By Shanice Davis

Being a student in college with a published book or a book in the process of being published is

quite the accomplishment to have under one’s belt.

Like most things in life, it takes hard work and dedication to see such a thing fall into place and

not many young college students can say they have achieved this task. Nonetheless, CSUSM has

amongst its students a soon to be published writer, Sarah Youngren.

Youngren is currently working on a soon to be science fiction novel titled The Offspring.

“It’s Hunger Games meets I, Robot,” Youngren said.

The novel, as the title implies, is about the offspring. The main character, Olive, is the offspring

of the president who is in control of all the robots that take care of the remaining humans. The

characters live in a world where everyone lives alone without any human connection. Yet, when

Olive learns of the corrupt society she lives in, she begins searching for her father.

Olive plans on killing her father and assuming control as president in his place. Her ultimate goal

is to get control of the robots in hopes of changing society for the better.

Youngren is no stranger to writing as she confidently confessed that she first discovered her love

for the art of writing four years ago in high school while dabbling in screenplays. Although, she

did admit that prior to her writing journey, she had been a story writer since her childhood.

“Stories would develop from my childhood, and it never occurred to me that I wanted to write

until high school,” Youngren said.

When asked who her favorite author was, at first she chuckled as though to imply “Don’t judge

me.”

“The author of the Princess Diaries novels when I was younger, but I’ve outgrown that, and the

author of The Hunger Games,” she said. “But aside from that no authors in particular.”

Youngren’s work was not necessarily influenced by certain authors, however, it was more so that

her own imagination inspired her storytelling.

Furthermore, Youngren is not the only writer in her family as her father is one as well, and she

also has a close friend whose family is in the literary business.

Youngren completed her novel within two years and is currently progressing through the editing

process. The next goal on her checklist is to get the novel published.

She shared that an important aspect of getting published includes providing a polished

manuscript.

“It has to be super duper perfect when finalizing it,” Youngren said.

Whenever she feels that her novel is ready for publishing, Youngren hopes her fellow Cougars

will keep an eye out on it and make a purchase in support of her literary goals.

Getting published is among the hardest aspects for new writers; however, Youngren hopes that

her connections within the literary world along with her heart for writing may better prepare her

for when it is time to publish.