HBHA 11th grader publishes first book

Apparently, the old adage “Write what you know” isn’t the only way a novelist can go.

Eleventh-grade Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy student Veronika A. Yatskevich has just self-published a very dark, disturbing book about mental illness that runs in a family. “The Epiphany & The Finish Line” deals with depression, a schizophrenic father, a mother who appears to be in denial, family secrets — basically, the ultimate dysfunctional family.

The book is actually two novellas that tie in together, but we don’t want to give away anymore information than that; it might spoil the ending.

One writer’s process
Evangeline, the main character in the first novella, has become a successful writer in her 20s. Then her life starts to fall apart, and she begins to question her own sanity as she discovers family secrets from the past.

After reading the book, one wonders how a 17-year-old could evoke such understanding and insight into these broken people unless she had some firsthand knowledge. Fortunately, that is not the case.

“Actually, I know no one (like these characters), but in ninth or eighth grade, I got interested in psychology,” Veronika said. “I took a class, and this year I’m taking another psychology class. So that’s how I knew quite a little bit about it.”

Amazingly, this is not Veronika’s first book. She says she has written a number of books, just for herself, and worked on this one for a year and a half. It was conceived as a book for young adults.

“Usually, I can just randomly be thinking of ideas, and I drop them all down in the computer. I hadn’t written anything about problems with families, so I just thought it through, and this one seemed to be the best idea, and it all came together in the end,” she said.

Don’t expect a happy ending; these characters have some serious problems. Veronika said she herself wasn’t sure at first how to tie it all up. She wrote the first part and didn’t like the way it ended, so she wanted to write a second part, but wasn’t sure how to connect the two.

“And then it just came together,” she said. “I wanted people to learn that if something bad happens, they can’t deny it because … it’s just going to get worse. That’s the main idea I was trying to hint at.”

For someone so young, Veronika has a tremendous amount of maturity and insight into human behavior. In addition, she shows a natural talent for plotting a story.

“Quite a lot of people tell me that I am mature for my age,” she says. “I think being around my mother especially … I think I learned from her.”

It also doesn’t hurt that Veronika has been writing stories since she was 7 years old.

“I write each day for about 30 minutes, just for practice,” she says. “But English class helps, too.”

She says in English class, they write a lot of essays, which “really makes your brain think.”

Veronika wants to be a writer some day, but also an English teacher.

What’s next?
Veronika said she learned about the self-publishing company CreateSpace from a customer of her father, who owns a small taxi company. The cost to publish her book was very reasonable, about $30. The publisher sells books only through Amazon.com, and most of the profits of every book sold go to CreateSpace. Veronika’s book is 150 pages and sells for $9.99.

She now has another novel nearly ready for publication, which she plans to submit to publishers, rather than going the self-publishing route.

“It’s basically from two points of view: one is this 18-year-old girl who was murdered, and the other is about the detective who is part of her case,” Veronika said. “They sort of intertwine and begin to understand how they relate to each other.

“And this one has a happy ending.”

Veronika said she has worked hard on the new book and thinks it’s better than her first.

“I think it has a lot better plot. My last book, I didn’t get help on anything, and it was really difficult. But this time I asked a few people to help me and I have people who can support me, and I know that my book can be really good, so I can send it to a publisher,” she said.

Veronika is the daughter of Arik and Galina Yatskevich, who emigrated from Uzbekistan with Veronika when she was just 6 months old. She has an older brother, Aleks, who is attending the University of Kansas.

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