In this episode of the Bookaholic podcast, host Deirdre Pippins welcomes 14-year-old author Elora Sophia. Elora shares her journey from creating bedtime stories with her father to writing her fantasy book series, Guardians. Discussing her inspiration, world-building, and the creative process, Elora reveals details about her debut book 'Guardians Rise to the Phantom,' set to be published later this year. She also talks about her future plans, the support from her parents and friends, and her mission to inspire young peers to pursue their passions.
00:00 Welcome to the Bookaholic Podcast
00:36 Inspiration from Childhood Stories
01:12 Creating the Guardians Series
02:27 Publishing Journey and Future Plans
04:01 Challenges and Support in Writing
06:13 World-Building in Guardians
10:33 Illustrations and Homeschooling
12:39 Encouragement and Final Thoughts
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Elora Sophia, welcome to the Bookaholic podcast.
Thank you for having me here today.
Yes, I am so glad you're here.
I think only one other time have, I had a young person, a young author, to interview and I always love to have young people on my show to show that everybody, anyone, no matter what your age.
(00:25):
She can write a book, can write a story.
Or has a story.
Sometimes older people don't think that younger people have stories to tell yet, but indeed they do.
And today, believe it or not, is celebrated as Mother Goose Day.
And I heard really that you got your inspir.
Yeah.
You got your inspiration from maybe a story like a fairytale or a story that your father used to tell.
(00:50):
Yes.
When.
It's just as important as the Mother Goose fairytales used to be.
Look how important the story was that your father or the fairytale that your father told you.
It was so inspirational to your writing.
So let's talk about that.
Your father told you a fairy tale or a story Yes.
And inspired you to write your book.
(01:12):
Yes, it was when I was like six or seven, we created these seven SuperCAT characters and we, every night we would tell stories about they're just world and miscellaneous adventures they would have.
And eventually when I was older, like nine, I was like, mommy, this is such a great idea.
I wanna turn into a book.
(01:34):
Oh wow.
Yeah we took the concept and we.
Tried writing it into a book and we have it somewhere, but I grew out of it eventually.
But I really love the concept of cat characters with different abilities and in these wonderful fantasy worlds.
So that's when I created Guardians, based off of those characters.
(01:57):
Yes.
And just reimagined it for the older audience and.
Brought up the stakes a little more.
Oh, wow.
Okay.
So now are your cats, oh, first of all, what's the name of your book? My book is called Guardians Rise to the Phantom.
It's book one in a series of six I'm writing.
Oh my gosh.
(02:18):
Oh my goodness.
So you Oh wow.
I love the people that come on my channel that's got series.
I love that.
I love that.
Wow.
Okay, so you're 14.
Yes.
And so have you already written some of your other parts of your series? Yes.
Or you just book is already written? It's just in developmental edits and we're preparing to publish it later this year in December.
(02:46):
And I'm working on book three right now, which is gonna be published next December.
Okay.
Okay.
So do you think it's going to take you, what, another four more years to get them done or? Yes, I am estimating that I will be writing and finishing one book per year.
Okay, got it.
(03:06):
So by the time you're 18, I'll have a whole book series.
Yes.
You'll, yes you will.
So now do you self-publish or do you have a publishing house agent? I am self-published right now.
But I wouldn't mind being picked up by an agent.
I know.
Just keep talking on podcast and you never know.
Yes.
(03:26):
Get picked up.
Who knows? Okay, so now.
It's based on the stories that your father used to tell you about.
And as a matter of fact, the month of May is also share a story month, really.
So it's Yes, it is.
Yes it is.
Head over to at True Bookaholic on my Instagram and you'll see all of the the month of May is also mystery month.
(03:52):
It's.
Share a story month.
It's Latino Book month.
It's a lot of different things so indeed it's definitely indulgent reading in the month of May.
But getting back to your series and your stories, a lot of people your age are not necessarily, I don't know, sometimes they don't have their minds on something as deeply serious as writing a book.
(04:13):
So what? Yeah, it takes a lot, it takes a lot of commitment.
Yes.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
It takes a lot of commitment.
It takes a lot of solitary commitment.
Younger people are usually with, they're at school with other people.
They're in class, they're in groups, they're in, sports.
They're with other folks.
It takes a lot of, not only just commitment, but the solitary part of it.
(04:37):
What makes you unique in maybe.
