A Rossland author has received a grant from the BC Arts Council to help with the completion of her latest children’s novel.
Yolanda Ridge, who has published two novels for junior readers aged eight to 11, received $6,000 from the BC Arts Council’s fall 2016 adjudication. The money will allow her to finish a new novel, with the working title Reasons to Tell, about a young girl.
“It’s about a 13-year-old girl who is a competitive swimmer and she develops seizures,” explains Ridge.
So far she has finished two drafts of the book, but she says it will probably need another five drafts before it’s complete.
“That’s basically what the grant does is give me some more time to work on editing it, and polishing it, and getting input from — because I’m not a swimmer — so I need some input from swimmers, make sure I’m getting it right,” says Ridge. “And I also have epilepsy [in my story] so getting some input from people who have experienced seizures to make sure that I’m portraying that right as well.”
Ridge did most of the research for Reasons to Tell online, but she also read a lot of memoirs written by competitive swimmers and competitive athletes.
“Just to get that mind frame of what it’s like to compete at that level and be that driven,” she says.
Her knowledge of seizures comes from her background working in health care.
“So I drew on that background and also did online research, and also interviewed a few people who have experienced seizures as well,” says Ridge.
She left health care and became a writer after her two 11-year-old sons were born.
Ridge has since published two novels, Trouble in the Trees and Road Block, and has a third novel, Inside Hudson Pickle, coming out on Sept. 5. The novel is about a boy trying to play basketball.
“He’s also battling health issues and playing sports,” says Ridge.
So far all of her books are about young people overcoming obstacles, and her first two books feature a female protagonist “who was quite empowered and seeking to change things.”
Students Ridge has met during author visits have responded positively to those themes.
“In my first book the main character, Bree, fights a bylaw against tree climbing in her townhouse complex and so she does a whole bunch of things to try to get the bylaw overturned, including staging a little protest with all the other kids in her townhouse complex,” explains Ridge.
“So when I do author visits, I’ll bring in protest signs and I’ll get them to sort of re-enact one of the chapters where they’re doing the protest, and it’s amazing to see the kids empowered by that.”