Getting published a ‘Dream’ for Shanyce Morris

Shanyce Morris, the 15-year-old author of Paria Street. (Photo by Akil Simmons)

March 19, 2015 — Shanyce Morris recently drew a line through one of the items on her bucket list.

She penned and published a novel Paria Street which is now available for sale.

The most outstanding part? She’s only 15 years old.

The book fell in with the personal project demanded by her school Somersfield Academy as part of its International Baccalaureate programme.

“It’s always been a dream of mine to be a published author. I decided this was what I wanted to do,” Shanyce said.

“It’s a collection of six short stories. I chose the name as the [main] character is of Spanish descent and Paria means outcast in Spanish and I wanted to write about outcast groups.”

It took the teenager about six months to complete the 100-page book. She had it published by the online company, CreateSpace.

“It’s six stories about people who live on that street and the way the story is told is by one main character telling the audience about the different people and their stories,” she explained.

“There’s a veteran with PTSD; a child who’s being abused; a child with autisum, navigating their way through school; a gender transition ... I wanted to [write about them] because these are things you don’t hear about enough. I wanted to raise awareness for what people in these groups go through.

“I could have just written it and printed out copies but part of the validation was having a firm copy that I could hold and flip through — an actual book.”

There was a lot of research involved. Shanyce received expert advice from psychiatrist Chantelle Simmons.

The Bermuda Hospitals Board’s Chief of Psychiatry gave character feedback on mental illness.

“I gave her scenarios of what the characters go through and she’d say whether it was realistic or not,” Shanyce explained.

Paria Street can be bought on Amazon and Kindle. Shanyce will sign copies of the book on Saturday from 12.30pm until 3pm in the Washington Mall next to the sporting goods store, Sportseller.

The teenager is also donating copies to her school library.

“A lot of teachers expressed interest in reading it,” she said. “Through the experience I found I love to write — it’s good to let all thoughts centre in one area. I hope to do more.”

Originally published in The Royal Gazette.