My Story For You

“Can I read this book? It looks really cool and you’ve been telling me about how epic it is! Please? You know I love awesome fantasy adventures!”

“It’s not suitable until you’re older, sorry.”

If you’ve ever had an interaction like this, whether yourself, or as a parent or older sibling having to be the one giving that answer, boy, do I feel your frustration.

Hi, I’m Hadassah, and I want to tell you a story you might relate to:

~ Scroll to bottom for TL:DR version if you prefer short stories 🙂 ~

As a child raised in a homeschooled family, I grew up on books and tv series like The Lord of The Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Wingfeather Saga, and Avatar: The Last Airbender.

A common thread in these stories is how epic they are while also being clean enough for younger audiences to enjoy—they show struggles and traverse deep and hard things, but they also show the light at the end. I loved these stories as a child, and as I grew into a teen, I wanted more tales like them.

But once I hit about thirteen, there were no epic style stories that were suitable for kids or younger teens. It was frustrating. My older siblings would always tell me about the awesome stories they were consuming. “It’s a medieval fantasy with a prince who has an awesome bodyguard!” Or “It’s a story where the boy and the girl go on an epic quest to save the boy’s brother,” or stuff like that. But when I asked if I could read these stories (or watch them, if they were tv shows/anime), the answer was always the same:

You’re not old enough. It’s too dark. There’s too much inappropriate content. Too much violence, etc.

This was a problem, because …

The stories that were written/made for younger people—the stories deemed ‘suitable’—weren’t as epic or filled with sweeping adventure. They didn’t have as many deep, fun character relationships. Barring certain exceptions like Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Wingfeather Saga, me, my parents, and my older siblings couldn’t find any other epic stories for me at that age.

I didn’t even know things like Brandon Sanderson’s The Stormlight Archive existed back then, but if I had, I guarantee you I would have been sad that I wouldn’t be allowed to read it until I was older because of how dark and violent it can get. And as an adult, that is one of my favourite epic fantasy series! It blows my mind that there aren’t many suitable counterparts for younger audiences, and back then, I know I was disappointed that all the ‘cool’ stories, all the ‘awesome’ ones, were only for older people.

The breaking point.

This got to the point where one day, when I was about 15, I was trying to just relax and unwind, but my mind was whirling with frustration! Why did I have to read simple stories, while older people got the awesome, epic stuff? I desperately wanted new stories in the vein of Wingfeather and ATLA, but for a slightly older audience—epic fantasy for younger teens/older tweens. Epic fantasy with awesome, sweeping adventures and a loveable cast of characters, but still appropriate—not too violent, not too spicy. Yet these were near impossible to find!

The solution:

“All right then!” I resolved. “If no one else is making these stories, I guess I’ll just write them myself!”

That cry of my heart—my own frustration as a teen and younger reader—make me determined. I decided I’d write those stories for kids and young teens like me. That I’d write those stories for you.

The training arc:

My resolve put me on a long road of learning the ins and outs of being an author—a hard but rewarding one that will always continue as I’ll never stop learning or growing (I love ‘levelling up’ with each new thing I learn as it were!), but so far, here are a few things I’ve done/am doing, including but not limited to:

— Being an Author Conservatory student and learning writing and business skills from industry professionals like Brett Harris, Kara Swanson, and Steve Laube. (And hanging out/learning alongside all the amazing students there!)

— Being a former member of the Jerry Jenkins’ Writer’s Guild, a member of the Your Novel Blueprint course, and a Realmsphere member. (If you want other writing resources I’ve used, feel free to get in touch with me by signing up for my newsletter!😄 I’d love to share resources if you’re interested!)

— Still remembering vividly that trying age of thirteen to sixteen where you want deeper and more epic than middle-grade, but YA and adult have too much violence and spice. (It still amazes me as adult how even now, when shopping for my younger sister, any of kind of suitable fantasy book is hard to find . . . there are like 12 series including Wingfeather, Narnia, and LOTR. That’s it.)

The good news!

While I’m still on the road to publication as I continue working on various different series, I am writing wholeheartedly the stories I still see such a sad lack of—those stories I craved growing up, stories like what my older siblings enjoy, except for people my age. So if you like:

— Epic fantasy that centres on deep character relationships, especially between friends, family, and siblings, in the vein of Avatar The Last Airbender and How To Train Your Dragon.

— Epic tales where the characters make mistakes and struggle without being morally grey, where even if the end is bittersweet, there will always be hope—like The Wingfeather Saga, but with older heroes for young teens and tweens to look up to and grow up alongside.

Then my stories might be for you! If this sounds like something you’d like or something someone in your life might like, please sign up for my newsletter to follow my journey—I’ll be doing monthly updates as I work towards getting these books to you! You can also follow me/dm me on my Instagram, or feel free to contact me through the contact form on this site. If you’d like to start a conversation about what you’d love to see in epic fantasy for younger teens and tweens, I’d love to chat! (Or if you’d like book recs or any writing/art resources—I’m happy to share those too!😄)

TL:DR:

I write epic fantasy for younger teens and tweens—awesome, sweeping adventures with a loveable cast of characters that are appropriate for younger audiences, the kinds of stories that I struggled to find growing up.

— Hadassah Waugh

Short bio:

Born and raised in Middle Earth New Zealand, Hadassah Waugh grew up on a healthy dose of Lord of the Rings and Narnia, with some Avatar the Last Airbender thrown in. A former member of the Jerry Jenkins’ Writer’s Guild and Your Novel Blueprint, she now trains full-time as a writing and business student at The Author Conservatory. When she’s not playing with her siblings or writing her next fantasy epic, you can connect with her through the contact form on this site or her Instagram.