Athlone teen self-publishes her debut book

By Navjyoti Dalal

Presenting a fine example of creative pursuit and enterprise, Athlone teenager Aoife Nally recently released her debut book on Amazon and Kindle. Titled Staging Our Story, the book is self-published by Aoife, who is learning the ropes of writing, publishing, and marketing a book in the process.

Her Young Adult Fiction book blends romance, drama, and adventure in various measures. However, a key theme in the book remains the mental health struggles that young people grapple with in today's times.

Aoife is an 18-year-old alumnus of Our Lady's Bower Secondary School, and the book was her response to a song reel video she encountered on social media.

“It had a girl from London going to New York and meeting this boy, a footballer, and had a love-hate route to love. I wanted to explore the idea as a story, building on it with my thoughts and creative inputs,” shared Aoife, for whom books have been a big part of her life since childhood.

The video became the big-bang moment for Aoife's writing. But the timing couldn't have ben more tricky - it was a few weeks before her Leaving Cert exams were to begin. Consumed by the idea, she began plotting it out in the Notes app on her phone, and wrote down the first two chapters in one go, two weeks before her first exam.

The writing continued during her exams too. “I was confident of my preparation for the exams, so I wasn't worried about digressing from studies. And I actually got really good points in my Leaving Cert,” explained Aoife, who would share the chapters she wrote with her sister for review.

“I run my work by my sister, who is a Transition Year student, because she is really good at English, and gets very good grades,” added Aoife.

Four months of labour paid off when she concluded her final chapter and decided to publish the book. But contrary to convention, Aoife didn't approach a publishing house for the job. “I chose self-publishing because it gives me a chance as a young author to get my work out there. Traditional publishers are very hard to seek out. And the experience has been instrumental in helping me learn the process,” said Aoife, who is also taking care of marketing the book without any external help.

She is looking at the project as an exercise in learning by doing. Each day she creates posts on social media to engage with her readers and followers.

“I create a variety of posts, mostly about the main characters, Emilia and Theo, to post on social media. I love it when my content gets traction,” said Aoife, who has been receiving positive reviews from her readers. “One of the readers recently finished the book. She made a post about my book saying it is her new favourite. It made me so happy,” beamed Aoife.

While the video showed her the geographical settings of her book (London and New York), Aoife looked closer home to create her protagonists. “I wanted to make relatable characters. Emilia is partly inspired by me. Her struggles with anxiety are similar to mine. Her parents and siblings are also inspired by my own life,” she said.

She was keen that the book would address youth mental health challenges.

“I wanted to articulate different mental health struggles that young people go through. There should be a representation of these struggles that so many of us face.

“If Emilia has anxiety, Theo's character, too, is shaped by his external environment. He is pressured by his father about becoming a footballer, which puts him under a lot of stress,” shared Aoife, who continues to weave in the mental health representation in her forthcoming books as well. Her second book in the series looks at the family dynamics of the protagonists and how loss, estrangement and emotional stability manifest in one's personality.

Staging Our Story is the first of a four-book series that Aoife has planned. At present she has deferred college to be able to concentrate on her second book and choose wisely what she wants to pursue in her future studies. “I want this time to give myself some headspace. I am also writing my second book, and looking for jobs. I want to be a professional author,” said Aoife, who is inspired by authors like Liana Cincotti and Lynn Painter.