ABOUT

My name is Ella Georgiana. I am 16 years old and live in Australia. I am disabled and proud. I absolutely love to read and I love libraries and bookstores. Some authors I admire include Leigh Bardugo, Veronica Roth and of course Stephenie Meyer. I also love Shakespeare.  

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When I read it is not just for enjoyment.  It gives me ideas. I'm always rehearsing ideas and sentences in my mind and thinking Could I turn these into a book?  When I grow up I want to be a librarian and an author. 

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About my story

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This story started out with my mum and I telling each other a Twilight fanfiction story every time we went for a drive in the car. This story featured the setting and characters that Stephenie Meyer created with me added in as one of the main characters.  I love Twilight and wish that I could live in the Twilight universe! 

After about a year of telling the story, I asked Mum, Do you think I could write this story down? Mum said she definitely thought I could. I started writing the first chapter one weekend that mum was away on a girls' trip. When she came back, I had started!

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Mum and I then set up this blog and came up with a timetable of producing one chapter per week. I have now written over 40 chapters! It takes me about four hours a week to write each chapter. This is what I do:

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1. On Monday, mum and I talk about what the next chapter will be. We plan out all the events​.                        

2. On Tuesday, we think about any new characters and decide on their appearance and personality.  I base the look of my new characters on people from TV shows.  We also think about our setting. Sometimes this involves a lot of research.  For example, Chapters 8,9 and 10 were set in Tuscany. I spent hours researching castles in Italy and native animals from that area.               

3. On Wednesday, Mum and I set up the chapter page for me using a graphic organiser.  Each plot point has a sentence describing it, sentence starters, images to give me inspiration and music to listen to.  I find it hard to plan things and be creative at the same time. The graphic organiser allows me to focus completely on my creative writing.                                     

4. On Thursday I put the music on and write my draft!  When I first started, I used to speak the story and mum would type it for me. Now I write the story 100% myself! This part takes about 90 minutes. I love to use imagery and unusual words I have read about in books.                

5. On Friday I edit the writing. Sometimes I find the words I used in my draft could be better.  In this case, I search a synonym for the word on Google and pick the most interesting replacement.  For example, I might replace the word brown with the word mahogany. I have learned many new words using this strategy. Other editing I do is to add in the alt text and link the songs to Spotify so you can click on them and listen to the music that inspired me to write. I love doing this part!                                       

6. On Sunday I press publish and the chapter is done! I usually send a link to my friends and my grandma.

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Disability representation

My main character is a person with a disability (me!) and I think it is important for people with disabilities to be represented in fiction and everywhere else. One way I represent people with disabilities is in the images that are within each episode of my story.  You will be able to see me sitting in my wheelchair, going up a ramp, and using a lift.  I hope people see these images and realise that people with disability are everywhere!

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Accessibility

I have made sure this story is accessible for people with disabilities. For example, for each picture in the story I have built alternative text (alt text) into it.  This means a person who uses a screen reader will have the description read out to them.  I want everyone to enjoy my story, including people with disability.

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 I hope you enjoy this story!

Ella

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Click here to start reading A New Day.

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