Cold Lake teen wins contest to have her sci-fi book published

Nyah Nichol won a publisher’s contest to have her book Broken Shards in Time published in the fall of 2020.

Nyah Nichol has been writing for a long time despite being just 14 years old.

“I’ve always really liked writing, even if it was just really short stories. When I was really little, I would staple together my own little books…mostly it was school assignments,” said Nichol.

She was plugging away at her latest project, Broken Shards in Time, before she heard about the Uncommon Quest for a Great Canadian Children’s Novel Challenge, put on by Common Deer Press, so she decided last year to enter the novel when it was completed.

“I did some illustrations for my mom’s friend and she found this contest and then my mom showed it to me and I’m like, ‘Okay let’s try this because I had already started it. Then I was like why not? I’ll enter it if I’m going to write it anyway.'”

But she never expected to win, which made the news last week all the more surprising.

“My mom got the email and she was screaming and jumping up and down. I was confused and shocked because I didn’t think my book was good enough to get gold, it was very shocking…It was very surprising,” said Nichol.

Broken Shards in Time follows is a science-fiction tale for young adults. She wrote the book whenever she got the time, which often was a thirty-minute window after her three siblings had fallen asleep.

“The book is mainly about this character Wren Derecho and she’s pulled into this world where there’s time travel and she meets some people and they’re like a team. They have to fight against this power source in the future.

“It’s a very science-fiction type book. It was really fun to write.”

Nichol loves to read and says she’s been reading a lot more since March when she finished the draft of her book.

“I do like science-fiction. It’s probably one of my favourites. But I also really like mystery and adventure. I just love to read.”

It looks like it will be a busy summer ahead for Nichol, as the publisher will be returning the draft soon, and she’ll likely have to do another draft of the story with rewrites.

A Kickstarter campaign will begin soon to help raise money for the associated costs of publishing.

“I’m actually designing an exclusive cover on Kickstarter. So if you support it, then you would get the special cover -but I’m not finished designed yet,” said Nichol.

Broken Shards in Time is set to be published in the fall of 2020.