Than maybe some of your friends that to where you wanna sit down and write a story and you're all in your own world and by yourself.
I don't know.
I was just like tired of wishing my book existed and just daydreaming about it and drawing the characters.
(04:58):
So I feel like it's just a good way to just dive into that, but also bring it out so I share it with my friends and they can enjoy it too.
And we have something.
More to talk about as well and Oh, absolutely.
Yeah, absolutely.
And so I know your parents support you, but you, your friends support you as well? Yes, they're my beta readers and we're always talking about it and playing back and forth with the characters, so they are a really big help.
(05:31):
And it's really great to have such a large group of people.
Absolutely, and I'm not sure, I'm just trying to think back.
It was such a long time ago.
I'm just trying to think back to when I was your age and having a beta group of people.
I don't even know if some people would even have known back then what beta.
(05:55):
Man outside of the beta club, which I, outside of that, but but anyway, so yes, so you're gonna have this series and I just am so excited about you now.
So it's, it.
It's something, it's a fantasy.
So you had to create the world.
Now, luckily for you, you and your father created the world, so describe the world your characters are in.
(06:19):
So the world that I have created is pretty much this one kind of large continent that it takes place on, divided into four territories.
So you've got the bioluminescent forest, which most of the book takes place in with multiple different kinds of villages and plant live.
(06:40):
And then you have the Pi Peaks and the Moto Desert and Lotus Bay by the ocean, which has a lot of kind of aquatic societies and pirate Peaks has a lot more of the mountain technology.
And Moto Desert is the desert travelers vibes.
(07:00):
Okay.
Yeah.
Know now.
So with these four territories and the different ways of life that they're oc, they occupy within their territories, are you gonna have, I.
Some type of enemy.
Is there gonna be a war? Yes.
What's the story been like? Fina has been, that's the name of the world, is Felina has been at peace for hundreds of years.
(07:23):
When the four guardians, a lot of tiara, ember, and Coral came into existence.
And everyone's been getting along.
There haven't been any wars, but suddenly the bioluminescent forest goes up in flames and these strong beats appear that no one has ever seen before.
(07:46):
And oh, they leave this marking saying You are now under the command of the phantom.
So our main characters are going across Felina to warn and spread the message of.
This Phantom, and we're gonna try to figure out who this is and how we can counteract these beasts.
(08:06):
It's been sending us.
Oh my goodness, this sounds so intriguing.
Oh wow.
Okay.
I love it.
I love it.
I love it.
I love it.
Now you again, we're gonna repeat, you are 14.
Is there ever gonna be any evolving, say romance for the characters or how, what is your thoughts, what are your thoughts to shape it going forward? It's two different story arcs over the course of six books.
(08:36):
Like we're gonna have the phantom and stuff in the first one.
But then it's actually gonna shift dramatically for one of our main characters who's actually just this random mu character, just random villager who just popped up and joined.
Are characters a lot in Tiara.
And it's gonna him a lot.
(08:58):
And his emotional journey in this weird, twisted other reality.
It's going to really play with a lot of the different kind themes and whatnot in genres.
So the first one is gonna be, yeah, middle school, but the second one's gonna lean more into the ya.
(09:22):
Genre.
Okay.
Okay.
I got you.
I got you.
Now, how many years is it, years, decades, centuries, that your book is going to encompass? Have you thought that through? Yes.
We already have everything planned for the entire series, and it actually takes place over a fairly short amount of time.
(09:44):
Oh I would say over a few months actually, because, oh, we're jumping into it when the phantom is like making moves to take over fell, so he can't be stalling that long.
Otherwise, we're cats are gonna get the upper hand.
Absolutely.
Now, you said that the phantoms, the nobody knows where they're coming from.
(10:07):
Yes.
But eventually they're gonna figure out where they're coming from and how they came to be.
Correct you that Yes, we're gonna, yeah, we explain a lot in book two.
The book ones just kinda leans more into the mystery of who are they, when did they come? Why are they here? But the second book and third book really play into, oh no, this is why they're here.
(10:29):
This is who the Phantom is? Yes.
Oh my gosh.
Okay.
And did I hear you say you are also the illustrator of your books? Yes, I did all the internal illustrations myself of guardians.
For all the chapter headers, I can find one and try to display it if you'd like.
(10:49):
Yes, absolutely.
I would love to see that.
I would love to see it.
