Don't laugh, but remember when Minecraft first became big when we were kids and there were a hundred different other sandbox games made like it? Think SurvivalCraft and Eden and maybe Roblox if you're feeling it. Well, playing these was a little girl with undiagnosed ADHD and a rampant imagination that made up stories for every world she created. This is where Sparrow was born.  

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The first draft of this novel was written back in 2014 when I was barely even 12 years old, filled with overdramatisations of EVERYTHING, a BUCKET full of cliches and SUPER cringy character arcs that no longer exist (I'm sorry, young Sienna). 

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During the time of writing this first draft, I was heavily into novels set in medieval kingdoms that had no magic or fantasy elements. I had only found a small handful of novels like this and was determined to introduce the writing world to more. 

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I knew at the age I was writing that my skills weren't where I wanted them to be, so almost a decade later I returned to the idea with half a university degree under one arm and 10 years of thinking about my characters under the under. 

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Below, you can read the prologue to Sparrow, accompanied by audio from the novel's protagonist (they had phones in medieval Europe; it's a known fact).