Sixth grade students at Mahomet-Seymour Junior High listened to author Jaleigh Johnson talk about her writing process Tuesday afternoon.
Johnson, who is eight years younger than her brother, said she grew up loving stories like “Charolette’s Web” and “A Wrinkle in Time”, but it was listening to her brother play in imaginative worlds with his friends after she went to bed that really lit her love for story development.
“It made me grow up loving to read, especially fantasy stories,” she said.
Johnson knew she wanted to capture reader’s imaginations, just as the authors she loved did when she grew up. She consistently wrote in journals, and submitted some of her work to magazines as a teenager.
Today, Johnson has written five adult fantasy books and one young adult novel, “The Mark of the Dragonfly.”
She told students she found inspiration for her young adult novel in a dragonfly pin she wore in her wedding and in a restored steam locomotive in Monticello, where she lives.
The two object made her think about all the things we throw away in our lives, and she created a world where the unwanted is restored. She talked to students about her character development, and students had a chance to ask questions at the end of the presentation.
Johnson told students that the writing process is long, with many revisions, but “the stories are worth it.”
