- But we love people here coming
to the show with a passion for writing.
I love writing as well.
And you started really young, right?
- I started writing-- - I mean, you're only, like,
you're young now but I mean younger, yeah.
- I started writing when I was 12,
so I started writing books.
I always loved to read like many kids.
And 12 was the age where I was like,
I think I can do this.
And the magical part
about being 12 is I truly believed I was gonna write a book
and get published like the next day
and like be on a show like this, like the next day.
But, that's a great thing actually
about being young.
- It is. It's the best thing because you only do things
because you love it when you're that age.
And so I loved to write,
so I was like I'm gonna write a book and get published.
And so I wrote the book.
I googled how to get published.
I knew you had to get a literary agent.
And I started reaching out
to agents when I was 12, like from my bedroom.
And yeah. (audience cheering)
- What in the world? That's so cool.
- Not successfully.
I got hundreds of rejections like
and it was just the start
of like the hundreds and hundreds of rejections.
And my parents had no idea I was like emailing agents
in my bedroom.
Like they had, they were like, why are you crying?
I was like no, no reason.
But so, but I knew it was possible.
Like there was a path. - [Kelly] That's so bold.
- Yeah. So I knew that there was a path
so I just kept doing it and writing another book
and then all the rejections.
And then another one and another one.
And by the time I reached college
I had written like five books.
All of them rejected.
But I felt like I was getting closer
and there was so much hope.
- Yeah. I love that you, that says a lot about you.
You see hope outta that situation.
A lot of people would be deterred though.
- Yes. - Like they would.
But I think some of us, like I did better as a child too
when I did get a door slammed.
It almost makes you instill more confidence in yourself
and your gifts or your talents.
And you go, no, I know this is what I'm supposed to do.
- [Alex] Definitely.
- Some people it drives and I feel like
that definitely happened. - It did for me.
- Yeah.
I feel like all of us know rejection well in this industry.
- [Anna] Yeah.
- And that sucks.
And it's not always easy to get back up.
- No, it's taken me down quite a few times.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- Where I've been like, well, it's over.
- [Anna] Yeah.
Throw in the towel.
Saw the numbers.
It's been fun.
- [Kelly] Saw the numbers.
- Saw the numbers and it's not great.
- I could only hope that like my daughters have the drive
that like what made you,
where do you think that comes from?
- I mean, my mom is an immigrant from Colombia
and like my dad, like didn't go to college.
Like he, I watched my parents like, have to work so hard
and they always told us like, you can do anything.
You just have to keep working really hard and like--
- Wow.
- And they were so supportive.
Like they paid for our college and everything.
So like they're so much privilege in that,
like to be able to go to college
and like have a support system.
And have them like really believe from the beginning.
Like they did eventually find out
I was emailing agents after, like,
after I went to school for it
and I went to college for writing.
- That's when they found out?
(laughing)
- What is my daughter doing in her bedroom right now?
Like, I'm like what?
- Yeah, always on the computer.
And so they really did like support my dream
and believe in me.
But yet it was really tough.
Like I'm sure seeing your kid go through so many rejections.
Obviously I'm so glad I didn't stop.
But it is tough to see that and to experience it.
But I always just believed it would happen.
Just not the way it happened, I guess.
- Yeah. I love the way it happened.
So before you tell us how you were able
to finally get published.
Can you share what the book's about?
- [Alex] Sure.
- I love this. - Yes.
So it's called "Lightlark".
It's a young adult fantasy.
It's about an island that appears every hundred years
to host a game where six rulers fight
to break their deadly curses.
So every ruler
has a different curse. - I'm in.
I wanna to see the movie.
- Yeah.
- I want the whole series. - [Alex.] Yeah.
- I love stuff like this.
- All of the curses are uniquely wicked.
And to break all of them,
one of the six rulers has to die
and one will win a bunch of power.
- Damn. Okay.
- So there's like betrayals, there's plot twists.
You don't know who's lying,
who's telling the truth (gasps)
until the very last page.
