Someone's Story by B A Bellec

Audience

Mature teenagers!

Genre

NA, Coming of Age, Mental Illness

Pages

309

Recommended For and Similar Reads

Someone’s Story is a heart-wrenching, tear-jerking novel for teens looking for the truth about mental illness and who wonder what the future could possibly hold. If you have read and loved The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky and It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini, this book is for you! They all have the same tones, similar themes, and pertinent characters that will stay with you for years to come.

Summary by Author

Jogging, music, friends, and learning. This book will leave a lasting impression. Your mind will spin for days as you try to unwind the twists and turns.

Do you remember Grade 12? If you didn't, get ready to. This book takes you back to a moment in time where everything was new. The feelings in this book are raw and B.A. did a fantastic job capturing them.

Do you struggle with mental health? Do you know someone who does? This book is for you and them then.

Grab a coffee, cozy up. You can finish this in a night. A fast-paced read that is packed with so much content you just can't put it down. Get ready for a modern-day adventure you won't soon forget.

Our Statements 

We declare Someone’s Story a must-read for anybody who wonders. Wonders what the future will be like, wonders what is happening to their friend behind closed doors, wonders how they ended up here. We cannot belittle the entertainment aspects of this wondrous novel, but we must give credit to the effective themes about friendship, perseverance, and valuing what means most to you. The variety of personages, situations, and mental illnesses represented allows all readers to relate to this book and take something away from reading! This novel is on our list of all-time favourites!

Our Favourite Quote

“I show up early, and he shows up right on time.”

Review, 5/5!

Opinions: Oh. My. Goodness. I always make an honest attempt to remain professional in my reviews, but this book is simply too good to not fangirl about! There is an overwhelming amount of plot twists, deep characters, and complex themes that we devoured in one sitting. Just as we thought things were about to improve for one character, things got worse for three others. Someone’s Story was also very inclusive and all-encompassing because there is very little descript detail in the beginning. Primarily, the protagonist’s name is Someone and his gender is not immediately disclosed, meaning any reader could place themselves into this story. Backing up Someone’s trying times of anxiety and other mental illnesses, nearly every character is struggling behind closed doors, which not only teaches readers a valuable lesson, but broadens the audience because everybody can relate to some aspect of the book. We were heartbroken by how truthful Someone’s Story was yet how perseverant each character stayed despite their inner struggles. We learned a lot from the evident themes, artistic writing style, and climactic last chapters. This is one to remember!

Our Favourite Thing: Our first instinct is to carry on about how much we love the consistent and truthful projection of mental illness, or perhaps the motifs about perseverance and motivation. Even fangirling about the plot twists without giving anything away was on our list! But our three readers decided to talk about Bellec’s imaginative writing style and his appreciation for the power of words. Multiple times while reading did we notice the use of repetition, onomatopoeia, and similes which supported the atmosphere and tone of each scene the phrase was found in. These detailed and artistic literary devices immersed us further into the story so we felt every twinge of guilt and heard every gasp of fear along with the characters. Don’t get us wrong, the story was memorable and resonating! But Someone’s Story wouldn’t be the same without Bellec’s poetic writing style. 

Our Least Favourite Thing: With all intentions of being frank, we’re confident in saying there are no faults in Someone’s Story. None of our readers disliked a single page! We hope you enjoy this book as much as we did!

Important Things

• B A Bellec wrote and commissioned a song that accompanies Someone’s Story. Visit Bellec’s website at https://babellec.com/ to listen to the song! 

• Also, the first 90 days Someone’s Story is available to buy, 25% of all sales will go to charity! Make sure to purchase your copy today to get in on this fabulous story and support mental health awareness!

Author Information

B.A. is a first time author but has years of experience in business from various industries. He is excited to be launching his own online platform.

He deals with writer's block by walking his dog, jogging, and spending time talking to his family.

In his free time he loves a good movie or TV show. Some of his favourites recently: Better Call Saul, Survivor Season 40, Alita: Battle Angel

Interview with Author

When did you realize you wanted to be an author?
I don't think I ever wanted to be an author. Originally I looked at directing movies. I didn't have the personality. Too many people. I also went to business school. It paid well but never satisfied me. I started writing to deal with stress and writing complimented my day job well. I realized it might be more than just a hobby after a year or so of keeping up the habit. Then I spent another year perfecting my work and building a platform.

