Sarah completed the First Story Young Writers Programme at St Paul’s Way Trust School with Writer-in-Residence Cecilia Knapp 2021/22. She successfully applied for a place on the Young Writers Residential in 2022 at Arvon’s Lumb Bank site. In 2023/24, whilst studying at St Paul’s Way Sixth Form, she was awarded a Folio Academy Mentorship and was mentored by author Samantha Harvey, who is shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize.
When I joined the First Story Young Writers Programme, I was looking for a place to express my creativity. It was the first time anything like that had happened at our school for a very long time, so I got really excited. I’ve always been someone who really likes reading, really likes writing, and I just wanted somewhere to let that out, with people who think like-mindedly.
I was fourteen. I didn’t know how to write anything other than what I felt or what I saw. But from the Young Writers Programme, I learnt how to zoom out into a bigger picture, how to create and visualise a story for someone to read and follow. I think there’s a big difference between hearing someone’s thoughts and actually visualising what someone’s trying to show you.
First Story gave me a lot of confidence. When I was younger, I was very shy, I kept to myself, I’d avoid any interaction if I could. To come out of that comfort zone was a big step but First Story just made it so quick and easy. Now, I can read my own writing in front of a room full of people.
That confidence has taken me a lot of places; I signed up to so many programmes at school that require talking in front of hundreds of people. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to do that, to hold a microphone in front of an audience and speak my own thoughts. Practicing that in First Story, at the Young Writers Festival, was so scary but I think that made me indestructible.
So, when my teacher told me about the Folio Academy Mentorships, I was on it immediately! I wanted that chance, and I was so grateful that I got it. I remember getting the acceptance email and I cried tears of joy.
Having a mentor was like having a personal zap button. If I felt like I couldn’t write anything, I would email my mentor, Samantha Harvey, and she would email right back. We would organise a Zoom meeting or in-person meeting, and zap! I was ready again!
It’s so motivational, so inspiring to have someone by your side who is a writer. I think even big writers, even people like Sam, need that support sometimes. The mentorship made me realise that you can’t backbone everything by yourself; having that fallback, having that support, that’s how you keep going.
I learnt not to doubt myself. Sure, having some kind of self-check is good, but doubting yourself will just make you hide your writing more and that will worsen your confidence. If you don’t have that self-doubt, you learn how to take criticism and work from it. It’s very one-to-one with a mentor; you’re going to have someone reading your writing and looking at every aspect of it, so you’re going to need to take that criticism and use it to the best of your abilities by understanding that being a critic doesn’t mean that they’re hating on you, they just want to help.
I used to set myself these ridiculous deadlines and write, write, write to meet that deadline. It wouldn’t be a good piece of writing because I was just spamming keys to try finish it. Now, I pace myself, I let it happen. It’s my writing – I’m allowed to take my time.
I’m definitely set on becoming an author on the side. Before the mentorship, I thought, ‘maybe… if I’m trying to make ends meet, I think that’ll be a good plan.’ Now it’s one hundred percent. I’m so happy that it can become real now, so I’m going to keep working hard to make it real.