- This girl.
- I know.
- Are you casting?
- [Kelly] Finally!
- Yes and yes. - [Kelly] I was like,
I have a couple actors.
- Yes, absolutely. Yes.
- Oh my god, that's really cool.
- Thank you. Thank you.
- I can't believe you got turned down.
It's like such a great idea.
And a lot of people love that field.
We love that fiction and it's nice escapism from reality.
Some of the parallels can be similar sometimes.
When publishers rejected "Lightlark,"
Alex put, she put together this TikTok video
and I gotta show you.
(boisterous music)
(clapping)
Like, I feel like what that is is like a vision board
for like what do we want the film to look like?
Like it was like aesthetically so rad.
All the images, my favorite being that like bridge.
To where? I don't know?
I don't know what that says about me.
I'll talk about it in therapy later.
But why did you want to post that?
- So at that point, almost every publisher had rejected it.
They loved the book,
but they said this is such a tough market
and like it's so hard to break through.
So they said no.
And I truly felt like
if I could just get this out to readers
and ask them like,
would you read a book about this?
I felt like
I couldn't be the only one who would read this book.
And I put everything I left into it.
So I posted it, just kind of like a silent plea
to the void,
like, please, please like someone like see this
and want it.
And within like five hours it had no views.
And so I was like, oh my gosh, I'm proving publishers right.
Like no one wants this book.
(laughing)
- And so I almost deleted it 'cause I was like,
this is bad.
But I left it up.
I had nothing to lose at that point.
And the next morning I was in a parking lot
and I randomly checked the app and it went viral.
It had like over a million views, yeah.
(applause)
- [Kelly] So cool.
- And then a week later it went to auction.
- Yeah, this is me finding out that it debuted number one
on the New York Times Best Seller list,
which is like a dream.
- [Kelly] It's cool. - And it's been on there
for 10 weeks ever since it came out, yeah.
- Oh my gosh.
- Gives chills.
- Thank you.
- Like what a way to take your power back in the situation.
Because I was telling her in the commercial,
like it's a really cool thing
and I can relate in this sense
of like having people help your career happen.
- [Alex] Yes.
- Like me, like auditioning.
- Yes.
- And like literally I got door slammed in my face before.
I had to go on a competition
to have people like vote for me
and be like, see somebody likes it.
Like, you know, it's like, and that's the kind of similar
and I love, there's a power to that
and a leverage to that
like in this industry.
And I'm so happy for you.
- Thank you so much.
(cheering and clapping)
- [Kelly] Yeah. It's so cool.
- Thank you.
- And now you do have a movie deal
as well, right? - Yes.
You know, "Lightlark" is being made into a movie
by Universal and the producers of "Twilight,"
which is just, yeah, it's a dream.
- Oh my god.
- I mean.
- [ Kelly] I'm like, what's happening?
- My heart is like
(mimics explosion). - It's a dream.
- And just like what you said,
like I would not be here
if it wasn't for every single person
who supported me when no one else did.
Like they saw the potential.
All of the readers who saw that video now bought it
and are hopefully gonna see the movie
and just to have their support.
- [Audience] Aw! - [Alex] Like I'm so,
I owe it all to them.
- I love it.
It literally is,
this whole episode is about passion
like believing in yourself.
That's so cool.
I'm, this is such, honestly this would make a great movie.
Like the whole, like how it started
and how it ended and like to keep believing
in yourself when you get knocked down.
'Cause we all get doors.
Everybody always thinks like,
oh it was so easy they did this and it happened.
I'm like, you didn't see all the pre pre-game
that happened like, so that's so cool.
I'm so happy for you.
- Thank you so much.
- I can't wait to hold the series.
I wanna read a whole series of it.
I can't wait to see the movie.
- [Alex] Thank you. - I'm very excited for you.
- [Alex] Thank you so much. - Yeah.
Thank you for having me. - And, I know some actors
(laughing)
So let's,
and I'm not one of them,
but I'll write you a pretty song.