by Kayla Nalepa
Apprentice Editor
Caine perusing her new novel.
“A big part of being a writer is wanting to be understood,” senior Erin Caine said. She wants to be understood through her novel.
Caine has been writing Wicked Game, a young adult fiction novel now available on Amazon. The book is about a girl named Jenny Cable who goes to live with her estrange father to discover that she is part of a secret society. Adding a spark of excitement to Calvert County, the book takes place in Maryland and parts of D.C.”I wanted to be comfortable with the locations I was writing about,” Caine said.
Most books have some sort of relevance to what’s happening in today’s world and in this case Wicked Game is reflective to teen decision-making. “We always have these life changing decisions and Jenny’s story shows the struggles we face as teens,” she said. The young adult genre has been inspiring for her as they include popular common topics. “I try to stay relevant to what all teens are going through,” Caine said
The novel includes a lot of color symbolism and that is a key role in the cover.” My sister and I went out in the snow and saw this cool thorn-bush, so I took colors and added to it. They are red and blue and represent a decision between the two,” Caine said. Her favorite parts of the novel include an intense fight scene towards the end and when one of the characters Samuel confronts different things throughout the book.
Although having the book finished wasn’t easy, it took years for Caine to get it complete. “I started when I was 13 and gave up on it at first but then when I was about 15 I picked it back up and started to write again,” she said. Though there is a lot of thought that goes into writing especially if you have high expectations from yourself. “Writing a book is hard, you want it to be perfect,” Caine said. “I don’t think people realize how difficult it really is.”
But she didn’t always dream of being a writer, when she was younger she wanted to be an artist. “I felt I wasn’t portraying how I really felt so I tried explaining with words,” she said. “I started to get better at it and now I have my own book.” Ever since she was 10 years old she has had a dream of writing and now has decided she would like to become a novelist, looking up to writers such as Cassandra Clare, Lanie Taylor and Leigh Bardugo.
“It’s a little weird. Its strange to think I have the book finished and published,” she said. The novel is a planned trilogy since she has tons of ideas now that the first book is finished. She has already begun to write the second book in her series. “So far, the second one is at about 20,000 words so it’s about 20% done.”