Covington author shoots for the stars with first novel

Covington resident Leslie Hodgson aimed high with her first published novel, a young adult fiction book that incorporates her love of stars with her background in horseback riding.

Covington resident Leslie Hodgson aimed high with her first published novel, a young adult fiction book that incorporates her love of stars with her background in horseback riding.

“Shooting Stars” tells the story of two siblings, a brother and sister, who live in a lighthouse but discover they are a part of a highly evolved race from the Zodiac Constellations.

Hodgson said she first conceived of the story six years ago while sitting out in a lawn chair in the backyard.

While gazing at the sky, she witnessed a shooting star, which proved to be the inspiration for both the story, as well as the book title.

“I wondered ‘What if that was a person out there,’” she said. “That night I was there I saw it as a complete book.”

Another factor, she was, were family problems which writing helped alleviate.

“A lot of people escape into books,” she said. “But this time I wrote one. They have to be in other worlds, and I wrote another world.”

Though “Shooting Stars” was Hodgson’s first foray into novels, she had previously written articles about horseback riding for magazines.

Hodgson describes “Shooting Stars” as a clean YA that admittedly utilizes several cliches such as coming of age and teen romance.

It also has the protagonists discover special abilities and powers and the insecurity which comes with it.

But, as even some of the book reviewers on Amazon.com have said, she uses it as a starting point for her own type of story and avoids well-tread literary ground.

For example, she said, while she is a fan of the Harry Potter series, there are no wizards, and the concept of a highly evolved race of humans sounds more akin to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “Princess of Mars” rather than “Twilight” — though Hodgson said there are no aliens, either.

A part of this is also a reflection of Hodgon’s own personal experiences, which she has integrated into the book in several ways.

The young girl protagonist, she said, shares many of her thoughts and struggles at that same age, especially towards horses, another theme in the novel.

The protagonists’ companionship with animals borrows heavily from Hodgson’s work in horseback riding. Many real life horses she worked with she converted into fictional beasts.

“I just put wings on them,” she said.

Much more of a traditional writer in a sense, Hodgson said she writes her rough drafts on notepad with a pen and then later transcribes them onto the computer, where she also takes the opportunity to edit them.

This allows her to spend less time distracted by small red lines underneath incorrectly spelled words, grammar, or punctuation and focus on the actual writing.

“It definitely changed and evolved,” she said. “Every time I put the pen to the paper it just came to me. But if I ever didn’t feel right I would leave it alone for a couple days, come back and then fix it and it would flow.”

Hodgson, who is married and has three children, was finally able to complete the novel.

Having heard stories of repeated rejections by self-published authors she respected, she chose to go the self-publishing route than through traditional publishing. At the same time, she sent the book to an author for feedback, which ultimately led to her trimming the novel down from 100,000 to 70,000 words.

Currently, Hodgson is working on the sequel, which she said is halfway completed. Having a family of young children to raise, however, can be a challenge as more often than not her pages are ripped, dripping with drool, or scribbles.

“Shooting Stars” can be purchased on amazon.com by searching for “Leslie Hodgson.”