Every year, book publisher Young Writers USA holds a creative writing contest for middle school and high school students across the country. The annual contest series is called SOS Sagas, and each one challenges aspiring authors to pen an original story using 100 words or fewer, and Young Writers USA compiles the top submissions in a published book. Marilyn Anderson, a seventh-grade student at Landisville Middle School (LMS), was selected among the winners of the 2023 SOS Saga contest for her piece titled "Predator."

Each SOS Saga provides a specific prompt for contestants; this year, the prompt was "Hunted." Students were encouraged to incorporate themes of suspense to captivate readers in a tense atmosphere, but the prompt was left open to interpretation. In Anderson's story, she tells the tale of a person who is caught in a chilling game of cat-and-mouse with a creature only known as "the predator." Anderson wrote her story from the perspective of the creature's prey, giving her reader's a front-row seat for the dire chase. To make her story immersive, Anderson said she prioritized building the story's environment. She used a large portion of her limited word count to paint a vivid picture of the environment in which the protagonist hides from the pursuer. "I wanted to add a feeling of suspense by capturing the setting a bit more and making it clear the area the characters were in was kind of disgusting," Anderson said.

Anderson first learned about the SOS Sagas contest from her English Language Arts teacher Joy Hosler. Anderson is an avid writer and enjoys incorporating themes of suspense in her work, and she started drafting her submission in October. She started by writing her story without the word limit in mind, after which she revised the submission to meet the length criteria. Hosler and Anderson's mother helped with the editing process, and Anderson submitted the final product prior to the Nov. 3 deadline. A few weeks later, Anderson was notified that "Predator" was selected as one of this year's winners, and it will be published alongside the other winning submissions in March.

"Marilyn is a gifted student who thinks deeply and writes creatively," Hosler said. "Through the writing process, Marilyn was open to suggestions that sharpened her focus and message. Her word choice is outstanding, creating an atmosphere of suspense and fear in just 100 words."

"Predator" will be the first of Anderson's work to be published, although the young author has fostered a love of writing for several years. When writing, Anderson said she draws inspiration primarily from dreams, and her favorite genres to write in are suspenseful fiction and fantasy. She is currently working on the second chapter of her first novel, which she hopes to publish in the future.