Ellie Collins Interview Published on: 31, Aug 2020

I don’t remember for sure which book I started with, but there was a series of “Rainbow Magic” books about fairies that I think were the first non-picture books I read. They were about everything from food (like the “Cupcake Fairy”) to weather (like the “Sunshine Fairy”) to holidays (like the “Christmas Fairy”). They were fun and easy to read and I think they probably started my love for fantasy books.

Nagging. It was the end of the summer before I started 6 th grade and my mom walked into the living room and said, “Ellie! It is time to get Off. The. Xbox! You’ve been on there All. Day!” Of course, my response was to whine, “Well, WHAT else is there to dooo?!” (because, let’s face it; there’s usually nothing much to do at home other than video games). She said, “Why don’t you write me a story?” I thought about it for a second and asked, “Well, what would I write about?” She said, “I don’t know. You like Greek mythology; why don’t you write something about that?” Mom said later that she expected me to write a few sentences and beg to get back on the Xbox. Nope. That’s how Daisy, Bold & Beautiful was born! I’m mad, knowing I could have gotten away with just writing a paragraph, but as much as I hate to give credit to Mom, I’m super happy it worked out the way it did.

My mom took me to a gymnastics class just before I turned 3. You were supposed to be 3 to be in the class, but because I was so close, they let me start a little early. I was in love from my first bounce on the trampoline and first spin around a bar. From that day forward, I have pretty much lived at the gym. The saddest day I think I’ve ever had was last month when I found out that my gym (the one I’ve been at since I was 2) was closing their doors forever. I had always imagined that gym being a part of my life. I had been counting down the days until my 14 th birthday so I’d be able to start volunteering there, I had imagined my senior year video that would play at our annual team banquet when I graduated high school, and I had imagined coaching there while I went to college. Not only did I have to let go of all those dreams, but I was afraid I would have to work with a new coach and my team would have to split up, never to work out together again. Luckily, another local gym agreed to hire our coach and take in our whole team. I’ll always miss my old home of Northwest Aerials, but I’m really happy in our new home of Advantage Gymnastics.

Like I said before, it was my mom’s nagging. I don’t think I ever would have thought to sit down and write (beyond what I have to do at school) if Mom hadn’t sparked the idea.

I have ADHD and dyslexia, and both of those make reading and writing more difficult for me. Honestly, I don’t like to read all that much. I have read some amazing books that I loved, but it has to be a special story to pull me in. Otherwise, it can be really hard for me to focus on what I’m reading and I can’t remember what I’ve read, so I can’t keep up with the story. That wasn’t so much of a problem in elementary school, because they encourage you to just read whatever interests you. But it was a huge challenge in middle school, where we had to read assigned books. Those reading experiences were bad enough for me that now I shy away from reading because I associate it with feeling stupid for not being able to figure out what I’m reading. Writing is not as hard for me as reading, but I am NOT a great writer. I have a great imagination and I can think up great stories, but if I took on the challenge of writing a book without any help, I don’t know if I would have come up with more than a few paragraphs.

Heck no! I mean…come on! Writing was just something fun to do (until I could get back on the Xbox). I honestly didn’t even think about what other people would think about my stories. Don’t get me wrong; it makes me really happy that other people like them and some of the awards I’ve won have taken me on adventures I never would have dreamed of (I flew to Miami, FL and even Paris, France to accept awards!), so it’s FANTASTIC that my books have won awards! But, no. I never, EVER expected it!

Well, my original plan was to write out my story and Mom would type it out for me, since she types a lot faster than I do (except with texting – I text MUCH faster than she does). That didn’t work out too well because I never seemed to have time to write much, but it also didn’t work because Mom can’t read my writing. So, to solve both of those problems I recorded myself on Mom’s phone (because this was before I was allowed to have a phone of my own) telling the story I wanted typed, chapter by chapter. I’d record the chapters in the car on the way to practice, Mom would type them up while I was in practice, then I would read over what she typed (or she would read it out to me) and I’d tell her any changes I wanted. That process makes everything go pretty fast. Daisy, Bold & Beautiful started in late August and it was done before Christmas!

I am really, really happy the lockdown stopped, because gymnastics at home is hard and not nearly as fun as it is in the gym. I have a tumble mat, a beam and a bar (they’re all in the back yard because we don’t have room in the house for them). It helped that I could get on them sometimes. I have a pull-up bar in my bedroom doorway, which helped, too. There were also some workout videos I did, but none of that stuff was much fun alone here at home. I am SO HAPPY to be back in the gym!

