For a Chinese kid, publishing (出版) a book in English isquite a big challenge. But Zhang Lu, a 15-year-old student from Beijing, hasdone so.
She wrote anEnglish-language fantasy novel, The Vampires of Lorania. Foreign LanguageTeaching and Research Press has published it. (A)It is their first time topublish a high school students works independently.
In Zhang's 60, 000-wordnovel, she describes a vampire kingdom called Lorania. A brave girl named Roseand a Chinese boy fight with bad guys to keep Lorania peaceful. It discussesthe meaning of heroism (英雄主义) from the view of ateenager. It tells readers "A hero is one who chooses to stay and fightfor what is right, even if he is afraid."
Zhang studies at the HighSchool Affiliated with Renmin University of China (人大附中) .She has spent over five years working on the book.
As a big fan of English,Zhang enjoys reading original novels (原版小说) and watching TV series inEnglish. She is especially interested in fantasy novels. When she was in Grade5, she read The Chronicles of Narnia (《纳尼亚传奇》) by US author C. S. Lewis.It encouraged her to write her own novel.
(B) With little experience,she did run into some problems, like how to design the story.
"I read many otherfantasy novels like Twilight and The Lord of the Rings to learn somethings. AndI kept changing and improving my draft again and again" she said.
Zhang is happy aboutpublishing her first book. "It gives me a chance to express my ideas,"she said. She has already started writing a sequel (续集) to her book.
