Writer Highlight: February 2022

Hello Light-ers!

We are excited to show you a brand-new Highlight for February 2022, one who has contributed so much to our site! Keilah (otherwise known as Kluvs2write) is a 15-year-old girl from Florida, USA, who loves to write all fiction from dystopian to fantasy to sci-fi. She has completed a fun Q&A, designed a creative prompt and sent us an interesting piece for you to read! Without further ado, we give you, Keilah.

Featured Piece

Keilah's featured piece is What if...Clone Force 99 were lost on the Grid? It is a crossover of two sci-fi fandoms, Star Wars and Tron, and the beginning of a series, with a fast pace and crazy technology. Here is an excerpt:

As the elevator rose to its destination, Hunter could hear programs chanting. Their words were unclear for a minute, but soon he could make them out: “Disc wars! Disc wars!”

Disc wars? he thought. Then he looked around.

Programs were using their identity discs to fight, throwing them like Frisbees. Even some clones wearing light-suits were in the battles.

One program missed his target. The clone battling him threw his disc, hitting the program square in the chest. The crowd cheered as the program’s body shattered into tiny pieces.

“9901 versus 0503,” said a voice. Hunter looked up at where it’d come from. Was it talking about him?

It turned out it was. A program was brought into the same disc field. He looked vicious.

“You want to fight?” Hunter tried to imitate some of Wrecker’s bold confidence. “Give me all you got!”

If you have an account on Light, you can read the full story here!

Q&A

Q: How did you get into writing—

A: I used to hate writing assignments because I couldn’t hold a pencil properly. After learning that, I got a little better at it; then when my parents gave me a book of prompts and a notebook, I took off with humorous stories of an eel and a helicopter who were friends. I haven’t stopped writing since. I have two bookshelf sections full of notebooks.

Q: What is your favorite genre {fantasy, sci-fi, etc.} & why—

A: I actually love fantasy and sci-fi. I like imagining things. I also write a TON of fanfiction, most of it being “speculative fanfiction,” things that wouldn’t be plausible in the original story but happened in my head. I like writing dystopian, too, but it’s not a favorite genre to

read from.

Q: Who is your favorite author & why—

A: I don’t think I have a favorite. A few come to mind, such as Shannon Messenger for her Keeper of the Lost Cities series, Erin Hunter for her Warriors series, S.D. Smith for his Green Ember books, or Andrew Peterson for his Wingfeather Saga, but none of those can garner the top spot. (Notice that all those books are fantasy...)

Q: What is your favorite book & why—

A: Again, that’s hard. It changes from day to day—usually it’s whichever one I’m currently

reading.

Q: Why did you choose this piece to be featured—

A: I honestly like the whimsicality of it. I mean, at its core it’s just a bunch of siblings with crazy powers exploring—and trying to escape—from inside a computer. Tell me that isn’t weird! It’s also a crossover fanfic of my two absolute favorite movies/shows ever.

Q: What gave you the inspiration for this piece—

A: One of the other Lighters’ posts in the fanfiction group, actually. He wrote a Marvel/The Mandalorian crossover in the style of a Marvel What If? episode. I realized I had a similar idea and started writing it. Also, in Star Wars: The Bad Batch—the TV show I took the characters from (and a show I’m hopelessly obsessed with)—there was a scene in the first episode which resembled a scene in Tron Legacy, the movie I took the storyline from (and a movie I’m almost as crazy about).

Q: What is something that makes this piece stand out to you—

A: I often write Tron fanfictions while listening to the movie’s soundtrack, which means the scenes in this story closely match those in the actual movie—in other words, with the exception of a few scenes I cut, the original and mine match pretty closely. (I do imagine my stories as movies once in a while.) I liked how detailed this particular piece was, too. Read the other chapters once you’re done! I’m not finished with it, and really have to get around to that...

Q: What unique word do you use most in your writing {ominously, glorious, etc.} & why—

A: I’ve never paid attention to that. I try not to overuse words, but I don’t really look at what words I’m using instead.

Q: Do you think you want to pursue a career in writing? If not, what career do you have in mind & why—

A: I would like to be a biologist (probably a marine biologist), but I would definitely pursue writing as a second job. Maybe I’ll write biology papers, although I think my writing leans heavily toward fiction and not so much toward nonfiction.

Q: Which POV (point of view) do you use in your stories most {third-person close, first-person, etc.}—

A: Depends on what I'm going for. Nowadays, I often I use third person close or third person, but I used to use first person a lot.

Q: What is your writing process {what inspires you, etc.}—

A: Everything! I like to create fantasy creatures, especially half-human, half-animal creatures (I promise you, not as creepy as it sounds). I’m actually going to make that into my prompt, to create something entirely new and use it in a story.

Q: What do you enjoy about Light—

A: How it’s safe for younger kids, not just teenagers and up. Also, there are no political discussions. Not that I saw a lot of those before, I just don’t like them.

Q: How did you get involved in Light—

A: One of the Torch Lighters and I are good friends, and when we started moving off Write the World, she sent me the link for Light.

Q: What is one piece of advice you would give to younger/newer writers {about writing}—

A: You don’t have to worry if people don’t like your writing! My brother doesn’t like some of my ideas—he will have nothing to do with the ones he thinks are weird. But I keep writing them, because other people like them... and I like them. As long as it’s not something inappropriate, if you like writing it, then write it!

Question from Interviewer: Out of all your characters, which one is your favorite and why--

A: That is really hard. So many of my favorites are the ones I took from fandoms, rather than making them myself, so they don’t count, right? But if I had to pick a favorite from the characters I made up for my original story, it’d have to be one of my Dragonmen. His name is Alan Rinzler, and although the name’s a nod to the characters Alan and Rinzler in Tron Legacy (proof how much I like that movie), he’s very much his own character. He’s a cyborg and robotics teacher, but before that he created computer programs and robots to help him fight in wars. He was hurt badly in one battle, and his AI, Bone, sacrificed itself to help him get to safety—it rebuilt its pieces onto his body so that he’d survive his injuries. Although he’s probably going to end up being a minor character, I really like how I worked on his backstory, and I'm probably going to write a short side story about him, separate from the main series.

Prompt:

Keilah has created a super creative and fun prompt for you Light-ers to complete! It involves creating and designing brand-new creatures with crazy features and amazing powers. Read the full prompt here!

Thank you!

Thanks so much to Keilah, who has been a wonderful member of Light, always ready to comment, encourage, and post, and for being a part of this Highlight! Remember to always be a light in the darkness!

Happy Light-ing!

Your friends,

--The Torch-Lighters

Want to be featured for our next Writer Highlights? Message us to be added to the roster! All Highlights are picked randomly.