For most of my life, I’ve enjoyed writing.
Not writing essays. Not writing journalism (although I have gained an appreciation for it from my two years in The Sidekick). But writing fictional stories.
You might ask, “That doesn’t make any sense. Why would someone actually enjoy that?”
Why would I enjoy that? It’s a long story that goes back to when I was 5 years old in first grade.
In first grade, we did a project where we wrote a story and then made a book bin for it out of cereal boxes.
I assume that after I wrote the story, Corie, Kylie, and Emily, something in me just clicked.
After writing Corie, Kylie, and Emily, I decided to write more stories in Google Slides which were mostly in the fantasy genre in the style of chapter book/comic hybrids.
But it wasn’t until sixth grade that I started to actually improve my drawing skills. After reading more graphic novels, such as Phoebe and Her Unicorn by Dana Simpson, I got inspired to draw my own characters from my stories. From then on, my drawings evolved.
TV shows that I watched started to inspire me, too. In sixth grade, I was introduced to “Avatar: The Last Airbender (ATLA)” and “The Legend of Korra,” whose world with “benders” (people who can manipulate the four elements — air, water, earth and fire) inspired me significantly.
ATLA — along with French TV show “Miraculous” and a song called “Dosti” from Telugu film RRR — inspired me to write a story in seventh grade called ⅓ Everything, which follows a 13-year-old girl named Tara Suditi who realizes she can control water and fire on the same day her parents go missing. On her journey to save her parents from the cryptic Mysteriousness, she makes two friends: Terra, a 13-year-old earth controller, and Aella, a 16-year-old air controller. The series follows her journey from an inexperienced half-element controller, half-normal girl to a powerful Connection (a person who can control two elements) who has mastered the elements of water and fire. As soon as the first book is edited, I plan to publish on Amazon.
The characters created in the ⅓ Everything universe reflect my personality and parts of my life. For example, Genesis — a 14-year-old girl who is the Connection of air and earth and a recurring character in my comics — has anxiety, and her personality was created as an extension of mine. Bodhi and Allegra Amarkeeri — two 13-year-old mostly-identical twins who are the Connections of air and fire along with air and water, respectively — were created as an extension of my optimism. Valeri Adira, the 15-year-old leader of the Connections who can control earth and fire, and Audrina, the 14-year-old vice-leader and Connection of water and earth, were created as an extension of my confidence.
I represent my culture through my stories. Indian culture is rarely represented in mainstream media, so in ⅓ Everything, Tara can transform into her Connection form with the help of a bottu — the Telugu word for a bindi, a dot-shaped sticker that Indian girls wear on their foreheads. Additionally, Tara’s family speaks Telugu, and Bodhi and Allegra’s family speaks Hindi.
Writing stories allows for creative expression of my personality and culture. Throughout my life, it has helped me grow and show parts of myself through the personalities of my characters. I deeply appreciate the art and hope to continue doing it in the future.
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