14-year-old Samiksha Bhattacharjee has been given the title of the youngest YA novelist in the country, with her book Legal Crime, published in March 2021, when she was only 13 years of age.
The story focuses on the idea of peer pressure, and its possible effects on people. The protagonist, 16-year-old Fiona Watson runs away from her home, discovering the secrets of her family and friends. As she battles with her identity, she must cope with her huge mistakes… or risk being ruined forever.
Samiksha started writing her book when she was only 7 years old, spending the COVID lockdown to work on it to its finish. When asking Samiksha about what prompted her to even write the book, she explained, “I've always loved writing, in fact - I wrote my first little book when I was five! The idea of Legal Crime first came to me in the bathroom. I was trying to think of an idea for a short story, but I never expected it to be any longer than ten pages, let alone be published!” Samiksha added that she wrote the character of Fiona Watson in relation to her experiences in life: things she had heard happen to others, things that happened to herself, and even things she had witnessed. The book hones into emotions, peer pressure, and friendship issues, which are concerns that affect most teenagers.
She went on to say how there is an expectation to fit in or to be popular, which is the problem. People have to change themselves just to fit in, otherwise being outcasted. Uniqueness is not quite appreciated in high school, even with little things such as uniforms. “I say this as if it's not a problem that affects me, when, in reality, it does. I've changed myself and how I act around people because I don't feel like I can be my true self. By some point, I had forgotten who I really was, which I realised was a mistake. I'm still learning to embrace myself, and so is Fiona. So, throughout the course of the book, we were also taking a similar emotional journey together.”
However, something that the character of Fiona and Samiksha do not share is their age.
“The story was originally meant to follow a ten-year-old girl, but I changed it very soon after because I didn't feel like it would be very realistic. Instead, I went with a sixteen-year-old confused teenager, who seemed more appropriate. Fiona is older than me, so I had to think a little outside the box. It was slightly challenging because I wanted to convey her emotions and feelings - happiness, anger, grief, etc. - as accurately as possible, and I really hope that I succeeded.”
With a heavy work schedule as a high school student, and one who is in their first year of GCSE preparation, Samiksha had to maintain her work-life balance. But where did she get the time to start and finish an entire novel?
Her answer to this question was that she had been writing the book for 5 years, from ages 7 through 12. “Obviously, I wasn’t writing continuously for five years and I also took some breaks for exam preparation. I mostly write during the night and do my schoolwork during the evening. I have insomnia, so I find writing to be a great help with that as well. Obviously, writing progress is slower when you’re a teenager, especially when trying to juggle homework and clubs. There were certain points where encapsulating raw teenage emotions in the book was very difficult, because I wasn't sure what would happen next. I did have to face writer's block but was able to get through it and continue with the story. I'm really happy that I stuck with it and created a new universe to add to the multiverse of books. And if I could manage both the workload and writing, I’m sure others can do it too!”
When speaking about writing, it was evident that Samiksha really shares a passion for it, which was outstanding for a teenager, where the lives are surrounded by exams, exams, and more exams.
“I’ve always loved reading, and that drew me into creating my own stories. My mum encouraged me to write when I was little. Putting my feelings and thoughts into words on paper was also a way to carve my own world and was an escape sometimes when too many things were happening in the real world. I absolutely love it!”
As mentioned at the beginning, Samiksha has received the title of being the youngest young adult novelist in the UK. Samiksha stated that she never expected to get the title when she published the book.
“I’m really honoured to have the title, but I want to see other teenagers with published novels out there in the world too. The extremely low number of child authors, all around the world, really shocked me and I hope that after reading Legal Crime, teenagers feel more encouraged to start writing, and maybe even get published!”
Legal Crime has been nominated for The People’s Book Prize 2021/2022. The public can vote on the Legal Crime website online now.
Samiksha is starting on a second novel. She was not able to give away too much just yet but has confirmed that it is a YA dystopian fantasy.
“I extensively planned it all out, in contrary to Legal Crime. It is very different from Legal Crime, given its genre. However, I am still exploring important things like identity. We will have to see how it goes. I’m having great fun with the story, I love the characters, and I really hope that the rest of the world will enjoy it too!”
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