Inside Starbucks on a recent sunny afternoon, a Marblehead High School student talked excitedly about finishing his new book.
John Curtis, 17, just wrapped up his sophomore year. His English teacher Connor Ryan assigned students what’s called an “area-of-inquiry” project. Some students learn how to cook. Others volunteer at My Brother’s Table. Curtis decided to write a novella.
Wearing a red hoodie and prepared with a copy of his freshly printed book, Curtis shared his writing process and muses for “The Man With the Blue Tie,” a 75-page collection of three short stories.
After identifying an idea to work with, Curtis crafted a story outline, focusing on the development of his characters. He draws inspiration from his favorite books, video games and TV shows.
Set in a science fiction landscape, “The Man With the Blue Tie” follows Kelly Porter, a young girl with dyslexia, inspired by the book “Fish in a Tree;” police officer Patrick Cunningham, based on a character in Curtis’ favorite video game, L.A. Noire; and criminal Timothy Jones, born from Curtis’ long-standing desire to write a prison story since he enjoys watching crime shows.
“Sometimes in life there’s a good decision and there’s a wrong decision, and there’s also a morally right decision and a wrong decision, and I wanted this story to prove that,” Curtis told the Current. “There’s a core value and a takeaway from all my stories.”
Throughout the writing journey, which spanned from February to mid-May, Curtis enlisted help from his family. His mother, Lisa McKenna, designed the cover of the book. His father, Rich Curtis, is an author himself, having written the five-book science fiction thriller series “The Tapestry Cycle.” Plenty of feedback was provided to Curtis by them both.
“It was originally a murder mystery story,” Curtis said. “Five days before I finished it, my mom was like ‘Maybe that’s not the best idea,’ so I had to change the entire thing. There was a lot of rewriting.”
But this rewriting paid off. Curtis printed the final project and plans to hand it out to family and friends. He may even sell some copies.
Outside of writing, Curtis is a member of the MHS a cappella choir, Jewel Tones. He enjoys hanging out with his dog, Banjo, and reading his favorite book, “The Great Gatsby.”
In the future, Curtis wants to go to Endicott College and become an English teacher. He hopes to one day work at MHS.
He’d also like to write a romance novel.
“It’s a topic that I haven’t done before,” Curtis told the Current.
Marblehead resident Lia Gorbach is the Current’s college summer intern. She is pursuing a journalism and business degree from the University of Maryland.