Suffice it to say you are a special young person.
It's so blown out.
Oh, no.
I can't really see it.
Did you do the cover? My dad helped me make the cover, but no, I did not.
I did not do the cover.
(11:11):
Oh, okay.
We still, let's see.
We still would like to see a peek of the cover.
Yeah, there's, oh, there we go.
Oh, wow.
And here's the cover.
Oh, wow.
It's backwards.
I'm sorry.
Oh, wow.
Very, yeah.
Here's main.
Thank you.
You're definitely a special, very special young person, and I'm sure you excel at school.
(11:35):
I don't know.
I know I don't have to ask that.
I homeschooled.
Yeah I'm homeschooled, so things definitely go a lot faster and whatnot.
Oh yeah.
And it gives me time to do all the other things I want.
I'm actually quite a busy person.
Yes.
(11:56):
I can tell.
And you're very mature for your age.
I love it.
Thank you.
I love everything that you stand for.
I love you have brought your hopes and your dreams to life.
A lot of people could take a lot from this interview to say, sometimes.
The only thing that's stopping people from doing, from doing things or accomplishing things is not outside factors, is indeed yourself.
(12:21):
And you have taken it upon yourself.
And that at the rate you're going right now, at the rate you're going right now, by the time you're my age you'll have done like a million things.
So I'm really happy and really proud of you.
I love, yeah, love your spirit and your energy well.
And so repeat for the audience once more, the name of your book.
(12:45):
Yes.
So my book is called Guardians Rise of the Phantom.
You could see it at laura sophia.com.
It's available for purchase there and more about me, my awards and my illustration stuff.
Oh wow.
Okay.
So you can find it on Amazon.
We certainly will have your information in the podcast show notes and the video description box on the YouTube channel.
(13:13):
El Laura.
Sophia, thank you so much for joining me today.
I'm of course, encourage and inspired.
Yeah.
That's my goal is to inspire people, especially my peers, to get out there, write or do whatever they feel encouraged to do.
Just don't Absolutely.
Wait till you're older.
(13:34):
Go ahead and start now.
Yes.
I love it.
I've been doing, yeah, I've been doing school talks at my local schools to try to be spread the word and my journey and encourage other people.
Yeah, it's been really fun.
I love it.
I love it.
Aor, you are gonna have to come back when you're like maybe in the middle of the series and update us and then at the conclusion of the series, and then we'll find out what magnificent thing you're doing after that.
(14:06):
Thank you so much for joining me today.
Yes, thank you.
Have a great day.
Yes, thank you.
You too.
.34693878Thank you.
Elora Sophia, welcome to the Bookaholic podcast.
Thank you for having me here today.
Yes, I am so glad you're here.
I think only one other time have, I had a young person, a young author, to interview and I always love to have young people on my show to show that everybody, anyone, no matter what your age.
(00:25):
She can write a book, can write a story.
Or has a story.
Sometimes older people don't think that younger people have stories to tell yet, but indeed they do.
And today, believe it or not, is celebrated as Mother Goose Day.
And I heard really that you got your inspir.
Yeah.
You got your inspiration from maybe a story like a fairytale or a story that your father used to tell.
(00:50):
Yes.
When.
It's just as important as the Mother Goose fairytales used to be.
Look how important the story was that your father or the fairytale that your father told you.
It was so inspirational to your writing.
So let's talk about that.
Your father told you a fairy tale or a story Yes.
And inspired you to write your book.
(01:12):
Yes, it was when I was like six or seven, we created these seven SuperCAT characters and we, every night we would tell stories about they're just world and miscellaneous adventures they would have.
And eventually when I was older, like nine, I was like, mommy, this is such a great idea.
I wanna turn into a book.
(01:34):
Oh wow.
Yeah we took the concept and we.
Tried writing it into a book and we have it somewhere, but I grew out of it eventually.
But I really love the concept of cat characters with different abilities and in these wonderful fantasy worlds.
So that's when I created Guardians, based off of those characters.
(01:57):
Yes.
And just reimagined it for the older audience and.
Brought up the stakes a little more.
Oh, wow.
Okay.
So now are your cats, oh, first of all, what's the name of your book? My book is called Guardians Rise to the Phantom.
It's book one in a series of six I'm writing.
Oh my gosh.
(02:18):
Oh my goodness.
So you Oh wow.
