Before arriving in Hay, I was filled with excitement and anticipation at the prospect of meeting the incredible writers and professionals coming to speak to this year’s Writers at Work. What I didn’t expect, is what has happened to my own writing in just a few days of being here. An exercise in character with Julia Green unlocked a troublesomely silent character in my novel-in-progress, who now, it seems, is demanding to speak. Roddy Doyle explaining his method for writing dialect offered new ways to approach my poetry, whilst a group discussion about political correctness with Horatio Clare has given my characters permission to be imperfect. By asking Simon Armitage about his Middle English translations, I now know how to begin translating my grandfather’s Hungarian memoirs, and Ian McEwan’s response to a simple question about plot has opened a path in a book I’ve been struggling to write for years!
This is my first year on the Writers at Work scheme, and it feels very much like being at summer camp – only the canoeing and arts and crafts have been replaced with books and ideas; the counsellors with brilliant writers – and once again I am coming of age, but now as a writer, at last.
Emily Vanderploeg is an Impress Prize-shortlisted writer from Wales and one of the 2018 Hay Festival Writers at Work. Find out more here.