Interview with Wicked Young Writers Award finalist, Nicol Gibbs

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 Nicol Gibbs

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 am 17 years of age, and throughout that time period my interests and passions have developed and changed immensely - and still continue to do so - however, my love for writing is something  that has always been there. To this day, I still find notepads filled with stories and poems, even just general recollections of my day, from when I was as young as 4. I think my love for writing initially stemmed from two things:  1) I learnt to write when I was very young and was wont to show off my skills at any given opportunity, and 2) I have an extremely vast and vivid imagination, and love the idea of being able to immortalise my thoughts on paper. I have lost count of how many pieces I have written, or at least started, at this point, and all of them vary drastically in content, ranging from descriptive paragraphs to scientific journalism pieces. In addition to having my WYWA piece published, I’ve been fortunate enough to have some of my book reviews published in The Guardian newspaper, with my ultimate goal being that I’ll one day be able to write for National Geographic, combining my love of writing with my love of science, helping to prove that arts and sciences are not mutually exclusive!

That’s fantastic. I really like The New Scientist. Sometimes their articles inspire me, as do documentaries. Does this ever happen for you?

Absolutely! I am the type of person who just loves to learn, no matter the subject matter or through what medium I learn things through. As cliché as it may sound, I do try to draw inspiration from everything I see, do and find out more about. I am always looking for ways to improve my writing and the scope of my understanding, thus I find that watching documentaries or reading other articles is not only enjoyable, but also incredibly helpful. They can really give you more of an insight into what audiences want to see and hear too, and can provide you with fresh points of view and writing techniques!

Where did your inspiration come from for your WYWA piece? What’s your favourite thing about the piece? What did you struggle with?

This is perhaps the simplest question for me to answer, because for the WYWA I wrote a piece of Hunger Games fan-fiction, so it was definitely inspired by said book trilogy! I really love the Hunger Games world and characters, and thought that they gave me a lot to build on. My piece focused on one of the universally most-loved characters in the book, Cinna, whom I felt still had stories to tell after his official storyline came to an end. I loved being able to develop his character arc further, and mould Cinna into more of the character he was in my eyes, moving away from the original plot line, and essentially giving him the exciting story I thought he deserved. Initially, I struggled with keeping in the spirit of the books themselves, whilst still making the story very much my own, but this was the first fan-fiction piece I’d ever written, so I was quite surprised when it was so well-received!

It’s funny that you found writing existing characters so interesting; I always find it more difficult to write someone else’s characters than my own. I think that’s probably because I know for sure that I know everything about them because I made them. Do you think you’ll write more fan fiction now that you know you enjoy it?

I think fan-fiction is great because it gives you a starting point, and as with a lot of things, starting can sometimes be the hardest part of writing a story! Fan-fiction can also give you the opportunity to further refine a near-perfect world or ending and make it into something absolutely perfect according to your standards. However, I can't resist the appeal of having the opportunity to create my own world and characters, knowing that I'm the only one with the rights to put limits and constraints on all aspects of a story, so whilst fan-fiction for me is a great starting point and way to practice creative writing, I don't think it will ever really be my main outlet.

What do you think are the main problems you face when writing? How do you combat this?

One of the main writing-related problems that I encounter is simply finding the time to practice and hone in on my craft. As someone who only studies one essay-based subject, I can sometimes grow accustomed to bullet-points and a limited vocabulary, so I’ve started to allocate myself time to just sit and write. I find that reading extensively definitely helps as it subconsciously refreshes my mind as to grammar rules and sentence structures as I go along. Whilst reading is definitely my main tool in helping to develop my writing in every sense, sometimes I find that the stories forming in my own mind can be a bit too heavily influenced by the worlds other authors have created, and so I make sure I read as wide a variety of texts and genres as possible.

Finding time to write is always the difficulty! I have enough problems trying to find time to reply to emails, never mind work on stories or novels! How long do you give yourself to write, and how often? Do you stick to it?

My writing schedule has, sadly, been a little up in the air for the past few months due to the pressures of exams etc. but over the summer I have tried to get myself back on to a bit more of a regular timetable. I try to make sure I allot at least an hour or two to writing each day, although often it is more appropriate for me to tell myself that I will try to get a certain amount done that I'm happy with as opposed to a certain amount of minutes, due to some of my writing commitments having deadlines. Personally, I find my best writing comes from me in the morning when I'm feeling fresh and alert, or late at night when I am distant and utterly sleep-depraved.  I am of the ever-optimistic opinion that if you can't find time, you should make time, and that is exactly how I approach my writing for most of the year, as even squeezing in 15 minutes of writing between study breaks is invaluable.

What are you working on at the moment?

Currently, I am very excited to be working on my first children’s story, which I also plan to illustrate myself.  Sparked by the realisation that there were little to no picture books, or young children’s books, where there were examples of mixed race families or relationships, I decided to take the task of writing one upon myself. As a mixed-race child, I definitely would have liked to see more examples of such situations, and still would now! I am also in the midst of writing a review of “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas” for The Guardian newspaper, a book I only read very recently but one that moved me deeply. In addition, I am working on a few creative-writing pieces for various competitions, and hope to start a literary club for the younger students when I return to school in September.

Sounds like you have big plans for September. I’m also mixed race and completely agree with their not being enough books about mixed race children. It’s the same with cards – have you noticed? I hate buying my brothers birthday cards that have white children on, because clearly it’s not them! To be honest, there isn’t much on any ethnic minority. How are you incorporating culture into your stories?

I know exactly the problem you are talking about, and no matter how many times I see birthday cards or book covers depicting strictly Caucasian children it continues to shock me how few images of ethnic minorities are out there. This is all the more surprising, because as a Londoner, I live in arguably the most culturally and ethnically diverse city in the world. Culture and ethnicity should by no means be something that defines you, but as a lack of diversity in the media prevails, ethnic minorities continue to feel alienated. This is why, in my writing, whilst culture will definitely be an element of the story it will not be all it's based on, as I believe integrating it into a more standard plot-line will help to "normalize" different cultures, instead of promoting further segregation.

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

Writing is very much an integral part of me, so it is a lot more than just a hobby. From a practical standpoint, being a good writer is a very valuable skill no matter what you study or what career you go into. Personally, I would absolutely love to have some more creative writing published, and would love to release a book in the fantasy genre in particular. I also hope to get involved in writing research papers upon entering university, and would ultimately love to become a scientific journalist, but, for now, I just plan to follow wherever the writing takes me in the hope of even more amazing opportunities!

What is it about fantasy writing that you enjoy?

Growing up, almost everything that I went through a "phase” of was in some way related to something fantastical - fairies, dragons, Lord of the Rings - thus, I'd like to think my love for fantasy was something I was born with. I have also been fascinated with Greek myths and folklore from a young age, and love their ethereal nature. Fantasy is what pushes our imagination to its absolute limits, and I love writing about the most extreme aspects of it. There is also great appeal in being able to create a world where there are no boundaries, where you can make all the rules!