Ariel Lim Xin Yue, previously from Sr2ComB of Kuen Cheng High School, is one of the Young Author Award 2020 winners for her story “Flowers in Your Hair” after having been selected as the Overall First Prize winner for the Malaysia Young Author Award. Her book launch was held along with 3 other winners via Facebook Live. Ariel is currently a college student choosing to do a law degree.
Ariel’s prize-winning story “Flowers in Your Hair” tells a heartwarming story of 2 childhood friends who fork into different paths in life. One of them has strayed away from the right path, but luckily the other is there to help. The story portrays the obstacles they face along the way.
For the competition, Ariel had wanted to write a story related to flowers. She was inspired by the sadly short lifespan of flowers, particularly asters which also carried meanings of love, playfulness, and loyalty in the book. Asters became a crucial and recurring theme throughout the story as they bore significant relevance to the characters in the story.
During the writing process, Ariel mentioned that she had a hard time dealing with writer’s block. She often struggled to come up with ideas and had a short attention span. However, she overcame this problem by taking breaks or doing activities she enjoys like drawing and dancing. Then she came back to her desk feeling motivated and filled with new ideas.
When she heard she had won, Ariel was taken aback. She had never expected to win as she had always been insecure about her writing and always kept it to herself. Furthermore, this was also her first time completing a story and competing in a writing competition. At the same time, however, she was unsatisfied with her story and felt that she could have done better in describing how asters symbolized the connection between the characters.
Lastly, her advice to younger aspiring writers is to just go for it. “Life is too short to not do what you want,” she emphasized. If you want to write, just write, she explained. She believes that while you may face obstacles along the way, nothing can stop you as long as you have an open heart. Sometimes, you should also take a step back to get a clear view of the progress you have made. From there onwards, you can point out your problems and move forward.
“Flowers in Your Hair” is currently available for purchase in the Janus Education e-store. If you are interested, you can go check it out!
