Sarah Han is a high school student who enjoys journalism and storytelling. She also likes playing the violin and spending time with her friends and family.
Sarah Han shares about her creative writing process.
She sprang from my head and landed on my notebook. She wore a silk hanbok, its crisp fabric crinkling as she moved. Her mind buzzed with thoughts, yet her shoulders were stooped and her eyes heavy with fatigue. “Make me a home,” she whispered. Many times, a character will spring onto whatever document I have with me and ask for a place to call their own.
So, I built a library full of books for Clara, the reader. And for the princess in the silk hanbok, I placed her inside Gyeongbokgung Palace along with her tutors, her violin and most important of all, the general she loves.
Every element of my stories borrows fragments from the world around me. They come from the people I meet, the places I visit, the worries I haul and the dreams I hope for. They feed my imagination, allowing me to create an entire universe that spills from the page. But creative writing doesn’t just nurture my imagination. It allows me to carve out the belonging I struggled to find in my own world.
Growing up in the Bay Area, where the arts are often seen as just a hobby, some of my classmates tell me that my affinity for writing makes me a “failure” and “traitor” to the Asian community. Often, I find myself feeling like an outsider in the community that is crucial to my identity. After these moments, I turn to my writing to dry my tears. Creating a place where my characters belong with just my mind is what mends the heartbreak caused by shame and isolation.
It is true that the real world has its limitations. But when I am alone with just my imagination and something to write with, there is no limit to the worlds I breathe life into, or the homes I can build for characters who come asking. With a Perspective, I’m Sarah Han.
Sarah Han is a high school student who enjoys journalism and storytelling. She also likes playing the violin and spending time with her friends and family.