Forward to the First Issue of The Hedgehog: Why We Write
In his influential essay, “Why I Write,” George Orwell, the author of “1984” and “Animal Farm,” once declared the following: “I do not think one can assess a writer’s motives without knowing something of his early development.” Indeed, one’s long journey as a writer is just about as important as the words one jots down, as the artist’s starting point is a reflection of their glistening identities, plentiful as the quills on the hedgehog.
Storytelling is about stepping into the shoes of a round, fictitious character, dipping one’s feet into the wells of imaginative prowess, and expressing one’s complex thoughts flowing though one’s stream of consciousness in the descriptive fashion of language. Stories reflect on one’s vision of the external world, just as each personal narrative sparks new angles and conversations.
The following are selected poems and short fiction by talented young students composes our first issue of the The Hedgehog Literary Journal for Youth. Their stories tell of arresting smiles and heart-wrenching tales, from seven different youthful perspectives. The writers were asked to sum up their work in one key phrase, tell us about why they write, and offer advice to future writers planning to submit to the journal.
Brian Li, on “Colors of Depression”
Brian Li is a twelve-year-old aspiring pianist, writer, and Canadian from Burnaby, British Columbia. He has performed all over Italy, Canada, and America on the piano. He enjoys reading, drawing, writing, and arguing with Flat Earthers. His works express his questioning of the world, the future and past, and things we take for granted.
“Why I write is because I like to write. That’s it. It’s that simple. Writing itself is pretty simple but also kind of complex. All you have to do is to come up with an idea and expand on it, but it’s difficult because you have to balance many things together to create a decent piece. My advice for others is to write out sketches of your piece on a piece of paper. It helps me with my thinking.”
Hao Lun Li, on “Truth and Falsity”
Hao Lun Li is a twelve-year-old who is a strong swimmer. He enjoys video games and reading. He has some skills in art, learning new languages, and math, but surprisingly, he does not enjoy doing those things a lot. In his opinion, the past is great, the present is ok, but the future is not good.
“Why I write is because some people don’t know the truth about things, shrouded in ignorance and darkness. It annoys me that people try to deliberately tell lies and falsities. My advice for others is to read back and over what you’ve written many times.”
Melody Xiong, on “What Makes Sense and What Does Not”
Melody lives in British Columbia. Her passion includes drawing, reading and writing stories about her characters. She enjoys going to art class, reading sad books and poems. She owns a tabby cat and five goldfish.
“Why I write is because I have stories overflowing in my head. My advice for others is to not compare yourself to anyone else because you have a unique voice as a writer.”
Richard Mou, on “The Invaluable Abstracts”
Richard Mou is from Coquitlam, British Columbia. He loves the violin, reading, and board-games. Some board-games that Richard enjoys are Pandemic Legacy, Sheriff of Nottingham, and Coup. His works express his creativity using writing.
“Why I write is to be more creative and explore different kinds of writing, a way to express my feeling and my creativity. My advice for others is to let the creative juices flow as much as possible.”
Derrik Lu, on “Random Yet Great Thoughts”
Derrik Lu is a fourteen-year-old student from Vancouver. He loves to play tennis, play video games, and try out new things. He has mainly taken an interest in writing and public speaking since it was a passion, and loved doing the two together every week.
“Why I write is because writing is one of the best ways to reveal my thoughts through an artistic medium. I write not because I want to get it over as soon as possible, but because I can reflect on and admire on the end product and how I get there. Life is based on taking small steps, and with each work of writing, I feel like I go up one step. My advice for others is to have patience, a silent place to write. Don’t be discouraged, but only think about how your writing could be better.”
Zack Wang, on “Writing Hard”
Zack Wang is a student from British Columbia and a member of VanOutdoors.
“My advice for others is to write out of inspiration.”
Joseph Fan, on “The World Not for Us to Keep”
Joseph is a math competition participant and reader, who also enjoys researching on current issues going around the world right now. He enjoys watching comedy shows by Trevor Noah and his favorite book is “Born a Crime.”
“Why I write is because it is important to just write. It’s fun to think about deep metaphors that you can reflect on in your own life and write it down for other people to see. My advice for others is to just write and your ideas will follow.”
You can visit the first issue of our journal here.
