I have some amazing news! My new YA series, Be Right Back, has received funding from the Ontario Arts Council (OAC). The series explores disability in ever-changing family dynamics.

Continuing to build family-friendly stories that celebrate diversity and look at tough questions, Be Right Backstars teenager Austin Tschirhart, whom many of my readers may have already met in Love on Belmont(Books #1 and #2) and Between Worlds (Book #9).

My Current Writing Style

Unique to this new series is the writing style. I usually write in what’s called the third person past, limited point of view. Much of what you read is likely written in this way. Here are some brief samples:

“You know what?” Aunt Anne said. “Why don’t they go to Mr. Casimiro’s for dessert?”

Mom’s eyes popped out of her head. “Oh, that sounds like a fabulous idea! I haven’t been in years!”

Juliana stared at both of them, but now even Sophie smiled. “But can we go by ourselves? Juliana’s fourteen.”

Taking advantage of Juliana’s age to get rid of the parents. Juliana liked how Sophie thought. ~Between Worlds 1: The Move

In this style, the scene is only told in the past, from the point of view of one character, but by referring to the character in the third person, i.e., they, he, or she. In addition, the reader only experiences what that character experiences.

A New Writing Style

Be Right Back will be a new journey for me, because I’ll be writing in the first person present. (“First person” automatically includes limited point of view.)

Reading a novel in this style will bring the reader right into Austin’s mind, where not only his thoughts and feelings but also his seizures, happen. Because of the nature of Austiin’s seizures, he’s not always aware of them. Indeed, his journey in the first novel is learning they exist at all.

Disability and Teen Fiction

When I was young, I read a lot of Jean Little’s books. Although I didn’t consider myself “handicapped” (the term we used at the time), I loved reading her stories about kids with disabilities. She had written in her memoir that she wanted to give the disabled children she was teaching the stories they were craving: stories about children disabled as they were, but who weren’t cured as part of the happy ending.

They wanted reality.

Much of my previous books so far—especially Between Worlds—have dealt with mental disability. Although Sophie, a supporting character in Between Worlds, has Stargardt disease, a rare eye condition, the better part of each novel focuses on the emotional trauma each of us carries inside.

Be Right Back includes not only that part of life, but also neurological disability.

How Much Is Personal?

This series is personal to me, but most of it is not from my personal life.

Although Austin’s absence seizures resemble to mine, his life story differs from mine in many respects:

• He discovered his seizures as a teen. / I discovered mine when I was 11.
• Austin can dive into the internet to research his diagnosis if he wants to. / There was no internet when I received my diagnosis.
• Austin’s seizures last up to 10 seconds. / Mine are under 4.5 seconds.
• Austin stares. / My eyelids flutter. (The technical term is eyelid myoclonia.)
• Ballet = life for Austin. / Ballet = a must-do art form for my dance competition career.

In addition to all of that, Austin’s regrets will differ from mine at that age.

If you’d like to stay up to date on the development of this series, send me your email address, and I’ll add you to the list. I email about once every two months, so your inbox will not explode.

I look forward to sharing Austin’s journey with you.