Interview with Wicked Young Writers Award finalist, Jessica Birch

Along with other young writers in the UK, I attended the Wicked Young Writers' Awards in June. It was a fantastic afternoon which inspired me to kickstart this blog -- albeit it took me a while! Luckily, some of these talented writers agreed to let me interview them to get an insight into their motivation and aspirations. Finalist entries can be found here: http://www.wickedyoungwriters.com/downloads/Wicked_YWA_2015_18-25.pdf . And Sugar Scape finalists can be found here: http://www.wickedyoungwriters.com/downloads/Wicked_Sugarscape_Award2015.pdf

Interview with Jessica Birch

Tell me a little about your writing journey. When did you start? Why? How many pieces have you written so far? Have any of these been published? Where are you hoping your writing will take you?

I've been scribbling in notebooks for what seems like forever, when we went to restaurants when I was a kid I used to bring a notebook and not speak to whoever I was with and just write until my food came, at the time it was just something to do. As I got older ideas would hit me, like when I was swimming or in the shower. When I was in year 5 I got a poem published in a children's laureate book with a poem called "our school" and then the same thing happened a year later with a poem called "the fog" writing creatively became my favourite kind of lessons. When I was in secondary school I used to write instead of listening to the teachers, I swear I didn't actually start doing work till year ten. I have so many ideas half-written, or stories on my laptop that never got anywhere. I have some pieces published on my Wattpad account. There's a trio about a girl who was killed by her father, a story about a girl who was killed on the underground and most recently a story about finding your soul mates. At the moment I just write because I enjoy doing so.

So do you ever plan to finish any of the pieces that you’ve half written? Do you see it as a problem that you don’t always finish things, or is it just a part of the learning process?

I don't plan on finishing any half done pieces, I think if I stopped writing them then my heart wasn't in them and there is no point going back to them.

Where did your inspiration come from for your WYWA piece? What’s your favourite thing about the piece? What did you struggle with?
I went and saw wicked with my grandparents in March of this year and there was an ad for WYWA in the programme my grandad is very supportive of my passion for writing so told me to have a go. I kind of dismissed it, but that night I couldn't sleep. I modified an old story, adding in subtle references to the show and shortened it down and sent that in. I struggle with spelling so bad! I don't think I even read over the piece before I sent it in, the final piece that was published on the website had been severely edited. I think my favourite thing was that it was drawn from something that I've been thinking about and working on since I was fourteen, so I was happy that this character was going places.

Why did you decide to modify something old instead of starting something all over again? Did you have this character in mind when you’ve been writing other things, or did it just come up when you wanted to write something for Wicked?

I wrote lots of stuff when I was younger and so I like going back to them so make them better as I feel as I get older I become a better writer. The character that I used for Wicked has been with me for four years, so I felt she was developed enough to be put in for a competition. 

What do you think are the main problems you face when writing? How do you combat this?
Spelling is an issue...sometimes it's so bad that spell check doesn't know what I'm saying. I get my best friend and my mam to read over stuff and mark it with a red pen! I also struggle with following through with my writing...like I'll have a brilliant idea but no idea how to start, middle or end it. Most of the time my writing ideas stay a bullet point in a notebook or a thought in my head,

Do you ever go through your ideas and try to force yourself to write something? You might have more luck if you try to make an exercise out of it.

I don't often force myself to write, I have seen those 1000 ideas for wrong books in Waterstones so I may get one and use that.

What are you working on at the moment?

When I was in Spain I was in the pool and was hit by a story idea. It entails babies having their fingers pricked when they are born and blood and sliver are formed to make a pendant. It is believed that your soulmate is the person who has the same pendant of you. My character loses her pendant and her family in a fire but gets it back and uncovers a truth about these pendants and who your soulmate actually is. I wrote it up whilst on holiday and edited it when I went to London, I'm now in the process if taking advice and correcting spellings. 

That sounds like a really interesting story. How long is the current piece?

The story about pendants is currently around 50 pages, I keep thinking I'm done but it's growing! 

Is writing solely a hobby, or would you like it to lead onto something else in the future?

I just finished my A-levels and didn't get into my chosen university to do speech and language, I went through clearing and got a place for script writing at another university, I was tempted but since then decided to try again for the speech and language. But if it doesn't work out again I think I will try and pursue something with writing further. But for the moment it's just a hobby that I really enjoy.  

So are you going to retake your A-Levels to get into that university? Which university is it?

I'm retaking Biology and English Language, it's at Newcastle University.

Wishing Jessica Birch the best of luck with her studies this year in the hope that she gets into Newcastle!