Welcome to Issue 3 of Word Oysters Magazine. This is a place where home educated children and teens can share their writing, develop their confidence as writers, and experience the joy of having their words read by others. Word Oysters is a non-hierarchical publication and we celebrate young writers at all stages of their creative journey, offering a meaningful pathway for their work to be published, valued and heard.
One of the things that has really impressed itself upon me while editing this issue is how naturally young writers are drawn to telling stories.
Whether their writing takes the form of short fiction, poetry, or other modes, this drive to tell stories, and the capacity to imagine them, really is striking (and exciting).
In this issue, there are three main sections of writing: poetry, short fiction (including a play), and nonfiction, all written by young writers across a range of ages and experiences. I’ve included editor’s comments with each section. In these, I engage closely with the writing and reflect on what these young writers are doing: the choices they have made, the possibilities they are exploring, and the different ways their writing works. My aim is not simply to praise or evaluate the pieces, but to offer something useful to the writers, observations they can take back to their own writing, whether that means recognising something they are already doing well, thinking more deeply about a particular choice, or beginning to see new possibilities for their craft. I hope my comments will also be interesting for anyone who loves writing and wants to think more about how it works.
Recently, I attended the Whitsunday Writers Festival, and I was reminded again that writers are also readers. Writers talk endlessly about writing (about discipline, ideas, practice, inspiration).
But behind all of that is usually a deep love of reading: of being drawn into other worlds and discovering what words can make possible.
This is part of what I hope Word Oysters Magazine can offer young writers. Alongside publishing their work, I want to create resources and opportunities that help young writers think about craft, experiment with ideas, be inspired, and continue developing their skills.
I hope you enjoy discovering these writers and the worlds they have created. If you have a young writer at home who would like to share their work, submissions for the next issue are now open. We welcome stories, poems, nonfiction and all forms of creative writing by home educated young writers of all experiences and backgrounds.
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