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PRODIGIESlife

Meet Adora Svitak of Redman,Washington, an eight-year-oldwho has written more than 300short stories and has had a bookpublished in three different

countries. She uses words like “oli-garchy” and “tourniquet” and has anaverage typing speed of 60 words perminute.

She also edits her school paper andmother’s business reports. She haswritten over 300 short stories. In oneyear alone, she wrote over 330,000words!

The prodigy has been interviewedby Diane Sawyer. She started to readwhen she was only two-and-a-half years old,began writing stories at age four, and typingthem out at age six.

In 2004, Adora published a book called FlyingFingers. The 296-page book includes a series ofher short stories, along with writing strategiesand advice from Adora’s mother and tutor.

The themes in Adora’s books vary. She says, “Iam particularly interested in the adventures ofstrong women heroines. Because of my love forhistory, many of my adventure/fantasy storieshave strong historical backgrounds.”

She elaborates by saying her heroines have ascholarly passion for reading, a rebellious spiritand are non-traditional, even avant garde.

She reads an average of 18 books a week rang-ing from 50-page novellas to 800-page novels. Anexample is Vermilion Gate by Aiping Mu, (800pages) and Cleopatra by Robert Green.

When chatting with Adora, I found in her joy,excitement, playfulness, curiosity, and manyother characteristics you would find in any eight-year-old. But when the interview began, sheremarkably transformed into a ‘professionaladult’.

When asked if she was missing out on a normalchildhood, she replied,”If normal means beingrowdy, hyper, thoughtless, playing video games10 hours a day, and watching tons of stupid TVcartoons, then, no.

“I am free to participate in any activity that anynormal child would participate in and have theopportunity to enjoy interacting with a variety ofpeople. I don't feel that I am missing out on a so-called ‘normal’ childhood.

In fact, Adora loves to dance, play with herclassmates, sister and parents, and cook.

The greatest impression I have of Adora isthat she is a mature and down-to-earth girl whohasn’t let fame get to her, but instead uses it tohelp others. I will never forget how compassion-ate and thoughtful she is. We need more peoplelike her in this world, many more.

asia!: As a teenager myself, I'm interested toknow why an eight-year-old cares more aboutothers than playing X-box games, stirring peopleup or being a nuisance?Adora Svitak: I’d like to share my ideas withthe world to show that kids can influence andinspire others because I sort of feel that kidsare regarded by the public in general as unableto inspire and influence other people. I would liketo prove to everybody that kids can accomplishgreat things, regardless of their age.

Who was the first person you told about your ideaof writing your book Flying Fingers and what wastheir reaction?My mum was the first person I told about my ideato publish a book. Her reaction was entirely posi-tive.

Teenager SKY CHIA askschild-author Adora Svitak about

normalcy, absurdity and selling books in Asia.

A B O U T A

Flying fingers: Adora types 330,000words a year at the speed of 60 wordsper minute.

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life PRODIGIES

Why did you choose the title Flying Fingers?It was when a writer came and saw me type andmade reference to my fingers as flying that wecame up with the name.

Were there any tough challenges you faced whilewriting the book? One of the tough challenges I faced was finishingthe endings of my stories. I overcame thisdifficulty by focusing on my dream and what it tookto get there. I made myself work on the littlethings that would take me closer to my goal.Sometimes I wrote a paragraph at a time.However, everything went well, and so I got mybook out!!!

Were there ever days that you just didn't feel likewriting?Yes, sometimes there were days when I didn’t feellike writing or I didn’t want to concentrate orfocus on my stories, but that’s not so commonanymore because I am more disciplined now.

How long did it take you to finish writing the book?It took me six months. It was fun, exciting as wellas hard work.

How is Flying Fingers selling so far?

It’s

doing well in the US. The bilingual version will bepublished in China in April. I have also signed acontract with a Korean publisher.

Were you shocked or surprised by the response toyour book?I’m not really surprised or shocked because almosteveryone gets praise sometime or another.

Did you have any doubts about it getting published,or were you confident all the way?Sometimes I had my doubts because I was afraidthat I wouldn’t get my stories done, we wouldn’tbe able to find a publisher, that my storieswouldn’t make up enough pages, and that kind ofthing, but on the whole I was pretty confident.

I hear you're writing another book. What's itabout? And how's it going?I hope to write a book about history for kids.However, I haven’t actually been doing it—mycurrent project is a book of poetry, and I’m alsowriting a new story.

How did you learn to read and write so well at such

a young age?I always found reading fun because I could learn new things, Icould read about adventures of fictional/historical charac-ters, and I did it every day. I also practise writing everyday, which helps me improve constantly.

What about those words you use like 'absurdity' and ‘protago-nist’. How did you come about learning them? I don't evenknow what they mean.Most of these I come up with because I see them in books,look them up, and use them in my stories. Sometimes I alsohear them or learn them in my vocabulary class.

For more information go to: www.adorasvitak.com

Supporting cast: The Svitak family at Christmas

Adora makes appearances atschools to encourage students toread and write.

At work: Adora promotesher book at Barnes &Noble

Just normal: Ice skating isanother pursuit.

At play: Adora andAdrianna makingfaces at Halloween