inspired you to start writing and at what age did you begin writing with the intention of publishing?

A: To be honest, I’m not sure what inspired me to start writing. I’ve always been an avid reader, so I suppose writing was the next natural step.  I started writing when I was thirteen, and began pursuing publication at fifteen. I joined writing critique groups, got two internships in the publishing business, and put myself on a strict writing schedule. Eventually, I got to the point where I believed my work was publishable.

Q: Can you tell us a little about your first novel, Frost Fire?

A: Frost Fire is a YA paranormal romance, and it is loosely based around the plot line of
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. It tells the story of Allai, a girl who has been raised to hunt
users of magic. Allai soon finds she has magical powers, and that she’s been hunting her own
kind. Frost Fire is my third completed novel and the first I’ve published.

Q: How did you come up with your title and cover design?

A: Originally, the title for Frost Fire was Sky Fall. When I learned there was a James Bond movie releasing with the same title, I knew mine would have to change. At first, Frost Fire was just a random place-holder title, and I had no idea how it tied into the book. Eventually, that title grew on me, to the point where I rewrote a small portion of the book to incorporate it.

The cover design was a little more complex of a process. I had a clear image of what I wanted it to look like—my character Drake, in his Demon form, looking angry and dejected. I took that mental image and did my best to replicate it using about 8 different photos and days of work. At the time of designing it, I was taking a digital art class from Visions. Because of this class, I was able to obtain Adobe Photoshop CS5, the program I used to create my cover.

Q: What can we expect to read next?

A: Currently, I’m working on writing the sequel to Frost Fire (titled Fire Soul) and editing a YA Epic Fantasy trilogy (the first two books are set to release in May.)

Q: What does your writing process involve? Where do you get your ideas for your stories?

A: My writing process involves multiple total-rewrites, many drafts, about a dozen rounds of edits
and line-edits, and quite a few beta readers. By the time I’m finished with a novel, there isn’t
one word that hasn’t been thoroughly scrutinized.  Because I write fantasy, my ideas usually start with world-building. (World-building is the process of creating a fictional world with its own politics, landscapes, religions, species, etc.) By the time I’m finished world-building, I usually have about five to ten characters in mind, all scattered across this fictional world. I then pick one character to focus on. Once I fully understand the character, I create a plot that would most challenge/transform their personality traits.

Q: Many of our students would like to know more about the publication process. Can you tell us about how you become published?

A: I chose a route called “self-publishing,” also known as “indie publishing.” Self-publishing is a
publishing route wherein the author handles the publication of the book, instead of a traditional
publishing house or small press. Just five years ago, the literary community frowned upon self-publishing. Now it’s undergone a transformation, and it is widely accepted. I chose this route because I’m a minor, and it’s extremely difficult and legally complicated for a traditional publishing house to sign with a minor. On the other hand, any minor can self-publish.

Q: You donate some of the proceeds from your book towards supporting youth with dysautonomia. Can you tell us more about that?

A: I have a rare medical condition called Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS). POTS
is a type of nervous system disorder called dysautonomia. The charity I’m donating proceeds
to—called the Dysautonomia Youth Network of America—is a wonderful organization that
furthers medical research and aids teens with my condition.

Q: Do you have any advice for our student writers?

A: This is totally cliché, but I believe it’s the best advice anyone can give: Read.  Read every day, read in multiple genres, read both indie and traditional books. You wouldn’t expect an architect to design a house if he didn’t know what materials create houses, so you can’t expect yourself to write a book without knowing what good books are made of. And the only way to figure out what makes a good book is by reading.


If you are interested in reading Frost Fire, you can order the Kindle edition on www.amazon.com.  The paperback version will be available within a couple of weeks.

Over the summer of 2013, Olivia Rivers will be mentoring young writers in creative writing. She has
two years of experience interning in the publishing industry, has written four novels, and regularly critiques the work of professional authors. Olivia also has one novel self-published with more to follow.

If you’re interested in being mentored by Olivia, please contact email us at thewordsquad@viedu.org and we will forward your information to Olivia.