I can’t remember for sure, but I’m pretty sure I was 4 or 5. Piano is okay, but gymnastics is a lot more important to me. Luckily, I have a really understanding piano teacher. My mom explained to her that if I was pressured to practice a certain amount each week, that would just lead to me probably quitting piano all together (Mom knows me pretty well!). Mom didn’t care if my piano playing ability didn’t improve quickly; she just wanted me to continue to work on something musical and to keep up with learning how to read music. I practice as much as I can, but not nearly as often as most piano students probably do. Honestly, the lockdown made piano at home almost as difficult as gymnastics at home. I’ve continued with weekly Zoom lessons, but it’s just really hard to stay focused and excited about piano when I’m just at home. Piano is nice, but it’s the time with my piano teacher I like best, so we’re working it out so I can go to her house sometimes for lessons and sometimes we’ll have the Zoom lessons.

LOL! So funny that you chose THAT character to ask about! Sarah is named after my older sister, but the character is totally me. I had a lot of fun writing about her. It’s pretty easy to write exactly how you’d react to everything!

Oh, YEAH! There never would have been a single book with my name listed as the author if it wasn’t for Mom. As I said before, it was her nagging that started the whole thing, and she has played a huge role in every part of the writing. She taught me to break the process down into fun steps so nothing feels overwhelming. First, I’d come up with the god or goddess I wanted the story to be about. Then I’d come up with a moral of the story I wanted my story to focus on. Each of my books has the moral of the story that I associate with the moral I got out of the main stories I’ve heard or read about each god or goddess. For instance, I felt like the story of Persephone (and Hades) is about Persephone learning to stand up for herself, and the story of Aphrodite is about how you can’t force someone to love someone else. Then I’d write up a rough outline of my story. Finally, I’d write up character sheets – details about each of the main characters (everything from age, height, eye color and hair color to favorite foods, relationships with family members, favorite subjects in school, etc.). Every character had stuff listed that would never be revealed in the stories (like one of my characters a lesbian who hadn’t come out to her parents yet, another helped to care for her severely handicapped sister). Finally, I’d start recording what I wanted written. Because Mom was always in the car with me when I would make my recordings, she would be able to interrupt me with questions about things like exactly what I meant or what I thought the character might be thinking when he or she was doing or saying whatever I wanted them to do or say. That was really helpful in Mylee In The Mirror because all those characters were in high school, so I didn’t have as much in common with them as I did with the characters in Daisy, Bold & Beautiful (who were all my age). Then, of course, she did all the typing, which was huge, because I can’t spell well at all and grammar is definitely not my friend. My editor, Mr. Geez, is great, but I don’t know if he would have been able to make heads or tails out of what I sent him if I had done all the typing. Note: Mom is typing out what I’m telling her to write right now. [Wave from Mom]

Not much. I was a little embarrassed to bring it up in school, so I didn’t talk about it much. At gym we’d talk about it and my friends would offer ideas about the different stories. Mostly, they’d want to be mentioned in the books. Most of my characters are named after my teammates.

OMG, YES! I am definitely an extrovert and being stuck at home all the time was torture. I’d text with my teammates and chat on Discord with my online friends, but I was feeling worse and worse every day until we were finally (FINALLY!) able to get back to the gym.

I wish more people would ask what I want to do when I grow up. A lot of people say things like, “Wow; you’re such an inspiration because even at such a young age you got right out there and made your dream to be an author come true!” Actually, I’m an artist. Writing my stories was fun, but my dream is to become an animator. My dad works for Xbox, and maybe I’ll make video games like him, but maybe I’ll be more like a YouTube animator or maybe I’ll work on animated movies. There are so many cool choices and ideas out there; I get so inspired and excited just thinking about it!

I’m pretty sure it was earlier this year that my mom (yep; she also does most of my promotional work, so I have that to thank her for, too!) discovered AllAuthor and signed me up. It’s really cool! I mean, even this interview was a lot of fun! But it’s awesome when Mom will point out an AllAuthor ad [featuring MY BOOKS!] that pops up on Twitter. It makes me feel all legit and “worldly” and like I’m a real author, you know?