More News

Julia Wang began writing her fantasy novel "Dragon Peak" at age 7.

"When I was little, I wanted to be an author and make billions of dollars, just like J.K. Rowling," the North Potomac 11-year-old recalls.

The sixth-grader in the humanities program at Roberto Clemente Middle School now realizes that it takes a lot of determination to be a writer. Many people can write, she observes, but not everyone has the desire to see a project through to the end.

"Dragon Peak" is about three friends who run away from an orphanage to find a rumored magical mountain. In the process, they connect with two other youngsters, and the five of them discover that the mountain they're heard about is real – and inhabited by mythical creatures. When one of the children is tricked into joining forces with the underworld, the other four set out to save her. A friendly gang of dragons helps them.

A trip to Sugarloaf Mountain inspired the tale. Wang and a friend saw some interesting rock formations and a cave on the mountain, and they began to act out a story they made up as they went along.

"When I got back home, I just kind of typed it up on the computer," she says.

Wang eventually lost interest in the project and put it away. Then, at age 9, she was clearing out some of her files and found the story she had started.

"Whoa, it was pretty good," says Wang of what she thought when she rediscovered the story. She decided to start working on it again and eventually finished it.

Before writing the book, Wang had written a few short stories.

"I don't think they're that good," she says.

Wang's mother, Rose Xu, says her daughter didn't show the manuscript to her at first. Instead, Wang showed it to her friends and they, in turn shared it with their parents. After those parents told Xu how good they thought the book was, Xu asked her daughter if she could read it.

Wang, who Xu describes as extremely independent, researched publishing options online and decided to self-publish with AuthorHouse. A friend who is two years older edited the work for grammar, and an editor at AuthorHouse gave her some help.

A self-described bookworm, Wang is an avid fan of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series and of Nancy Yi Fan, the teenager who became a New York Times bestselling author with her books "Swordbird" and "Sword Quest."

When not reading or writing, Wang enjoys playing the flute and the piano.

She says she is proudest of her book's prologue because it's really an attention-getter.

"‘Pick your second,' Bearach growled to Nagendra," Wang writes in the introduction. "The basilisk leader swiveled his head to face his warriors; his gaze swept each of them and rested on a young, muscled basilisk. ‘You, Athanatius, come forth.'"

Xu thinks her daughter writes with sophisticated language.

"Some of the words, I don't even know the meaning," Xu says.

Wang says there's really no lesson or meaning to her novel.

"I'm just hoping they're entertained by it," she says of her audience.

Xu and her husband, both Chinese immigrants, have excelled in math and science. She is thrilled, however, that both Wang and her younger sister are both very interested in the humanities. She says that Wang has opened the door for a sequel in her writing of "Dragon Peak."

In the meantime, though, Wang is just focusing on selling books so she can donate the money she makes to charity. A lover of all animals, she has decided that half the money will go to the Montgomery County Humane Society and the other half to a wildlife refuge.

"Now that I'm older, I don't really need the money, so I thought, why not give it to a good cause?" Wang says.

"Dragon Peak" is available for purchase online at www.amazon.com and at www.barnesandnoble.com.