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Teen of the Week: Farnsworth writes trilogy of young-adult books

By Tyler Bennett 4 min read

PARKERSBURG -- As the saying goes, "to write for your audience, you must know your audience."

It is safe to say Parkersburg South high school junior and young-adult author Abby Farnsworth knows her audience as she herself matches the demographic.

Being a big fan of the genre since the fourth grade, Farnsworth said that she enjoyed young adult literature not because the characters are of a similar age. But because she always found the stories more interesting compared to children or adult books.

"I've always loved reading, especially young adult books and not specifically because the characters are my age. Because generally, I find that they have more interesting plots because young adult writers don't feel like they have to cater to the expectations of adults." Farnsworth said. "At the beginning of elementary school, I hated reading. It was my worst subject and I did way better in everything else. Then in fourth grade, I was finally allowed to choose what I was reading and that made a big difference

Farnsworth's first book called "EverGreen" was released on March 8 through World Castle Publishing out of Florida. A young adult paranormal fantasy romance, Farnsworth said that EverGreen was supposed to be a one-off story, but decided to turn into a trilogy. The second book in the series to be released is called "Moonlight Skies" and is scheduled to be released later this year. The third book, "Fallen Snow" just started the planning process Farnworth's said.

Already having the book planned out in her head and once the quarantine started last spring, Farnsworth was able to finish the first draft of "EverGreen" in just three months, which she said she wasn't expecting to be done with writing that quickly.

Once finished and read by family and friends, Farnsworth then sent over 70 query letters to book companies on why they should publish her work. Hearing back from companies, Farnsworth worked out a deal with World Castle Publishing.

Farnsworth did say that she was surprised by her book getting published in just under a year, as it was going to be one of her goals before graduating college.

"I was shocked because you don't really expect it. I've read articles about people taking 10 years to write a book, and then 10 more years to publish one. I wrote mine and it was published within a year, it was shocking," Farnsworth said. "My goal was to have it published before I was out of college. So obviously that happened way faster and having two books out before I've graduated high school, and then the third one will be out afterward. It's definitely a lot more than I expected."

When writing her first book, Farnsworth said that having a specific outline of key events in the story for each section of the chapter helped her in her first creative writing experience.

After finishing with the "EverGreen" trilogy, Farnsworth is unsure what would be next for her, but she hopes to write a dystopian series at some point in her life.

In addition to taking classes at Parkersburg South, Farnsworth has been taking college credit classes at West University at Parkersburg while carrying a 4.1 grade-point average this school year. Farnsworth hopes to dual major once she gets to college, interested in double majoring in child development and criminal justice.

"I've always had an interest in politics, government and social sciences. So I'd like to be possibly a victim advocate or a social worker or something in that field," Farnsworth said. "If I make enough money from writing, I would like to do that full time. But right now writing will be my 'night-time job' in addition to my job during the day."

Farnsworth will hold a book signing and painting party at The Watering Can Art Studio in the Grand Central Mall on May 1 from noon-4 p.m. Learnshop packages will include the book and themed art. It will be Farnsworth's second book signing, the first being at J&M Books and Play in late March.

Contact Tyler Bennett at tbennett@newsandsentinel.com

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Abby Farnsworth

* Age: junior

* High School: Parkersburg South High School

* Skill: Author of young-adult books, EverGreen and Moonlit Skies

* Book Signing: The Watering Can Art Studio in the Grand Central Mall May 1 from noon to 4 p.m.

Source: Abby Farnsworth

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