Writing is not just a means to completing assignments for junior Evie Crudele, penname E.V. Crudele. Majoring in history and double minoring in creative writing and literature, Crudele has already taken the steps to apply her education to her passions, publishing her first book “Hunt of the Marked Ones.”
The book is a young adult fantasy romance novel centered around main characters Atlas and Lyra, who are forced to work together despite their bloodlines destining them to be enemies. Atlas’ only way to prove himself to his bloodline is to hunt people of Lyra’s kind, yet when Lyra saves Atlas’ life, his plans are forced to shift.
The idea for the plot stemmed from a high school assignment of Crudele’s where she had to generate a book synopsis. After getting positive feedback, the assignment stayed fresh in Crudele’s mind. In failed searches for a book that replicated the plot she envisioned, she eventually decided to write the book herself, though the writing process did not prove itself to be easy.
“So for the first two years, I kept writing and I never created a draft that was more than 15,000 words. I would start it and I would restart it and I would hate what I wrote and I would just forget about it and I kept focusing so much on the end goal that it would overwhelm me when I wasn’t getting there,” said Crudele.
During the spring semester of her sophomore year, Crudele decided to focus on writing the first ten chapters of her book as a component for the honors program. By the end of that year, she had a fully complete, self-published book.
While creating time in her schedule was not always easy due to her school obligations, Crudele said that writing never felt like work to her because of the passion she felt for her characters.
“It didn’t feel like work to me because of my characters. At this point, I’ve known them for three years. They’re like my kids. I literally describe them as like my kiddos,” said Crudele. “I find it easy just to go back to them because it feels like I’m just coming back home.”
Now that the book is published, Crudele has begun working on the book’s sequel. Crudele is spending this semester abroad in Italy, which will ultimately impact the timeline for the second book’s release. The current plan for Crudele is to get her master’s degree and pursue a career in museum studies, various books and writing projects remain for Crudele to keep her passion for writing around for years to come. She eventually hopes to work with a publishing company so that her future work can be traditionally published.
For those interested in reading the book, it can be purchased on Amazon.