What was the inspiration behind your piece?
The main image in my story was inspired by the Norse myth (which I read in Neil Gaiman’s “Norse Mythology”) where Loki’s lips are sewn shut after he tricked some dwarves. To fit the theme, I used this image to question whether silencing teenagers by keeping them out of politics was really fair.
Why did you pick the form you did?
Most of my work is in this form (3rd person/past tense) as that is what I’m most comfortable with.
Why do you write?
Mostly, I write because it’s fun. I love creating stories, whether serious or light-hearted, and sharing them with others.
What's some advice you would give to fellow young writers?
There’s so many challenges online that are great for encouraging you to write a lot which is one of the best ways to improve your work. If you keep writing, you can experiment and improve your techniques to find what works best for you.
And what's a piece of writing/poem/novel/article that has influenced you?
This is very hard as there have been so many things that have influenced throughout my life. If I had to pick one, I would say Rick Riordan’s “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” series which got me into reading when I was very young (say around 7/8 years old). It gave me the passion for reading and the desire to tell stories myself which lead to me writing.
You can read Elizabeth's entry for the Orwell Youth Prize, Sewn Shut, here on Voice.
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