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Hannah Rials<\/p><\/div>\n
Ascension<\/em> follows the life of Cheyenne Lane, a half-vampire\/half-human teenager who struggles with typical coming-of-age issues like fitting in with her peers and fighting with her parents. Spending the summer with her sister in New Orleans, she falls in love with a witch, unearths long-kept family secrets and finds herself in the middle of a conspiracy.<\/p>\n For Rias, a creative writing senior at UTC, the eight-year journey to published author began at her mentor\u2019s house. Rials\u2019 parents asked Pam Hix, a close family friend, to help Rials with her book. They worked together once a week to edit the manuscript and develop her writing.<\/p>\n \u201cThe book really matured and developed over those years. The original title was \u2018Macy the Teenage Vampire,\u2019\u201d Rials says.<\/p>\n Rials\u2019 big break came when she interned at Audrey Press, an independent book publisher in Maryville, Tenn., when she was in high school. Rials worked up the courage to bring her manuscript \u2014 all 450 pages \u2014 to Valarie Budayr, the publisher at Audrey Press.<\/p>\n Budayr, a published author herself, liked what she read and had Rials work with editor Mallory Leonard to further fine-tune the book and, at 20 years old, Rials became a published author.<\/p>\n \u201cIt took a village to get the book published. I\u2019m very thankful.\u201d Rials finished the manuscript for her second book while attending classes at UTC.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was tough. I would get up early to get an hour of writing done before I went to classes,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Working on her degree has been worth it, though. Her editor thinks her writing has improved since she\u2019s started taking classes.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s made me more thankful for the amazing English faculty at UTC,\u201d Rials says. \u201cKris Whorton is a close mentor and still reads my writing. I\u2019ve also learned a lot from Tom Bal\u00e1zs and Sarah Einstein as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Rials is currently on the third round of edits with hopes that the second book will be published at the beginning of next year. But she\u2019s tight-lipped about what comes next for Cheyenne Lane.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s based in a collegiate setting. That\u2019s all I can really say,\u201d she says with a laugh.<\/p>\n After graduation from UTC, Rials hopes to attend graduate school and continue writing. As for life after Cheyenne Lane?<\/p>\n \u201cI have idea for another book, a realistic fiction novel, but my heart will always be in fantasy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Hannah Rials was 12 years old, she woke up from a dream about a teenage vampire. Instead of rolling over and going back to bed, she got up and started writing. Eight years later, those late night writings are now a published novel called Ascension.<\/p>\nThe Road to Published Author<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nBalancing Writing with College Life<\/h2>\n
Plans for\u00a0More Books<\/h2>\n