Author April Henry, writer of The Girl I Used to Be, The Night She Disappeared and 19 others, visited the school on Thursday, December 6 to explain her writing process and journey to publishing. She presented during periods eight and nine in the school library to any staff and or students who wanted to attend.

Henry writes thrillers and mysteries which was the main topic of her presentations. She provided background on her life and family to give the audience a sense of why she decided to become an author of this specific genre. As well, she provided examples of the writing process she goes through for her books which consists of drafts, editing, and research.

Henry emphasized that having accurate information regarding the main topic that’s being written about is important, which she achieves by doing research.

Henrys’ research process includes a variety of activities such as traveling to places, asking for professional advice and or participating in activities that are relevant to her book topic. For example, since the majority of Henry’s’ books are in the thriller/mystery genre, she goes to training for how to get out of duct tape, a trunk of a car and how to escape from a predator, as well as fighting classes.

The purpose of attending these classes is for Henry to understand what it physically and mentally feels like to be in these specific situations so that she is able to write the most accurate story possible.

“I enjoyed seeing all of the different classes April Henry took to write her books. My favorite one was the class where she was told to escape from a van and had to run away from her fake kidnappers in public,” senior Andrew Hileman said.

Additionally, Henry’s’ thriller stories are based on real cases and events, however, she changes certain details and emphasizes the story in order for it to be more intriguing to read. Since her stories are based on others, it’s necessary for her to contact the people whose stories she’s bases her books off of, which she explained doing for her book, Girl, Stolen.

 Henry’s’ professional experiences in writing and researching, has provided her the opportunity to explore different situations and share her experiences as well as others to the world. With over 20 books, April Henry has a variety of thriller/mystery stories for teenagers and adults to read, as well as having three new books being released within the next few years.