Melody and Words

Ana Rocha is currently 16 years old in the 11th grade. She attends high school in Marietta, Georgia but is originally from Manaus, Brazil. She enjoys reading and writing, and to focus more on writing she is currently taking a journalism class. When Ana was a kid she had an iPad and she would write stories, she has written fanfictions, stories of her life, and narratives. She dedicated a lot of her free time during her childhood to writing whatever was on her mind and wherever her imagination took her for fun. The most recent story written by her is a romance book titled “Melody and Words”.

The story is being published in Brazil and is written completely in Portuguese. Ana’s inspiration for writing this story came from writing, reading and watching a lot of movies. The story took Ana almost a year to write. When she was asked “Why?” she said “I used to take long breaks and prolong it, because, I think when you write you need to feel like writing, you shouldn’t force yourself to write, so, I would only write when I felt like it and it took me like a year to do it.” Ana lost motivation at times but something or in this case someone who kept her motivated was her friend Ana Luísa Pinheiro who is currently in 11th grade as well. After Ana would write a chapter she would send it to Ana P and she would give her feedback. Ana P said “When she was writing it [the story] I read chapter by chapter. She would write a chapter and send it to me and I would read it and tell her what she could fix and what was wrong with the writing and everything.” The author Ana, also made her friend Ana P a character in the story. The character’s name is Ana as well and she is the cousin of the main character.
When Ana was asked “How was she able to get the story published?” she said. “I looked up how to publish a book and a publishing website popped up and they were like ‘Just send us your book and then we’re gonna publish it’ and then I sent it and it got accepted.” The story is about a young girl who moves states. She doesn’t know anyone and has to deal with lots of change. She gets caught up in some unfriendly situations involving boys, dishonesty, and plenty of other situations that occur in most people’s everyday life. However, the main character learns how to overcome the problems and unpleasant situations that occur. The story also covers sexual harrassment. It gives the point of view of the victim and also gives the point of view of the person who harassed the victim. Ana P said “It [the sexual harrasment in the story] also helps you understand what it really is and how serious it is, and how most of the times the victim is the one who’s judged by it and not the aggressor.”
There are both happy and sad moments throughout the story, just like how there are in real life. Almost all change is bitter-sweet, and that is a part of the story’s main message. The story’s message can be interpreted in different ways depending on the person but the key message is that sometimes change can be good. This story should be continued. Ana has said that she is already working on the sequel for the story and that she will continue to keep writing other stories and continue her journey as a young author.