Corner Canyon sophomore Glory Weaver sat with her friends eagerly awaiting the arrival of local author Ally Braithwaite Condie at the high school’s book club. Weaver had read Condie’s book, “The Only Girl in Town,” in preparation for the event.

“I’m excited to meet her; I really like her style of writing,” she said. “I like how this book flashes between now and before to include the main character’s back story.”

Many of the other 85 members of Corner Canyon's book club had also read Condie’s “Matched” series, which was a No. 1 New York Times bestseller, as well as her novel “Summerlost,” and Edgar Award Finalist, honoring the best in mystery fiction.

The Cedar City-born author, who writes young adult fiction, has also published adult books and a picture book. In addition to her writing, Condie founded the WriteOut Foundation, which runs a writing camp, and serves on the Yallwest Board, which aims to make books more accessible to children.

Students from both Corner Canyon and Butler Middle School filled the atrium, eagerly anticipating what Condie would share. However, they had to wait another week when a family emergency delayed her visit.

Corner Canyon librarian Maria Jones explained that the 50 students who returned were rewarded for their patience with Condie’s presentation, which included a question-and-answer session. Condie also took time to sign their books. To ensure that students from Butler Middle didn’t miss out, Condie held a second presentation at the school in Cottonwood Heights.

Condie’s writing process is unconventional compared to some other authors. She doesn’t begin her novels with an outline.

“She said she doesn't really outline because her characters aren't developed yet,” Jones said. “The one time she submitted an outline to a publisher, she never wrote the book because she didn't like the feel of it.”

Condie began writing as a youth, starting with a journal and later collecting her poetry. After graduating from college, she taught high school English but stopped that career to raise her four children. Working as a sorority mom, she set a goal to write 1,000 words per day, inspired by local author Shannon Hale.

“When that didn't work out, she set it at 500, and that worked for her and she still keeps to that goal, six days per week,” Jones said. “She made the time to write. She said, ‘If I don’t have time now and I'm busy, I'll never write.’ So, she just started.”

Condie draws inspiration from the world around her.

“She takes breaks while she writes by walking and seeing the world. She said she may still think about the characters, but she isn’t staring at a screen. It helps her develop where her characters are, what they would do in certain situations, or how they interact with other things,” she said.

Condie told the group “The Only Girl in Town” was inspired by the short story, “There Will Come Soft Rains” by Ray Bradbury. 

“It's about the house that still lives even though the people are gone after a nuclear bomb, much like the main character realizes she’s all alone without people in her world,” Jones said.

When students asked about the location for the cliff-jumping scenes in “The Only Girl in Town,” Condie explained that they were based on two real places: one near Cedar City, where she grew up, and another in Ithaca, New York, where she lived later.

“She shared photos of both places,” Jones said, adding that the use of varying fonts, gray tones, and different chapter lengths was intentional to reflect the different time periods in the story.

At the novel’s conclusion, Condie purposely left it up to readers to decide whether the ending was a work of science fiction or an allegory about depression and mental health.

“She wanted it to be a very open in the conclusion. Some students liked that, and some didn’t, but it sparked a lot of discussion,” Jones said.

The topic of the love triangle in “Matched” came up during the question-and-answer period.

“One student asked if she had to pick one of them, which would she choose. She said she put half of her then husband's good qualities in one character and the other half of his good qualities in the other character. So as she was writing, she didn't even know which one she the main character was going to pick until halfway through the third book, but she would only answer, ‘with all the things that had happened, there was only like, one’ since she didn’t want to spoil the ending for those who haven’t read her series yet,” Jones said.

When discussing “Summerlost,” a student asked if the book was intended to be a mystery.

“She always knew it was a mystery, but the publisher said it isn't. Then it won an award for middle grade mystery,” she said.

Condie also revealed that the photo of her grandmother’s house featured on the back of the book’s new cover was one she provided.

When asked which of her books was her favorite to write, Condie shared that her favorite was the picture book “Here,” because she wrote the text, and then, it was “beautifully illustrated.”

“She has a second picture book, ‘There’ due out next fall,” Jones said, adding that Condie also is working with Dan Santat on a project and is writing an adult mystery due out next spring.

Corner Canyon’s book club has hosted several authors in recent years, including Neil Shusterman, Erin Stevenson, Tricia Levenseller, Emily Inouye Huey, and Tiffany Rosenhan. Jones is also planning to invite Draper author Lisa Tolk to share her book “Eden” this spring.

Earlier in the school year, Eastmont teacher Mark Gregson shared his book, “Sky’s End” and discussed the writing and editing process.

Each month, students in the club receives a free copy of the book they read and can participate in monthly discussions.

Butler Middle teacher librarian Jen Van Haaften said the 25 students in their eighth-grade book club appreciated the engagement and intensity of “The Only Girl in Town.”

“It's difficult to find clean books that are intense and suspenseful, but this one was one we could read and keep the kids engaged,” she said. “They liked the short chapters whether it’s a conversation with the therapist, or text messages, or a journal. The varied format made it a fast-paced story.”

The Butler book club reads seven books per school year and discusses them during their lunchtime. 

“We try to read different genres and books more current, so they capture the students’ interest and attention,” Van Haaften said. “We're wanting these kids to engage in reading and change the perception of themselves. We want them to like and find joy in reading.” λ