We can't get enough of the incredible stories that were crowned winners in our 2021 Young Writers Competition.
The theme word this year was 'spark' and after the events of the previous 12 months, we received many diverse and creative interpretations of the theme. We encountered dragons, a phoenix, bully-battling robotic dogs and jackets with magical powers. We met a girl who accepts her encroaching blindness with a quiet dignity and an aged care worker who delves deep to find the fading ‘spark’ in an elderly resident. Our finalists take on the theme knew no creative bounds.
We spoke to one of our winners, Emily Pearse in the Year 11 and 12 category about her winning story Boy.
Congratulations on an incredible story. Where did you get your inspiration?
If I am being totally honest, I wrote this story the night before the deadline, at 9:30pm in roughly 45 minutes. I find that inspiration just hits me at random. I’ve never been a person to plan out an idea; when it comes, I just start writing.
Your judge Jane Burke mentioned that your story reminded her of Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings. Did you get any inspiration from these stories?
I think my favourite thing is reading and writing. I find that I can escape into these worlds I’ve made in my head and just stay there. It’s my happy place. With this piece, I was definitely influenced by other stories I’ve read over time, including The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings which my judge, Jane Burke had mentioned. I don’t know why, it was very random at the time!
Your judge also mentioned that you had her at the first line. Was beginning your story difficult?
The beginning of my story wasn’t difficult. When I write, I often listen to instrumental music or movie soundtracks (I am very much a nerd in that sense hahah), I think that’s where my inspiration comes from. The beginning of my story was easy to write because I simply tried to convey all the emotions I felt from the music. It felt easy to pile all these thoughts and feelings onto the page.
Is writing something you love to do and do you see it as something you’ll do as a career?
Writing is absolutely something I love to do! Again, it’s my happy place. I would love to pursue writing as a career and I think the dream is to be an author. It always seemed impossible but this has definitely been a booster in aiming for that dream! I’ve been writing for years, so hopefully it keeps going up hill from here.
Congratulations again to our next generation of storytellers. You can see the full list of our finalists and borrow an eBook of their stories on the Library’s website.