After five years, Cochrane local Sara Darroch has published her first novel, The Cure.
Darroch started working on the fantasy novel in 2009 thanks to the encouragement from her father.
“I got waitlisted after I applied to ACAD (Alberta College of Arts and Design) and during that time my father suggested I write a book,” said Darroch.
Her family owns and operates Eternity Health for Life in Cochrane, so Darroch balanced working as the business’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) while writing her novel.
“I would spend almost a week for just writing and then there would be a week where I may have not been sure what to write so then I’d focus mostly on the business – since I worked from home it allowed that flexibility,” said Darroch.
The project proved to be a learning process for her as she had never before endeavored to write a story of this length.
“It took me around five years to write the novel because I also spent a lot of time studying the craft,” said Darroch. “As much as I was an avid reader, I didn’t really know that much about how storytelling worked.”
While she had always been a good writer, she was more inspired by creating the story’s outline than the actual writing process.
“My favourite part was the outlining because to me that’s like daydreaming and thinking about how to fit the pieces of the plot together.”
She wouldn’t let her family see the book until it was done, which made the process more difficult as she didn’t have feedback to go off of.
Her editing process, done by both her and her mother, involved “reading it over and going through bits of the book at a time,” using her notes in her outline as a guide to “restructure the words.”
After approaching a couple different publishers in 2014 and getting rejected, Darroch and her family decided to publish the book themselves. The book originally started as a retelling of her own life with fantasy embellishments, but soon it evolved into a complex story with character development and a suspenseful plot.
The Cure is set in a world called Synn where a disease, called the Curse, is devastating the population. Seventeen-year-old Azaria works at an apothecary in the city of Tenera when she discovers she possesses magical capabilities. She is then thrust into an adventure to escape capture from evil rulers while searching for a cure to relieve her sick brother from the Curse.
“It’s about someone getting the courage to make their own choices instead of doing what others tell them,” said Darroch. “It also talks about the devotion and bonds of family.”
The book, which is suitable for young adults, is available online as an eBook on amazon.ca or through the Darrochs.
Anyone interested in more information is asked to email [email protected]
Currently in the works, Darroch is helping her brother write an informative book on diabetes, a disease he personally suffers from. The two are hopeful it will be released early next year.
Darroch hopes her experience and novel will inspire others to try writing their own stories.
“It’s something that people look at and think it’s so hard but its actually deceptively simple – the hardest part is getting over your own self-doubt,” said Darroch. “You just need to realize you don’t have to sell (your work) – because no matter what people think, they can’t take away that accomplishment from you.”
