Irma Lemus
RANCHO DISTRICT -- Technically, she may not be a published author yet,
but Danica Davidson has already written a murder mystery, a comedy based
on "Dracula" and even a retelling of Greek myths -- with a twist.
Though her books have yet to appear in print, the 14-year-old David
Starr Jordan Middle School eighth-grader has quite a following at the
school.
"Every time I finish a story, I make copies and give them out to
friends who want to read my stuff," said Danica, who began writing when
she was 3 years old.
"When I was really young, I used to mostly write fantasies. I used to
dictate them to my parents and they would write them down," said the
aspiring writer, who has penned a collection of poetry and an astounding
15 novels.
Her most recent work, "Our Stories II," retells Greek mythology from
the gods' perspective. The 200-page work uses humor and an offbeat point
of view to make it appealing to readers, Danica said.
Lauren Bauer, 14, Danica's classmate, is a fan.
"The first story I read was 'Drachenberg' in the sixth grade -- it's
based on 'Dracula'... I really liked it," Lauren said. "As soon as she
gives me a copy, I read it all."
Her classmates are not the only ones reading Danica's work.
Rayell Sawyer, who teaches sixth-grade English and history at Jordan,
said she uses Danica's stories to teach writing structure. Sawyer said
she learned of Danica's talents when the student, her teacher's
assistant, brought in samples of her work.
"When I read the first story I thought it was great. It had a lot of
detail and dialogue and I thought my students could learn from it,"
Sawyer said.
Danica's father, Peter Davidson, said his daughter's writing prowess
initially caught him by surprise.
"When she was about 6 years old, she wrote 'All the Reasons Why I
Should Sleep on Your Bed and Not Mine.' I was blown away by her
thinking," Davidson said.
"I'm really impressed by her stuff, she's got all the basics to be a
writer... Her work has humor, insight and a plot," said Davidson, who
runs his own consulting firm.
But Danica is already suffering the travails of most writers.
"It's really hard to get published," she said. "I've sent publishers
letters, but they have written me back telling me I'm too young -- that's
if they write back at all."
The lack of enthusiasm by publishers has only pushed her to be more
diligent, Danica said.
"I want to be a writer. I've always wanted to be a writer. When I'm
not writing it drives me crazy," she said.
Excerpt from "Our Stories II"
By Danica Davidson
"This is the Underworld?" I gasped, fascinated, yet frightful.
"Ya-huh," Hermes said. "A regular Dante's Inferno, don't you think?"
I didn't know what to think... We were standing on a river bank, a
river bank hundreds of miles below the surface of the Earth. The water
was black, or at least appeared to be with what looked like smoke
rippling and spiraling below the top... Ghosts wandered there, faces
pale, expression blank, fulfilling dreadful tasks the gods gave them as
punishment for what they did in life."
