Ava Thomas is a junior at Fossil Ridge High School who published her first book, “Sweet Revenge,” last October. Taking after many other authors, she created a pen name for her writing, Ava Jaylynn- her first and middle name.

Although this is her first published book, Thomas had written one book prior that ignited her passion for writing.

“I had decided that I wanted to write something that had more substance… characters [that] had darker backgrounds and real world problems and real world traumas,” Thomas expands.

“Sweet Revenge” is based around the main character, Kiki, and her journey through grief and healing from the loss of her family. Thomas used this as a sort of coping technique to help her through her own grief after losing her father when she was 11.

“I’ve lost family, so I wouldn’t necessarily say [it was] therapeutic but almost just needed for me to in-depth examine a character who was going through what I was going through in some version,” Thomas says.

Her father was a huge inspiration to her. He was a graphic designer and growing up around his work influenced her to design her own art and cover.

She incorporates her father into other details of her book. As a kid, Thomas and her father would pass an empty building every day and ponder all the possibilities for the building.

“We started making ideas of what it could turn into, and we landed upon a kind of café with art and books. So I based that café idea off of that,” Thomas says.

That memory made its way into Sweet Revenge as the Lunar Delights Café; the main character’s favorite spot.

Her mom on the other hand, Aisha Thomas, is also a published author of the book “The Only Way Through,” as well as Ava’s biggest supporter. With her previous experience, she jumped at the opportunity to aid Ava in her efforts to publish a book, especially after reading her previous unpublished book.

“I loved the idea of her writing a book, she’s always been super creative. She’s just always had a gift for it so I was super excited to make it happen,” Aisha explains.

With her mom as her editor, they both got through the long process of revising and formatting the book.

“Formatting, I thought I wouldn’t survive; it was so intense. It was a very frustrating process, but I was determined to get it exactly how I wanted it,” Ava comments.

Although the editing and formatting process was long and intense, Thomas went on to say it was not the most difficult aspect of writing her book. Rather, the issues it caused with her close friends at the time.

“They were talking about me behind my back saying how they were worried about me, that I was spending too much time on my book, how my grades were gonna slip and I wasn’t gonna get into college because I wasn’t good enough,” Ava talks about the wedge her book drove between her and her friends.

However, the reward was well worth it as Thomas describes the best part about writing a book.

“Holding the final copy in my hands. After all that time brainstorming and writing for an hour or more a day and all my writing sprints where I’ll take a week and just write, and all the formatting and the beta reading and the editing and everything and then just having it in your hands and reading your work when it’s fully edited. It’s the best feeling ever,” Ava says.

Both her mom and her sister, Sahara, go on to encourage Ava to rewrite and publish her first unpublished book as an addition to the trilogy she plans to create, The Bubblegum Assassin.

“This one I was amazed with, it was really good. [Even] 10 times better than the last book, everything improved… I think her starting with the first book really was a good kickoff to learning how to write and finding her style,” Sahara comments on Ava’s unpublished book.

In the end, the process of writing a book has its ups and downs, but for Ava, it was pure excitement. She continues her wonderful journey as she writes her second book, “Deceitful Truth.”

This story was originally published on Etched in Stone on March 8, 2024.