A Bishopston Comprehensive School pupil has published her first book – at just 15-years-old.

Carensa Lily Harris, from Kittle, is the author of 'On The Fringe Of A Cloud,' which is available to buy from Amazon.

"It all started in 2017 when I was in my English lesson and we were doing narrative and descriptive writing. I had so many ideas and I really enjoyed it," Ms Harris said.

"I went home after that day and started writing the first couple of pages of my book and then after a couple of days, I had about 11 pages. I printed them out and gave them to my English teacher and she marked it and thought it was really good."

Ms Harris said that she started writing as a hobby and continued as time went on.

"After three years, I had a book," she added.

After she had been writing for a couple of years, Ms Harris considered publishing the book and decided to speed up her writing process.

'On the Fringe of a Cloud' tells the story of teenager Nova Heck, whose annual holiday to Australia with her mother is turned upside down when a special boy comes on the scene.

"I really liked writing about adventures, so whatever came to my mind, I would just write about," Ms Harris said.

She balanced writing with schoolwork, taking time after school, on weekends and into the night to complete the book.

"For some reason all my ideas came to me at night," she said.

"I would always finish my homework straightaway and sometimes I would wake up early and write in the morning, so I always managed to get a couple of extra hours in."

Ms Harris said she had not previously done any writing before this book and didn't always dream of being an author.

"Being a writer definitely wasn't my dream job at the start of writing the book. Now that I've published this, it's definitely a huge dream of mine to become an author."

Ms Harris's mother had researched how to publish the book and came across Amazon.

"I was hesitant to publish it because I'm quite nervous about putting myself out there, so my mum just sent it without me even really knowing and they accepted it," Ms Harris added.

"On the day the book got published, we had this great idea of keeping it a secret and giving the book to my family as a present for Christmas.

"When we gave the present to my Bampa, who really helped with the book, we did it all over Zoom and everyone loved the book. It was a huge celebration."

The teenage author has started her second book and has dreams of writing a trilogy, as well as more fiction in the future.

She encourages other teenagers to take up writing, saying that it's a "great release."

"It's definitely helped me with dealing with my emotions because, whenever I write, it's based on how I'm feeling in that moment," she said.

"I think that we need a lot more stories out there and a lot more imagination."

You can buy 'On the Fringe of a Cloud' here.

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