When Lynn University professor Robert Watson teamed with his teenage son,Alex, to produce a work of fiction in 2012, neither could envision the wave of collaboration that their book, Tsunami, would produce.
But less than two years later, the Watson men were standing in front of more than 100 guests at West Boca Library, celebrating the 20-plus young authors that contributed to a novel concept and subsequent book: Let’s Write Together.
The idea came to Watson and his son after their work together on Tsunami, which chronicles a family vacation to Hawaii that turns into a wild adventure.
“Even though we’ve always been very close, we learned things about one another we did not previously know [during the writing of the book],” says Watson, director of American Studies at Lynn and author of more than 30 history books. “The book gave us an opportunity to discuss several fun and important questions about life.”
So Watson and his son decided to offer a similar opportunity to lower and middle school students interested in writing. They invited those students last year to submit short stories they had written alone or with a family member or friend. The stories could fall under one of the following categories: action/adventure, thriller/sci-fi and drama/mystery/comedy.
Deerfield Beach-based TriMark Press published winning stories from each category as a compilation called Let’s Write Together: Short Stories From Aspiring Young Authors. The book, released May 9, contained 10 short stories from lower school students and 13 short stories from middle school students.
The majority of the winners were from Palm Beach or Broward counties, with Boca Raton students contributing the most stories. Among the winners:
Boca Raton Community School
Emily Fahim
Omni Middle School
Zion Frost
Grandview Preparatory School
Samantha Perez
Victoria Gallastegui
Ari Prince
Pine Crest School
Cayleigh Pine
Jessica Haykov
Ayesha Minhas
Saint Andrew’s School
Linda Saraniti
Isabella Watson
About Taryn:
Taryn Tacher is a senior at the University of Florida studying Journalism and Business Administration, who is interning at Boca Magazine this summer. Though she is less than five feet tall, what she lacks in height she makes up for with her passion for writing. She loves yoga, puppies and all things tiny. You can reach Taryn at taryn@bocamag.com.
