Being yourself by Eloise Williams

‘Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.’ Oscar Wilde.

I’ve always had problems with fitting in, whatever that means. Throughout my early life I bent myself this way and that to try to be interesting, likeable, the person everyone wanted as their friend. I’d do my best to be confident, outgoing and funny whilst really wanting to be hiding in a nook somewhere, reading a book or writing soul-baring thoughts in a diary which I would later flush. If there was a party going on I’d brave it on the outskirts and try to make like a wall. Luckily for me, now I’m older, I don’t spend so much time pretending to be something I’m not because I’m just too busy negotiating the everything of life to bother with anything extra. I’m awkward. Take it or leave it.

Working with students in lots of different schools reminded me of how I felt when I was young. How I always seemed to be the odd one out, the squarest of square pegs. I wanted to write a story about that experience. The struggle to accept yourself for who you really are.

I’ve loved stories about witches since I was very young. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Wizard of Oz to name a couple. I was fascinated by the way witches could cast spells, make magic happen, see into the future, change people to stone if they got on their nerves. They also frightened me, but I’ve always adored a scary story. As I grew older, I still loved these stories, but I also felt bad for the witch. I feel like I’d be a bit miffed if you dropped a house on my sister and perhaps making it always winter and never Christmas is a stand against consumerism. Every story has two sides, right?

Wilde has had problems with every school she’s been to. Strange things happen around her wherever she goes but staying in Witch Point means events become uncontrollable. She is desperate to fit in at her new school but when they start rehearsals for a school play telling the local legend of a witch called Winter, ‘The Witch’ starts leaving pupils frightening curse letters. Wilde is the outsider, so all eyes turn to her. This is the very last thing Wilde wants to happen. She wants to be the same as everyone else. She wants to make like a wall. Difficult. When birds follow you everywhere you go, you keep waking up in unusual high places and you’re hiding the fact you’re a witch.

Wilde is a story with drama and mystery and a small splash of humour, and I hope it’s a good read, but also, I hope it amplifies the message that it’s okay to be different. In fact, that it is positively GOOD to be different. Be yourself. Be your own best friend. Write yourself a kind letter and tell you that you’re okay just as you are. And tomorrow you’ll be a better, truer version of everything that’s you. Warts and all… forgive the stereotypical witch pun.

Sure, rolling out your cauldron and filling it with frogs is one way to deal with the mayhem of life but when the curses run dry there is another magic, and you already have it at your fingertips. It’s the magic of self- acceptance and being absolutely you. No-one can take that magic away. It’s uniquely, powerfully yours.

Eloise Williams is the Children’s Laureate Wales and author of four books for children published by Firefly Press. Wilde is her latest novel, find out more at https://fireflypress.co.uk/books/wilde/ https://www.literaturewales.org/our-projects/childrens-laureate-wales-2/eloise-williams-childrens-laureate-wales-2019-2021/