Lynn teen is author of romance novel

LYNN – When Classical High School junior Jacqlyn Culwell applies to Emerson College next year she won’t have to write a college essay outlining her achievements she can just send along a copy of the novel she’s published.”I don’t like being typical,” Culwell said. “I like the element of surprise.”The 17-year old published, in May, her first novel, “I Wake to You,” a teen romance that first saw the light when she was only 12-years old.”The manuscript took me about a year but the whole thing from the idea, the start to finish took me about five years,” said Culwell. “It’s an idea I had in middle school.”The 492-page tome focuses on Melanie Griffin, not quite a plain Jane, and Johnny Cardano, a high school heartthrob with a secret and a swagger, who share an “accidental walk home,” and ignite romance.”I fell in love with Johnny,” Culwell admits. “He’s a tough character but easy to fall in love with.”She said initially she began writing the story in a 5-subject notebook. When she filled that, she said she went to her mother and told her she’d like to publish her book. Culwell said she fully understands it is not generally that easy to get a book published and despite her young success it wasn’t for her either.”I found a quote online that said ?I would not wish writing a book on my worst enemy,’ and it’s so true,” she said. “It was so hard ? there were days I didn’t want to go on.”When she began to re-read what she had started writing at age 12, she said it was painful.”I thought, ?this is horrible, it’s awful,’ but the idea was still wonderful and for a 12 year old,” Culwell said.She sat down and sent an outline of her idea to dozens of publishers and one bit, a self-publishing house iUniverse Incorporated.A dozen story maps and character maps filled with random stars, arrows, bubbles and underlined ideas and a few years later she had a working book. Culwell said she, along with help from family, edited the book as well.”My life revolved around this book,” she said. “I would cancel plans with friends because I had to write.”She treated it very much like a job, with self imposed deadlines and lists to keep everything on track, she said.While sometimes unhappy and often confused by her devotion she said her friends, as well as her family stood by her. And now that she has a finished product, a published book with her name on the cover, they get it.”My friends are really proud of me,” she said.And the if comments on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com count for anything she is already building a fanbase.Publishing the book was always the end game but it had an unexpected side effect.”A couple of days after I finished I felt really sad,” she said. “I felt a hole because I was so attached and I sent it off to the publisher and thought ?oh God, not my babies.'”She is now hard at work on a sequel and she’s giving herself a year to get it done.”My eighth grade teacher told me I had a gift but I didn’t really understand what that meant,” Culwell said. “Then I got to high school ? I got it.”Culwell said even when she wasn’t working on her novel she was writing short stories and posting then on YouTube and fan fiction sites. She also has an idea for another novel brewing, this one based on supernatural characters. She said she also reads voraciously and has her own hero, author JR Ward, who is “everything I want to be.”Down the road, she’d like to attend Emerson College where she wants to immerse herself in the world of writing, reading and authors but wherever she ends up she knows one thing, “I will always be a writer. I can’t not write – I just can’t physically can’t do it.”Chris Stevens can be reached at [email protected].