Nara Duffie completed her first novel, The Monster Realm, 11 days before her 11th birthday. She has exhibited at L.A. Times Festival of Books, Orange County Children’s Book Festival, and ComicCon where her novel was optioned by a film production company.

At these events, Nara met hundreds of kids who asked for advice on finishing novels of their own. So Nara created Medusa’s Guide to Novel Writing, a TED-style presentation that uses the novel writing process to help kids fulfill their creative goals in life.

Nara has presented Medusa’s Guide to Novel Writing for both the Los Angeles and Fullerton School Districts, and was the keynote speaker at Fullerton’s year-end writer celebration. Pam Chow, Project Liaison for the Fullerton’s Superintendent’s Office, wrote about the event, "The students were inspired that someone their age was able to accomplish so much. By communicating with the students as a peer, she really motivated them, not only to keep writing, but to never give up on anything they want to accomplish.”

Nara has recently completed The Three Worlds, the exciting sequel to The Monster Realm, which will debut at the L.A. Times Book Festival in 2016.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx