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The Echo
Taylor University, Upland, IN
Monday, Dec. 30, 2024
The Echo
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Ashlyn Hanson captures nuances of high society in novel ‘Haisley’

An inside look at Hanson’s writing process

A high society girl learns to lean on her friends and herself in the face of impossible decisions and challenging situations in the novel “Haisley.” 

The young adult novel was written by sophomore finance major Ashlyn Hanson during her senior year in high school. The novel focuses on a high society entitled girl named Haisley who is thrust into the modeling industry.

“Haisleybegan as a senior project for Hanson, and she wrote the original 350 page work in a month, due to the project’s deadline.

“I slept an average of five hours a night, and ate like two meals a day… and spent so much time sitting down,” Hanson said. “I think it was so fun because I just got sucked into it.”

Because of the shortened completion time, certain sections of the book were more rushed than would have been preferable, she said. Hanson plans to rewrite a portion before seeking to have it published. She estimated the rewrite taking a month to complete.

In the novel, as Haisley finds herself suddenly in the public eye, she embarks on a journey of self discovery. She begins as an unlikeable character, but grows throughout the novel.

“Haisley starts off as this spoiled rich brat, but one that you could somehow empathize with, despite the fact that she seemed to have everything in the world,” Anna Holk, Hanson’s friend and editor of the book, said.

The character goes from a one-dimensional, stereotypically spoiled person to someone who is loving and caring, but also trying to navigate impossible situations, Holk said. 

Hanson tied in the theme of reliance on relationships and processing emotions through friends, something Haisley relies heavily on as she faces difficult decisions.

Haisley’s friends took inspiration from Hanson’s excellent group of friends in high school, she said. They supported each other through a lot.

“I love seeing the personality traits of me and some of our other friends shine through in those friend characters, but not a specific one of them,” Holk said. “It was kind of a mix of all of us.”

Hanson cited the psychology podcast, “Hidden Brain”, as her original inspiration for the novel. A guest speaker on one episode was a manager for extremely wealthy clients.

Since then, Hanson has found the psychology of relationships that wealthy people have fascinating.

According to the podcast, these people tend to have better relationships with their employees than their family members because of the stability of employee relationships versus the push and pull of familial relationships. As for their social life, they are very private and tend to stay out of the spotlight.

This idea inspired Hanson to set her novel within the environment of an extremely wealthy, high profile family and society.Hanson’s personal writing style shined through in the novel, Holk said. Readers could experience the emotional depth of Haisley and step into her mental world. 

“It’s so vivid and descriptive,” Holk said. “You really feel like you're inside the character's head. Especially [with] Haisley—you can hear all of her thoughts.”

Hanson excelled at capturing the authenticity of real friendships, Georgia Morrison, a sophomore graphic design major, said. 

Hanson would sometimes have Morrison act out certain scenes with her as she was writing them in order to get reactions correct, Morrison said.

“[She has] the ability to dive deep into the characters and to understand them as a person,” Morrison said. “She's incredibly empathetic, and so she writes the characters, and then she puts herself in their shoes.” 

Hanson plans to continue Haisley’s story through a trilogy. She hopes to traditionally publish the trilogy someday, most likely after the completion of all three books.

Holk looks forward to reading the rest of the trilogy and continuing on Haisley and her friends’ journey as they change and grow into adults, Holk said.

“They're becoming their own people,” Holk said. “And I'm so excited to see that in the next few books.”