What is your favourite part of the writing process?
I am an introvert. I love to sequester myself away and work all night. Not many jobs offer that. The writer beast comes out at night and brings a flurry of emotion with him. Using empathy and writing to reflect on my past and then develop that into a reader-friendly idea is perhaps one of the greatest skills I have ever nurtured. My favourite part is the early stages of research and development on a project. Getting to the 50k word mark was a rewarding experience and from there it took me a year to make changes and get my last 10k words. Those first 50k were fun. The last 10k were painful at times. Chucking out entire chapters. Adding more ripples to the book.

Do you write for yourself or for your readers?
I start with an idea I like. That gets me interested, but then I try and grow the idea for a reader. In the end, entertain yourself because then you are basically writing for a reader.

If you could ask a famous author three questions about their books/inspiration/etc, who would it be and what are the questions?
Stephen Chbosky - He is the author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower. One of the books I drew great inspiration from.

1.) Did you always know you were going to direct the film? Film always was a passion of mine. I am envious of the career Stephen has and curious how much of it was engineered, versus in the moment decisions.

2.) How many different people in real life are rolled into Charlie, the main character? My book started as a diary but I realized I needed more depth and ended up combining 3 people. Picking the best and worst of each to get a nice robust character. The main character still has lots of me, but I can definitively say I am not my main character. Curious what Stephen would say.

3.) You seem to only work on a project once every few years, explain your process for selecting a project? I am new to this craft but I spent years on my first book. Stephen has only published 2 books in 20 years so how does he do it? What is his career secret to keep working on these projects for so long?

Is there a story you’ve always wanted to write but never have?
My second book is going to be titled Pulse. It's about a pandemic from a parasite. I had the idea before I even wrote Someone’s Story. Someone’s Story had to be first because it was personal and I needed to write it to grow as a person. I learned so much about the process and myself. I expect a small niche audience for it. Pulse is the book I am going to write to mass sell. Covid-19 has only given me more motivation to try and get this book started because I am getting new ideas daily right now.

What advice can you give to aspiring authors?
It's a long journey. Start as a hobby. Build wealth somewhere else so you can take the time to really develop a solid story. Don't rush it out because you need to pay the bills. I would rather deliver 2 or 3 good books in 10 years then put out an okay book annually. That's just me. Writing isn't my only income source and that's a luxury I have.

Don’t get caught on technical problems and formatting. Content is king. I am not great with spelling and grammar, but I am a storyteller. Find something you like and write from the soul. You can always pay someone or learn the technical side later, but the passion that pours from a soul is rare. Try to find that and focus on it.

What does success mean to you?
Helping people. Invoking an emotional response. I know I surprised a few friends and family who I brought into my beta reading group. Ultimately I guess I just want acceptance. I doubt myself at every corner and keep pushing myself to try and make the project better. Success is when people I respect tell me I did a good job. Frankly, I am not successful yet as an author. I was successful in Finance. I was successful in publishing a book. I still need to market this and then write my next book. Ask me this question again in a year and I’ll probably have a new set of criteria for how I will be successful the year after that.

Perhaps success is as simple as right this second you are reading these words, which I wrote. If you like them… there are some songs and 300 pages waiting for you...

You, the reader, ultimately hold the power. I am asking for your time. I am successful if you donate me your time and feel satisfied at the end.

Upcoming Works by B A Bellec

Bellec has announced an upcoming novel entitled Pulse which concerns a pandemic started by a parasite. How appropriate! Unfortunately, we don’t know much more about Pulse, but we are looking forward to hearing all about it when Bellec is ready! To stay up to date, visit Bellec’s website: https://babellec.com/ and Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20185054.B_A_Bellec

Links

Website: https://babellec.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/b_bellec

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52963444-someone-s-story
Amazon: Amazon US Purchase Link
Full Book Review:
Publication Date: 12 April, 2020