Student writes and self-publishes children’s fantasy novel, Plamen Oren

By Cory Anotado
Collegian Editor
April 25, 2007

It’s hard enough for students to write papers here at La Salle, but imagine having to write an entire novel — for a grade. Senior Christina Krankemann, majoring in both Digital Art and English, did just that. For her senior portfolio project, Krankemann wrote and laid out her first novel, Plamen Oren. She also drew the art on both covers.

Plamen Oren is a story about a character named Plamen and his struggle to come to grips with his own social anxiety. After being betrayed by his wife, Plamen partakes on a journey westward. He runs into a group of villagers of a different culture, and their differences help Plamen come to terms with his awkward ways of interaction. Plamen befriends a young boy named Alrick, who helps Plamen find his way from being a social outcast to someone who is able to deal with the emotional pain of human relationships.

“The real story lies not with the plot, but with the characters’ personal struggles. Most of the plot elements are, if anything, minor backdrops for the characters to react to,” Krankemann said.

Krankemann has always loved writing. She says that her goal was to write something that was both well written and enjoyable, although, she is “still working on the former.” The challenges she faced in writing the book were mainly in the actual writing, as opposed to plot or character formation.

“It took me four years to develop the plot and another year to develop the first couple drafts. I wasn’t even going to write it as a novel at first because of my lack of confidence, but I ended up taking some fiction writing classes that gave me not only the courage to write the novel but also some really great information on how literary-caliber stories are written.”

She adds that originally, the story was written as an epic poem in iambic pentameter.

As impressive as the production of this book is, it wasn’t completely a solo project, however. Krankemann’s housemates, junior Katie Williams, a Communication major, senior Christina Eater, a Dart major, and junior Stephanie Brown, a Nutrition major, helped edit the novel and were her idea springboards, letting her bounce ideas off them.

Krankemann isn’t sure whether this book will be part of a series.

“I do have two other books that follow this one, but I’m not even going to think about them until I have this first work where I want it,” Krankemann said. “Book two is solid, and I know the story line, but book three is, at this point, still up in the air.”

Currently, Krankemann is still revising her book, removing any typos that pop up.

“I’m actually keeping it from distribution until I believe it’s ready,” she said. “If you find the book on the Web site, you can buy the book. I have had a few random buyers and despite some typos, they rather enjoyed it.”

Once Krankemann irons out all the typographical errors, she plans on releasing the book for mass distribution.

Currently, Plamen Oren can be purchased on the Internet at www.lulu.com by searching for Plamen Oren.

anotadoc1@lasalle.edu