I love the people that come on my channel that's got series.
I love that.
I love that.
Wow.
Okay, so you're 14.
Yes.
And so have you already written some of your other parts of your series? Yes.
Or you just book is already written? It's just in developmental edits and we're preparing to publish it later this year in December.
(02:46):
And I'm working on book three right now, which is gonna be published next December.
Okay.
Okay.
So do you think it's going to take you, what, another four more years to get them done or? Yes, I am estimating that I will be writing and finishing one book per year.
Okay, got it.
(03:06):
So by the time you're 18, I'll have a whole book series.
Yes.
You'll, yes you will.
So now do you self-publish or do you have a publishing house agent? I am self-published right now.
But I wouldn't mind being picked up by an agent.
I know.
Just keep talking on podcast and you never know.
Yes.
(03:26):
Get picked up.
Who knows? Okay, so now.
It's based on the stories that your father used to tell you about.
And as a matter of fact, the month of May is also share a story month, really.
So it's Yes, it is.
Yes it is.
Head over to at True Bookaholic on my Instagram and you'll see all of the the month of May is also mystery month.
(03:52):
It's.
Share a story month.
It's Latino Book month.
It's a lot of different things so indeed it's definitely indulgent reading in the month of May.
But getting back to your series and your stories, a lot of people your age are not necessarily, I don't know, sometimes they don't have their minds on something as deeply serious as writing a book.
(04:13):
So what? Yeah, it takes a lot, it takes a lot of commitment.
Yes.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
It takes a lot of commitment.
It takes a lot of solitary commitment.
Younger people are usually with, they're at school with other people.
They're in class, they're in groups, they're in, sports.
They're with other folks.
It takes a lot of, not only just commitment, but the solitary part of it.
(04:37):
What makes you unique in maybe.
Than maybe some of your friends that to where you wanna sit down and write a story and you're all in your own world and by yourself.
I don't know.
I was just like tired of wishing my book existed and just daydreaming about it and drawing the characters.
(04:58):
So I feel like it's just a good way to just dive into that, but also bring it out so I share it with my friends and they can enjoy it too.
And we have something.
More to talk about as well and Oh, absolutely.
Yeah, absolutely.
And so I know your parents support you, but you, your friends support you as well? Yes, they're my beta readers and we're always talking about it and playing back and forth with the characters, so they are a really big help.
(05:31):
And it's really great to have such a large group of people.
Absolutely, and I'm not sure, I'm just trying to think back.
It was such a long time ago.
I'm just trying to think back to when I was your age and having a beta group of people.
I don't even know if some people would even have known back then what beta.
(05:55):
Man outside of the beta club, which I, outside of that, but but anyway, so yes, so you're gonna have this series and I just am so excited about you now.
So it's, it.
It's something, it's a fantasy.
So you had to create the world.
Now, luckily for you, you and your father created the world, so describe the world your characters are in.
(06:19):
So the world that I have created is pretty much this one kind of large continent that it takes place on, divided into four territories.
So you've got the bioluminescent forest, which most of the book takes place in with multiple different kinds of villages and plant live.
(06:40):
And then you have the Pi Peaks and the Moto Desert and Lotus Bay by the ocean, which has a lot of kind of aquatic societies and pirate Peaks has a lot more of the mountain technology.
And Moto Desert is the desert travelers vibes.
(07:00):
Okay.
Yeah.
Know now.
So with these four territories and the different ways of life that they're oc, they occupy within their territories, are you gonna have, I.
Some type of enemy.
Is there gonna be a war? Yes.
What's the story been like? Fina has been, that's the name of the world, is Felina has been at peace for hundreds of years.
(07:23):
When the four guardians, a lot of tiara, ember, and Coral came into existence.
And everyone's been getting along.
There haven't been any wars, but suddenly the bioluminescent forest goes up in flames and these strong beats appear that no one has ever seen before.
(07:46):
And oh, they leave this marking saying You are now under the command of the phantom.
So our main characters are going across Felina to warn and spread the message of.
This Phantom, and we're gonna try to figure out who this is and how we can counteract these beasts.
(08:06):
It's been sending us.
Oh my goodness, this sounds so intriguing.
Oh wow.
Okay.
I love it.
I love it.
I love it.
I love it.
Now you again, we're gonna repeat, you are 14.
