Some write for fun but others can't help but put pen to paper.
D.J. Kowalenko, 18, can't help but rack up a huge collection of notebooks as he furiously explores the ideas for characters and narratives that spring to his mind.
ìI've been writing for a long time,î he said. ìI have a constantly ongoing imagination. It kind of needs to come out.î
Kowalenko appeared at the Innisfail Library/Learning Centre Feb. 9 to promote his first novel Drake Halberd and the Veil of the Dead. The book is a zombie thriller that takes the reader deep into the heart to an absolutely massive complex from which the main character Drake Halberd, a treasure hunter with what seems like the worst luck in the world, must escape.
Halberd must escape a deadly virus and dodge the acid-spitting undead along the way while setting bombs and climbing under Jeeps and ATVs.
ìI want to get my own brand of characters out there ñ my own multiverse,î he said. ìEveryone I've heard from says they love it.î
The teenager from Delburne is on track to create quite a splash. He averages about 100 new Twitter followers a week and the book is available throughout bookstores in the United States. He can't wait for his first royalty check to show up this month.
Though he's serious about making a career as an author, it's another aspect of writing that really compels him to embrace words.
ìI'd describe it as the flow,î he says, noting he tries to let the stories write themselves. ìSometimes you have the flow and sometimes you don't.î
In the case of Drake Halberd, he's already followed that story to the next level. In the second installment of the book ñ which he has finished but not yet released ñKowalenko sends the protagonist into a science fiction landscape complete with aliens.
Heather Kowalenko says her son was always creative.
ìBy the time he was two years old he could draw Buzz Lightyear,î she said. ìEvery time you turned around he had a pen and paper in hand.î
When he was 10 years old she encouraged him to try stories on for size and he never looked back.
Over the years he had a special surprise for her.
ìOn Christmas morning he handed me a present,î she said. ìIt was a completed manuscript for a crime detective story.î
D.J. says he won't stop the creative drive any time soon, since he has so many more stories to tell.
ìIt's kind of developing ahead as I go along,î he said.
"I want to get my own brand of characters out there - my own multiverse. Everyone I've heard from says they love it."D.J. Kowalenkonoevelist
