ëWhat are the odds?í
A teen writes a book
Posted 5/16/02

Jake Vos is 18 years old. He just attended prom with his girlfriend and will be graduating from Milaca High School in a couple weeks. A typical teen - almost.

Vos recently had his first novel, "What are the Odds?," published. The book follows a high school junior, William Larkin, during six months of his life.

The reader experiences Willís fixation with girls, the stupid stints he and his friends partake in, and the emotions that run wild during the teen years.

Milaca School Superintendent Dr. Barbra Zakrajsek read the book and said, "I liked it! Itís not very often an adult can, for a brief few hours, get insight into the mind of a 17-year-old male. It was truly delightful."

Vos began working on his book in February 2001 and met his goal to complete the novel by Christmas. He used note cards to work out the basic plots, scenes and characters.

Once he determined how long each scene would be, he was able to set himself on a schedule of 10 pages a day (long hand). He even incorporated a reward system - if he finished 50 pages by Fridays, heíd take the weekend off.

The 10 pages a day was motivating for Vos, "It gave me more of a reason to keep writing about it."

Vos utilized an on-line, digital publishing company called iUniverse, Inc. Vos edited the book and was assigned a publishing representative to guide him through the process.

Only one month after everything was finalized, Vos received his first copy of "What Are the Odds?"

So far, Vos has been ordering 50 books at a time for resale, but the book can also be obtained locally at Pochonís in Milaca or on-line through Barnes & Noble (bn.com) and amazon.com.

What inspired Vos to write a novel? Vos felt the books he had read about high school life were written by people ten to twenty years out of high school. And as the saying goes, "write what you know," so thatís what Vos did.

Though the story is mainly fiction, the main character is loosely based on himself. Vos says the other characters in the book were created from mannerisms of friends and teachers. "The ideas were crystallized from actual facts," Vos said.

Commenting on one of the more unique characters, Bish, Vos says, "You can have a great plot line but none of it matters without the characters.

"When you start with a book, you donít necessarily know the characters yourself. But as you continue on, you get to know them better," Vos said.

According to Vos, the main female character, Sara, was a conglomeration of all the girls Vos has ever liked.

Vos has a humorous disclaimer at the beginning of his book regarding the characters