Is there ever gonna be any evolving, say romance for the characters or how, what is your thoughts, what are your thoughts to shape it going forward? It's two different story arcs over the course of six books.
(08:36):
Like we're gonna have the phantom and stuff in the first one.
But then it's actually gonna shift dramatically for one of our main characters who's actually just this random mu character, just random villager who just popped up and joined.
Are characters a lot in Tiara.
And it's gonna him a lot.
(08:58):
And his emotional journey in this weird, twisted other reality.
It's going to really play with a lot of the different kind themes and whatnot in genres.
So the first one is gonna be, yeah, middle school, but the second one's gonna lean more into the ya.
(09:22):
Genre.
Okay.
Okay.
I got you.
I got you.
Now, how many years is it, years, decades, centuries, that your book is going to encompass? Have you thought that through? Yes.
We already have everything planned for the entire series, and it actually takes place over a fairly short amount of time.
(09:44):
Oh I would say over a few months actually, because, oh, we're jumping into it when the phantom is like making moves to take over fell, so he can't be stalling that long.
Otherwise, we're cats are gonna get the upper hand.
Absolutely.
Now, you said that the phantoms, the nobody knows where they're coming from.
(10:07):
Yes.
But eventually they're gonna figure out where they're coming from and how they came to be.
Correct you that Yes, we're gonna, yeah, we explain a lot in book two.
The book ones just kinda leans more into the mystery of who are they, when did they come? Why are they here? But the second book and third book really play into, oh no, this is why they're here.
(10:29):
This is who the Phantom is? Yes.
Oh my gosh.
Okay.
And did I hear you say you are also the illustrator of your books? Yes, I did all the internal illustrations myself of guardians.
For all the chapter headers, I can find one and try to display it if you'd like.
(10:49):
Yes, absolutely.
I would love to see that.
I would love to see it.
Suffice it to say you are a special young person.
It's so blown out.
Oh, no.
I can't really see it.
Did you do the cover? My dad helped me make the cover, but no, I did not.
I did not do the cover.
(11:11):
Oh, okay.
We still, let's see.
We still would like to see a peek of the cover.
Yeah, there's, oh, there we go.
Oh, wow.
And here's the cover.
Oh, wow.
It's backwards.
I'm sorry.
Oh, wow.
Very, yeah.
Here's main.
Thank you.
You're definitely a special, very special young person, and I'm sure you excel at school.
(11:35):
I don't know.
I know I don't have to ask that.
I homeschooled.
Yeah I'm homeschooled, so things definitely go a lot faster and whatnot.
Oh yeah.
And it gives me time to do all the other things I want.
I'm actually quite a busy person.
Yes.
(11:56):
I can tell.
And you're very mature for your age.
I love it.
Thank you.
I love everything that you stand for.
I love you have brought your hopes and your dreams to life.
A lot of people could take a lot from this interview to say, sometimes.
The only thing that's stopping people from doing, from doing things or accomplishing things is not outside factors, is indeed yourself.
(12:21):
And you have taken it upon yourself.
And that at the rate you're going right now, at the rate you're going right now, by the time you're my age you'll have done like a million things.
So I'm really happy and really proud of you.
I love, yeah, love your spirit and your energy well.
And so repeat for the audience once more, the name of your book.
(12:45):
Yes.
So my book is called Guardians Rise of the Phantom.
You could see it at laura sophia.com.
It's available for purchase there and more about me, my awards and my illustration stuff.
Oh wow.
Okay.
So you can find it on Amazon.
We certainly will have your information in the podcast show notes and the video description box on the YouTube channel.
(13:13):
El Laura.
Sophia, thank you so much for joining me today.
I'm of course, encourage and inspired.
Yeah.
That's my goal is to inspire people, especially my peers, to get out there, write or do whatever they feel encouraged to do.
Just don't Absolutely.
Wait till you're older.
(13:34):
Go ahead and start now.
Yes.
I love it.
I've been doing, yeah, I've been doing school talks at my local schools to try to be spread the word and my journey and encourage other people.
Yeah, it's been really fun.
I love it.
I love it.
Aor, you are gonna have to come back when you're like maybe in the middle of the series and update us and then at the conclusion of the series, and then we'll find out what magnificent thing you're doing after that.
(14:06):
Thank you so much for joining me today.
Yes, thank you.
Have a great day.
Yes, thank you.
You too.
.34693878Thank you.
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