Teen author's first book building a following

When an autograph-seeker thrust a hand forward to be signed, you got the feeling the scene would someday be repeated for the first-time author.

Forget that she was invited by her former teacher, and the fans were students brought out of class for the event in the St. Matthew's Lutheran School gym.

Jessica Gunderson, 15, and just a year removed from the Hawthorn Woods school, was already handling the attention like a pro.

"At the moment, if I sell more copies, it can be in stores," Gunderson said. She was waiting for the bleachers to fill just before her first appearance to discuss "How to Keep a Secret for Detectives," a teen mystery.

At about 200-pages, the paperback is self-published on lulu.com and also is available on amazon.com.

As the creator of Riley Starr, an inquisitive lass in the Nancy Drew mold, Gunderson admitted the main character was familiar.

"That's me, only 10 times better," she told the attentive kids.

It's about a girl who goes to detective camp, recruited by Adolescent Undercover Detective Association.

There, she learns how to disarm bombs, read lips and solve a mystery - typical teen detective stuff.

Gunderson, who lives in Third Lake, has been writing short stories, poems, essays and journals since kindergarten.

"I love writing. You get to create your own little world," she says cheerfully. If she's nervous, there's no evidence.

The idea for a book came in a dream, Gunderson explained. Actually, she dreamed the ending first. She wrote an outline and crafted the surrounding story over the next six months, when she was 14.

One of the characters is from Australia and uses native slang.

"It's a lot like British cockney," Gunderson said. "I looked most of them (phrases) up on the Internet."

That's also where she found the self-publishing site. Having the manuscript edited involved a fee, so she decided to turn it over to her mother, Anne.

After the rough edges were smoothed, her English teacher Paula Lott honed it.

"I've had students accomplish a lot, but this is a first," she said in Gunderson's introduction. "You will be blown away by how well written this is ... and to think it all came from a 14-year-old."

The paperback sells for about $15 and is produced on demand. Gunderson's cut is less than $1 per book. About 30 orders had been received before her talk Wednesday.

"She's a deductive reasoner," Anne Gunderson said of her daughter's choice of genres. "She's used to looking for why things happen. It fits the way she thinks."

She's already produced a draft for a second book to be called "Pick Your Poison Apple," and plans on writing a series.

"One thing I've learned is if you dream it, you can do," Jessica Gunderson said.