Stories have the power to reveal things about ourselves that we did not know were true. They can help us to explore the depths of the human soul, making our fears and desires more tangible than they once were. Reading about these topics brings clarity to one’s own experiences. These stories can take our longings and transform them into something that the mind can finally begin to process. This is especially evident in Jaylee Koon’s writing.

As a child, Jaylee used to transform her games into written stories. “Whenever me and my cousins would play pretend, I turned [our characters] into stories, and I just kept going from there,” she says. “Probably around my sophomore year of high school is when I started to get serious about it. I started my first novel then, and I’ve just been writing ever since.”

Her pieces in the centennial edition of Ivy Leaves showcase her skill in personifying everyday things, an example of this being the shadow in the lighthouse in “The Keeper’s Shadow.” Jaylee says, “With ‘A Taste of Treachery,’ it wasn't personified per se, but the food was causing something that it wouldn't otherwise cause...the royal taster has to taste the prince's food for poison, but the poison is emotions. And it's about how those emotions... make you act out in ways that you wouldn't want to. I think there's something powerful about how emotions can take over.” A previous work of hers, “The House Remembers,” centers around a house that seems to have the ability to control and revive memories.

Jaylee loves to tell stories that are, in one word, “soulful.” Her work is a window into the depths of human thoughts and emotions. “A lot of my stories will focus on grief and longing, yearning, maybe just stuff that's not quite in reach, but you want it to be.” Unafraid of the complexities of the mind, she sheds light on the darker sides of emotional topics. “‘The Keeper’s Shadow’ [is] mostly about grief and how you can hold on to the memory of somebody, but no matter how badly you want them to come back, they won't actually come back and you just have to learn to move on from that,” she says. One of her other pieces in Ivy Leaves, “The God of Insects” describes an overwhelming yearning for freedom, and it depicts how far people will go to obtain it. Jaylee’s stories dive deep into the complexities of human desires and aspirations, which can help the reader to identify similar patterns in their own way of thinking.

An English creative writing major, Jaylee will be graduating in the spring of 2026. “I'm planning to go to the Clemson Masters program so I can pursue my PhD in English,” Jaylee says. She is aiming for a concentration in creative writing, but she would also be interested in pursuing 19th and 20th century American literature. Her dream job is to be able to write full-time, but Jaylee currently plans to become an English professor after completing school. She has been inspired by her professors at Anderson, who have helped her to come out of her shell, learn about different genres, and practice both professional and creative writing. She would love to teach creative writing courses, like Dr. Updegraff. “I'd also like to be like a manuscript editor,” she says, “I've got the goals, but I'm not sure which ones are gonna get accomplished.”

At the end of February, Jaylee reached an exciting milestone as a writer, publishing her first book. The book is a collection of short stories titled The Lament of the Haunted and the Divine, and it includes all of her Ivy Leaves pieces, as well as several other works. She released the book under the pen name “Merle Summers.” “Merle is my middle name and Summer is a family name on my dad’s side,” Jaylee explains. She hopes that readers will walk away from this book with a deeper awareness of what makes us human. “A lot of the stories in there are meant to be sort of reflections of the human soul, exploring some complex emotions that aren’t entirely good, that make you think about humanity and morality.”

Jaylee acknowledges that the craft of storytelling is intimidating, especially when it comes to sharing a piece with others. She advises authors who are struggling with their confidence to “Just write it,” despite the fears of whether it’s good enough or people will appreciate it. “I think you should write the story that you want to read and not worry about who's going to enjoy it because there will always be an audience for whatever you write, so don't worry about viewership...just get your words out there, because someone out there wants to hear them.”

THE SOUL OF THE STORY: AN INTERVIEW WITH JAYLEE KOON