Cristina – congratulations on being a Writing Bursary Competition runner-up. Can you tell us about your writing journey so far?

Thank you. I’m so excited to be a part of ‘The People’s Friend’.

I started writing when I was young, telling stories of kings and ducks fighting over land.

I took a few courses in my hometown and eventually studied Creative Writing as part of my Bachelor’s degree.

‘The People’s Friend’ bursary competition is my second win, the first being the Libros Olvidados comics contest when I was in high school.

What was the inspiration for your story, ‘Arthur’s Flowers’?

The story within the story is based on a real life event. A bit too close to real life if I’m being honest.

One day, a stranger dropped off flowers at my doorstep by accident. I was uncertain as to what to do with the flowers and ended up having a rather long talk about the flowers’ fate with my family.

We believed the person responsible for the flowers would not pass by again, so we tried to get the flowers to their original recipient.

Similarly to the story, I returned the flowers to a door, uncertain whether it was the right one. I like to think it was, and that the person felt joy at seeing the bouquet at their door.

In creating ‘Arthur’s Flowers’ I used this original experience, as I believed it showcased an act of love from someone who wished to comfort a friend.

In the story, this is an act which conveys affection between both characters, allowing them to share a sweet moment.

What were your favourite children’s books when you were little?

This is a difficult question. I believe my favourite book often changed. I was fond of the ‘Warrior Cats’ series when I was in middle school, alongside several dragon and fairy themed books, e.g. ‘Dragon Slippers’.

Around the same time, I used to go around praising ‘The Light Between the Oceans’ as it was the first book that made me cry. I do not think I would measure my love for a book quite the same nowadays.

What are your writing hopes for the future?

I am currently working on a full length project- a novel, specifically. I hope to possibly publish that in the future.

In the meantime, I am trying to polish my writing further and venture into other writing formats.

Do you write poetry or non-fiction?

While I do dabble sometimes in poetry, I mostly stick to prose fiction, which suits my more simplistic writing style.

The dialogue heavy format of the script has often called my attention, but I have a couple of years before I am satisfied with the quality of the work.

Are you a member of a writing group? If yes, how has it been helpful?

I am currently a member of an informal writing group with my Uni friends.

We use the group to share stories, scripts and throw around ideas.

It has been helpful to have someone to critically evaluate my work, ask me questions about the characters that I might not have considered before, be more critical of plot points within a narrative, amongst other things.

‘Arthur’s Flowers’ appears in our next Special, 264, available Wednesday August 14.