Lakewood Ranch Prep class publishes collaborative novel

Some English classes are spent discussing literary greats like William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens or Ernest Hemingway. 

But Joseph Bockus’ Cambridge AICE English Language class at Lakewood Ranch Preparatory Academy had other types of literary discussions. 

Classes were spent brainstorming ways to commit murder. There were stabbings, shootings, death by wood chipper and even a victim being drowned in honey and eaten alive by ants and anteaters.

Other class periods were spent discussing character development and plot progression. 

Although not a typical English class lesson, Bockus’ students were learning various literary aspects as the students collectively worked on their own murder mystery novel, “Did I Do It?” that has been self-published. The book is available on Amazon.

Bockus started having his creative writing students work together to write a novel when he was a teacher at Wesley Chapel High School 15 years ago. 

His 18 Lakewood Ranch Preparatory Academy students began working on their novel during last school year as freshmen. Now in their sophomore year, the students completed the novel. 

Bockus said he has loved seeing the synchronicity of the students and the synergy that came with working on the book together.

The class decided together that their book would be a murder mystery as many of them have a passion for mysteries as well as crime shows and novels. Sophomore Olivia Longino said it’s enthralling to have to piece clues together while reading a book. 

Each student was responsible for writing a chapter of the book. Throughout the writing process, the students would read each other’s chapters to work through any plot holes and ensure the story made sense. 

Sophomore Kiran Kalia said she was skeptical at first of how the book would come together as each student had different thoughts on what the book should include, and every student has a different style of writing. 

But the class had a plan to ensure consistency in characters and plot. They voted on famous people, including Sadie Sink, Louis Partridge and Elizabeth Olsen, to use for references on how the characters would look. 

Sophomore Gianna Weldon said she loved having a part of a larger work. It allowed her and her classmates to design their respective chapter with personal twists and unique takes while threading it all into a novel. 

Bockus spent 50 hours editing the book. By the end of the process, he could tell who wrote what chapter based on the style of writing. 

After more than a year of working on the novel, Longino said it was surreal to have a copy of the book in her hands during a signing day April 17. 

The last piece of creativity for the novel came to deciding the author name. Rather than listing all the students as the author, they tried to come up with a name that included the initials of all 18 students. 

With little luck, they decided to use a pen name that honors their school: Lake W. R. Prepacad.