The summer before her freshman year at Starr’s Mill, Becca Ritchie, now a senior, was ready to write her first novel. She had written a story before, proving that she could write something of length, but she was ready to write something that she and her twin sister, Krista, would like to read. It would be a young adult novel with supernatural elements, the kind of things they saw on television programs like “Charmed” and “Angel,” and read about in books by authors like Kevin Brooks. Ritchie sat before her computer for hours at a time that summer, with her sister reading over her shoulder and constantly wanting to know what would happen next.

“My sister would keep telling me to type faster,” Ritchie said, adding that her typing has gotten much better since that summer.

When it was all said and done, the novel, “Wynter Chelsea,” came in at close to 400 pages and was ready to be read by other people.

The book focuses on two families, the Wynters and the Chelseas, who protect the innocent from supernatural forces. The destiny to get involved seems to be left to the boys, Jack, the conjurer; Dustin, the telepath, and Trevor, the prescient one, and Amanda, the empath, is left out, until the parents go missing. She joins the battle with her brother and lifelong friends as they travel across the country searching for answers.

“Even though I’m into stories like this, I wanted people who were not necessarily into that genre to like it, too,” Ritchie said. Apparently, this was not a problem as the book started to make its way into the hands of people outside of her circle of friends.

“When my aunt and a friend of my mother’s read it and said they enjoyed it, I didn’t doubt that I had something good after that,” said Ritchie, who was ready to start researching how to get a book published. Ritchie sent out numerous query letters that limited her to describing her book in one paragraph. She soon got inducted into being an author by receiving her first rejection letters. After two years of sending out query letters, synopses and chapters of the book and getting nothing but rejection letters in return, the research into getting published led her to self-publishing and she went with Outskirts Press.

Outskirts Press gave Ritchie creative control from cover design to how the book looks inside as well. They have also helped with marketing and getting the book wholesale distribution through Ingram and Baker & Taylor, as well as getting the book placed on-line at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble and more. The on-line sales have only been up since the middle of October, but Ritchie has been selling the book by hand and has broken even already, meaning anything she makes from here on out is all profit.

Her hope is that “Wynter Chelsea” finds its way into the right hands and gets picked up by a publishing company, finds widespread distribution. Regardless of whether that happens or not, fans of the series have a lot to look forward to because the sequel is currently being revised, the third one is being written and Ritchie has plans for at least one more book in the series, with the possibility of one more as well.

“Just like the Harry Potter series, the books are getting longer as I go along,” Ritchie said, adding that she just has more to say as the story progresses.

Prior to starting the third book in the series, Ritchie also wrote a novel called “Reign of Spiders,” about con-artists, proving that she could write something outside of the “Wynter Chelsea” series. Ritchie states that she doesn’t use detailed outlines for her novels and prefers to let things evolve on their own.

“It’s like a movie I see in my head and I’m just getting it on paper,” Ritchie said. Her visual imagination may serve her well as she is contemplating studying film in college. She has yet to choose a school to attend next year but has sent applications to some top notch schools in both the region and nation.

Since the release of “Wynter Chelsea,” Ritchie has been busy with school as well as promoting the book. She is a member of a number of clubs at school, from BETA Club and National Honor Society to HOSA and the varsity tennis team and takes several advanced placement courses as well. She was able to take a break from that busy schedule recently to return to her middle school and speak to students and former teachers, many of whom expressed how proud they were of her accomplishment and bought a copy of the book.

She will sign copies of “Wynter Chelsea” at Books-a-Million on Sunday, Dec. 21 from 12-3 p.m.

During the holidays, while many people will be taking a much needed rest, Ritchie will most likely be working on getting the second novel in finished form or continuing to get a draft of the third novel complete. She admits that her dream job would be to be an author, but there is plenty of time before settling on a decision. She does plan on always writing though and it appears, for her, there will always be a story to get on the page.

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