Sophie Daniel, a freshman at Hudson High School, has dedicated her freetime to writing ever since she was nine. Her writing has shaped who she is.
Participating in Power of the Pen in 7th and 8th grade was an enjoyable time for her. Her peers from Power of the Pen still greet Daniel when they see her on the streets. Even though she didn’t win, writing with and for people is something that she will always enjoy and remember. “It was an experience,” she comments.
This year, she joined the writing club at HHS. So far, Daniel has enjoyed her time at the club, finding comfort in it. But she doesn’t just write at school; Daniel also writes in her free time.
Her family support has helped her get this far. Giving tips for writing doesn’t come for free, and paying for lessons sure isn’t. Her teacher, Amanda Cunningham, helps Daniel with her writing skills.
“[The lessons] are very fun,” Daniel comments. “You get to write whatever you want, and then you get to share, and then people are like, ‘yeah you did good,’ or they’re like ‘yeah you suck, so here’s how you can do better.’”
The lessons help her weekly. In fact, she is currently writing a novel with over three hundred pages. Writing takes a long time, and editing even longer; it took three years for Daniel to finish her first big project, Elemental. One of her relatives was a second grade teacher, and they read Elemental as a class with class activities to go with it.
Her current project is something else, though. So far, it’s still being edited, and she started it in May of 2021, making her a seventh grader when she first wrote it. Daniel shows great motivation and optimism towards the work.
“I was like a mini-celebrity during her class,” Daniel recalls. Her favorite book at the moment, one she was introduced to at the Book Club at HMS, is The Bone Houses, by Emily Lloyd-Jones. She says it’s her favorite book because of the interesting plot-twist and it also made her cry several times. She gets a lot of inspiration from the book. Most of her works are fantasy because she finds the genre interesting. Monarchy worlds, to add onto that. She’s well-loved by her choir peers, having taken vocal lessons since she was young.
But her own experiences don’t really impact her stories. Daniel doesn’t need to have her own experiences to write her own book, she says. Anyone can write anything if they really want to.
She has no specific inspiration for her writing, either; she started writing purely out of boredom. That boredom transformed into hundreds of thousands of words. Her piece, Thunder, got into the journal Stone Soup. Daniel says that they liked what she wrote and published it, making her first published piece of work, when she was 13. She hopes that she profits well off of her hobby now and in the future.
Though still in her freshman year, she is considering going to Baldwin Wallace or Kent State to study elementary education. Both of Daniel’s parents went to Baldwin Wallace, so she hopes to get scholarships.
In addition to her writing skills, she is also participating in choir. She sang the national anthem as a harmony at the Field Day in 8th grade and sang a solo in performance as well. Many of Daniel’s peers speak highly of her and mention how well she sings.
Daniel has been creative ever since she was a kindergarten student, making art pieces that were praised, practicing singing, and making up stories in her head. She has proven herself to be a naturally talented student at Hudson High School and many are glad to have her as a peer.
Her parents not only pay for writing lessons, but for vocal and dance lessons as well. She is so successful because of the money going into her education, support from family and her naturally creative mind.
Sophie Daniel, a successful singer and author at the age of fifteen, looks forward to a bright future as a friend and inspirational figure.
