By Kyra Gillespie
Year 9 student Elliot tackled the challenges faced by girls for a day in his entry into Together We Can’s Short Story Competition.
The 14-year-old emerging writer imagined being a girl for a day as a conduit to challenging gender stereotypes and disrupt common gender biases.
“I wanted to capture the everyday problems a girl would encounter,” Elliot said.
“I spent time hanging around and observing girls to see how they act, and then turned it into a story.
“I found that there were very different social interactions between and amongst boys and girls.”
When asked exactly what challenges girls faced compared with boys, the young author couldn’t quite pinpoint it, but said it was “different.”
“I think girls communicate in different ways.”
“I think the interactions are a lot less physical, so things can be a lot more subtle – more verbal – and a lot of problems can come from verbal things.
“There’s not nearly the amount of physical fights as there are with boys.”
This competition isn’t Elliot’s first; having entered a number of competitions at school and a poem that took out first place at a Doveton Library competition recently.
“I love writing; my parents read a lot of books to me when I was younger and I love to read myself.
“One of my favourite books which I read recently is called Ready Player One by Ernest Cline; it’s a really cool book.
“When I write, I like to get into the mind of the character to figure out the way they work.”
Elliot says the Together We Can prompt was eye-opening, and encourages other writers to enter the competition.
“Really place yourself in their shoes the way the prompt tells you to,” he advises.
“Just think as if you’re the character, put yourself in their problem and try to think about how they would engage in social interactions.
“Think: how would I fix this or take this on?
“Stereotypes are a big issue and even if people were to just read these short stories they would be able to come to their own revelations.”
Stories up to 250 words in each group will go into the draw to win one of two $100 Westfield Gift Vouchers.
Winners will be announced at the Pakenham Show on Saturday 17 March 2018 and invited to read their entry, which will be published in the Pakenham Gazette.
Competition entries opened 8 January 2018 and close 5pm on Wednesday 28 February 2018.
