10 year old Grace McAtee is writing her future with new book

JK Rowling, C S Lewis, Road Dahl, Grace McAtee…? Remember these names because Grace McAtee could very well be a part of that elite group one day.

The ten-year-old is a rising local author from Fintona, and she has recently written an impressive 74-page novel titled, ‘The Adventures of the Broken Snowman’.

The idea came to her in March when she was nine. She started writing the novel in April, and within four months, she had written 12,000 words – the average length of a university dissertation, I should add!

Grace said, “The story is about two sisters, and their brother. They build a snowman called Freddie, and it comes to life.

“The snowman then escaped from its home because there is a war going on, and they have to try and end the war so Freddie can go back.”

As well as writing the novel, Grace is also in the process of writing a number of short stories, with one titled ‘The World’s Smallest Boy’ – a tale about a very tall boy who sometimes gets teased for his height.

The story details how he meets two friends, and they do science project together – but the science project goes wrong and he shrinks!

Another story that Grace is currently writing is set in World War Two, and it is about a girl called ‘Charlie Roberts’ who becomes an evacuee.

INSPIRATION

Grace’s inspiration for stories comes from a range of sources.

“I like books, but some of my stories are also based on everyday life. I have a younger sister called Alice – and if there is an annoying character in the story, I base it on her,” she joked.

Grace’s parents, Pat and Brona McAtee couldn’t be prouder of their aspiring young daughter, with Pat going as far to make 20 printed copies of Grace’s book to give out to family and friends.

“We were having dinner one night and Pat presented this book and we couldn’t believe it!” Brona said. “It was such a nice surprise for the whole family.”

Pat and Brona say that Grace’s love for writing started at an early age, and they recalled how she can often spend hours on the laptop engrossed in her work.

However, despite Pat and Brona’s high hopes for the daughter, they also said there were ‘difficulties’ in finding somewhere local that they could send Grace in order to help her enhance her skills.

“I have been trying to find Facebook groups for young authors, but it is very hard to find somewhere local,” Brona said.

Pat stated, “A lot of the writing competitions are geared towards older age groups and they are not local – they are in the South, or they are across the water.”

Grace said that her love for writing comes from being able to decide what happens in the story, and she said she hopes to be an author whenever she grows up.

Having written a novel at such an early age, her future looks nothing but bright.

BY Rebecca McGirr