YORKTON - Yorkton’s Hayden DeGrow has launched his first book – one for the young adult market.
“My book, ‘All It Takes is One’, is a young-adult novel starring a high school senior girl,” he told Yorkton This Week.
“Without spoiling too much, the book is about what happens when the girl becomes the victim of a terrible tragedy and decides to rise up against the odds to prevent the tragedy from happening again. She runs into several obstacles along the way, but her difficult upbringing taught her not to give up, and she eventually succeeds in her mission, becoming a role model for everyone needing a voice.”
DeGrow, who gave a reading at the Culture Days Yorkton office Friday, said he envisions the book being the start of an eventual series.
“This book is just one part of an upcoming literary universe of books in the same realm of the Rick Riordan group of book series,” he said.
For DeGrow who was born and raised in Regina moving to Yorkton for a job opportunity, writing is something that just sort of happened.
“I have no formal training as a writer beyond spending nine years of university writing essays,” he noted. “However, I have also spent my entire life reading books, and I have learned through experience what a good book sounds like.”
And then one night . . .
“I got the idea for the book from, of all things, a dream I had,” said DeGrow. “From what I could recall abut the dream, it was all about a high school in chaos.
“I thought that this was a great story start for a novel, and things went from there.”
While the book is new, penning stories is not for DeGrow.
“This was not at all my first story inspiration, actually my third,” he said.
“My first occurred when I was in a university class. I was daydreaming one day, and was doodling in the margin of my notebook. Before I knew it, I had created a doodle and a creative story to go with it.
“That story went on to become my first manuscript, which will be published in a couple of years. Ever since, I have been writing manuscripts, with my first publication being ‘All It Takes is One’.
So why this one as a first release?
“I felt it was worth writing because the tragedy my main characters are experiencing is becoming almost a daily occurrence across the U.S.A., with hundreds of people dying every year,” he said. “I decided that this could be my way of protesting against these tragedies.”
With the idea set DeGrow found inspiration in other works, and the world around him as a writer.
“As I wrote the story, I took inspiration from classic character tropes from popular media as well as my own friends and high school classmates,” he said. “The difficulties they encounter I pulled from other stories and what I remember from high school.”
The process was not a quick one.
“From the time I first began pecking at my keyboard to when I published it, it has taken me over five years to fully write this book,” said DeGrow. “This includes creating the full first draft and going through hundreds of edits and rewrites to polish the book.
“Today, it has been one of my hardest projects, but also my most rewarding.”
The YA audience was part of the challenge.
“The hardest part of the book was writing the book from the perspective of a high school girl when I am clearly not female,” said DeGrow. “I had to constantly pause my mad writing to try and figure out if it was what a girl would do. I constantly had to ask my mother and sister for advice and opinions. Their insight was invaluable.”
And DeGrow focused on keeping the story real too.
“I think the best element of the book is its realism,” he said. “Anybody can see themselves in the characters, and the story seems so realistic, (so) lifelike, that it almost is like it was based off of a true story.”
As a first time published author DeGrow is a happy writer with what he created.
“I am more than satisfied with my work,” he offered. “As the first published author in my family, it has made my parents proud to see all my hard work come to fruition, and every time I hear a reader give me a review, they tell me that the book is quite good.”
The book is currently available for purchase on Amazon. There you can order a paper copy as well as an e-book version. The book is available now for purchase.
