Burke's Epic Adventure in ‘Wonderland’
Even when she doesn’t have a specific project in mind, eighth-grade author Lorelai Burke is always writing — every day, in fact. As ideas pop into her head, she gets them down on the page. Sometimes she sets them aside for future use, sometimes it’s just an exercise to express what’s on her mind at the time. But then there are times when the words practically explode onto the page in large bursts of creativity, forming a perfect narrative structure.
“Some authors like to call it ‘the click,’” she said. “Basically, it's where everything just clicks together and it all makes sense. And so sometimes I'll have one specific idea, and then as I'm writing that, then suddenly all these other ideas just kind of come together.”
One of these “clicks” resulted in her recently published first novel, The War of Wonderland. The culmination of three years’ work, this self-published novel nods to Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland, while truly showcasing Lorelai’s talent for crafting unique characters and worlds. The novel centers around four teenagers’ combined efforts to save Wonderland from ultimate destruction, taking a deep dive into what it takes to battle governmental corruption and the forces of evil.
Lorelai has been writing as long as she has been reading. In kindergarten, she figured out that writing was a way to create characters that she wasn’t seeing in the books on her shelf.
“I was interested in writing about what I wanted to do and what I was thinking about. Also, if, perhaps, I didn’t like some of the characters in the books I was reading, I wanted to write better ones,” she explained.
Despite having successfully created this new epic adventure, Lorelai admitted that the concept of “world-building” is not typically something that she looks forward to in her writing. In this case, she had a partner close-at-hand who could help her stay organized.
She recalled: “My book is in a fantasy world, as the title indicates, but world-building can be really annoying, and it takes a long time — I don't always have the patience for it. But my mom helped me flesh out the details.”
A voracious reader, Lorelai takes her inspiration from a wide range of authors. One of her favorites is Rick Riordan, who wrote the Percy Jackson series, because of his talent for character-development.
She explained, “His writing is funny and interesting, and his characters are very real. So even though he’s a middle-aged man writing from a teenager’s perspective, it still comes off as genuine. That’s something I try to do with my characters. I want to avoid creating characters that are two-dimensional.”
The War of Wonderland isn’t merely a reflection of Lorelai’s writing abilities, it showcases her artistic sensibilities as well. The cover art was created by the author herself, as she concocted fake blood and tested spatters on different playing cards (reserving the Queen of Hearts, of course, for the final photoshoot) in her own front yard. The photography and editing were done on her phone. She then uploaded the artwork and manuscript using Kindle Direct Publishing to create the final product.
Lorelai already has ideas for a Wonderland sequel, but she maintains her interest in many different types of writing.
“I like to explore all different genres for just fiction. Sometimes it'll only be around 10 pages or less, but I've explored dystopian, fantasy fiction, realistic fiction, historical fiction, and sci-fi — just really anything fiction,” she said.
Lorelai said she welcomes the opportunity to talk to other authors, particularly younger writers who might want to know how to get started, how to get published, or who have questions about other related topics.
To purchase The War of Wonderland via Amazon, click here. Readers may choose a digital or print version. The print form will also be available in the Foote Library soon; Lorelai recommends her book for readers ages 12+, due to moderate depictions of violence (and one kissing scene).