Starting high school can be very overwhelming. On top of a new school and increased workload, many freshmen participate in extracurricular activities. Elle Vail ’23 is not much different than her peers; she plays the clarinet and is on the soccer team. However, what really makes Vail unique is that at 14 years old, she is a published author.
Vail published her books in March of 2019. The books titled, “Running to Willow” and “Adverse Wishes” are sold on Amazon and on the Barnes and Noble website. They are also available at the Bedford Middle School library, and the Westport Book Cycle.
Both of Vail’s books have been self-published, which is the publication of writing without the involvement of a publisher.
“I just wanted them to be out there somehow, even if it was self-publishing,” Vail said.“I really didn’t know much about self-publishing, and I didn’t really think it could be possible.”
Vail’s love for writing blossomed in first grade when the students were given the opportunity to write their own picture books. Vail’s teacher started writing outside of school with the encouragement of her teacher.
“Her name was Ms. Bader, and she was very enthusiastic about writing,” Vail said. “She just told us to really go for it, and no matter what our age, we could do what we wanted especially if we wanted to pursue writing.”
Since then, Vail has known she wants to make a career out of writing.
In seventh grade, Vail found more inspiration in her English teacher, Lorien Hallama, who connected her with literary agents and local authors. Vail was able to Facetime with various authors across the country who helped her start her first book.
In addition to Hallama, Vail also received help from local author, Emily Leiber. After meeting at a National Charity League event, the two went to lunch to discuss Vails books and her future career as an author.
Leiber is a Westport resident and author of six books.
“When I met Elle, she had already written her books, Leibert said. “So I didn’t give her any help with writing her books. She had done that completely on her own and had already proven that she was a talented writer and ambitious and motivated, and wanted to grow, and build this into something more than a hobby and build it into hopefully a career. I have nothing but the utmost respect for her doing this at such a young age.”
Leibert added, “She is so impressive, and I think she’s going to be a superstar author one day. I have no doubt about that.”
Vail finds inspiration for her writing in the world around her. She incorporates her view of the world into her writing to try and inspire those who read it. Creating new worlds with her stories allows Vail to share her opinions.
“I just think it’s really cool to be able to just create this whole other universe just by writing,” Vail said.
Once Vail finished writing her books, she turned to her friends Parker Pretty ’23 and Hannah Fiarman ’23 to illustrate the covers.
“I really talked to Elle about what she wanted for the cover… and mainly just used what was in the book to create the covers,” Fiarman said.
Vail and Fiarman have been friends since middle school. “She just asked me one day if I could help her with it [the book covers],” Fiarman said. “She’s… fun and overall a nice person.”
Vail encourages kids to discard their age to follow their dreams. She says as long as you have the passion, it doesn’t matter what other people say.
“Just push your age aside. You can do whatever you want, as long as you don’t let that be a barrier,” Vail said.