Student’s first novel is a ‘dream’ project

By MEGAN HUSSEY

Chelsea DeVries received the first stellar review of her writing career in the second grade, from a teacher who used one of her pieces in a workshop.

The 15-year-old Gulf High School sophomore recently published her first novel, "Dream Girl." The book is a light teen romance about a young woman who invites her two crushes - one a movie star and the other a classmate - to a weekend at Disney World.

Things get complicated when she is forced to choose between them.

"Will sparks fly? Or will it be fists?" reads a blurb on the back of the book.

"Dream Girl" began last year as a short story for a creative writing class.

"And I just kept going," the Port Richey girl said.

In conceiving the story, DeVries drew on her own experiences with boys - and a similar dilemma to the one faced by the book's main character, Jessica Cortez.

After she finished the book, DeVries went looking for a publisher. She chose Outskirts Press, a vanity publisher that prints books on an in-demand basis. Instead of a predetermined press run, books are produced individually when orders arrive.

Outskirts published "Dream Girl" in September as a 78-page volume, selling for $8.95.

"The reason I chose Outskirts is they did everything I wanted," DeVries said. "The price was reasonable, and they put my book on Amazon."

DeVries saved money for the book, which cost $359 to produce, and paid to publish it herself.

"That paid for it all," she said.

She markets the book through an Amazon.com blog, a Web site offered through Outskirts Press, here, and a MySpace page, here.

So far, she has sold 22 copies.

In writing, DeVries says she has found a passion that allows her to express herself and provides a break from her school work.

"It's a relief from any stress I have and allows me to tell what I feel," she said.

Chelsea also writes poetry, with themes ranging from teenage heartache to religious devotion. Several of her poems appear on poemhunter.com.

Another poem is due to be published in the League of American Poets' anthology, "A Treasury of American Poetry III." DeVries also plans at least four sequels to "Dream Girl" and hopes to develop the books into a series.

DeVries said she wants to study writing in college and possibly work as a journalist.

Her advice to other aspiring teen writers is simple and familiar:

"If you have ideas, write them down. Put them on paper, and if you feel you want to publish your work, go for it."