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SALT LAKE CITY — High school junior Ken Mears says he used to hate writing, despite being a bookworm.
But that all changed when he created a fictional map for a school project about eight years ago. The now 16-year-old says creating that world was the first step in writing his book, “Stones Of The Middle Lands: The Castaway Hero.”
He also said meeting another young author, McKenzie Wagner, inspired him to write the book, which was published by Teapots Away Media in April.
“Never give up,” Mears said. “It’s never too early or too late to kind of follow your dreams and do you want.”
For other children who might not like writing now, Mears advised them to not put limits on their likes this early.
“Don’t say you hate it,” Mears said. “Don’t put yourself in that box of saying I hate this, or I only love this, or I only hate this, because you’ll never know how you’ll change and develop as you grow older. You never know when you might actually really like something that you dislike right now.”
His fantasy book, “Stones Of The Middle Lands: The Castaway Hero,” was published by Teapots Away Media in April.
The teen, who is from Midvale, attends online school and noted that he wrote and edited most of the book during the school year, while balancing classes.
The 162-page book focuses on protagonist James who finds himself washed ashore a strange land with no memories. The boy then goes on a journey with natives of Mons Adanek, where he found himself stranded, and he along with the other characters learn about friendship and doing what’s right.
It’s incredible and exciting and you’d think it’d make you more prideful but it’s actually been extremely humbling for me.
–Ken Mears, author
In the book, there’s a half-human, half-troll character who’s never really fit in and was initially “extremely disliked” by another character, Mears explained. But the troll-human hybrid proves himself valuable to the mission.
“He ends up helping out our heroes,” Mears said, of the half-troll character. As for the boy who first hated him, he learns the valuable lesson that just because someone looks a certain way on the outside, doesn’t make them who they are, Mears added.
Mears, who wrote the book’s first draft when he was 12 years old, said he hopes readers learn to not judge people by what’s on the outside.
The young author said he plans to have the rest of the three books in the series published before he graduates in 2021, with the book number two coming out this spring. After graduation and completing a religious mission, Mears says he plans on studying creative writing or English in college and writing more books.
Being a published author at such a young age has had a positive impact on the teen’s life, he said.
“It’s incredible and exciting and you’d think it’d make you more prideful but it’s actually been extremely humbling for me,” he said. “I’ve just kind of been like, wow, I can’t believe I’ve gotten this opportunity that so few people get published, let alone published while they’re still in high school.”
