A 14-year-old from Rothesay has won a national writing competition for his latest novel.
Taym Saffar, who was a Grade 8 student at Rothesay Park School when he entered the competition last spring, is one of two winners of this year’s Kids Write 4 Kids contest, put on by the Ripple Foundation.
The foundation says its judges chose Saffar’s book, The Eternal Box, as well as a story called One in the Wilderness by Grade 6 student Roy Osborne of Haines Junction, Yukon, as the best out of 669 entries from across Canada, rated on creativity, originality, story structure and writing quality.
Taym says the idea for The Eternal Box came to him about two years ago.
A box with powers
“I thought, wouldn’t it be an amazing idea if there was a box where you could step inside and spend an eternity in there — like, however long you wanted?”
The foundation describes it as a box with “the power to perpetually elongate time and augment space.” People who emerge from the box won’t notice the passage of time.
He began writing it last winter.
“I started thinking about the world-orbiting research station … and about how humanity begins to start colonizing other planets.”
But they step away from that, recounted the author, when they realize that they have a means to “attain endless pleasure and anything they want in their minds … so they don’t really have to do anything anymore.”
To some degree, the story reflects Taym’s take on society’s relationship with technology.
Technology is accelerating at an increasing rate, he said.
“Humanity just went on super slow before the agricultural revolution and from then on it was a little bit less slow, but it still took a long time before the industrial revolution.
“And then, suddenly, things were going on at a pace never thought possible.”
In the information age, things are accelerating so fast that “something to this level of unreality” could conceivably come about in 50 to 60 years, he said.
Taym raises some critical questions in the book about the direction of technological advances.
“I think that we have an over-reliance on these kinds of technologies,” he said.
“We’ll eventually stop appreciating the real world for what it is. I do think that’s important.”
A ‘page-turner’
Taym said he feels really grateful for the award and to have his book published and isn’t sure he deserves it.
But friends and other readers have told him it was a “page-turner,” and the judges agreed.
“I am astounded by the remarkable storytelling abilities showcased by these young authors,” said children’s book author Ekiuwa Aire, one of the panelists.
“Each story brims with creativity and originality, unveiling imaginative plot lines intertwined with themes of friendship, courage, and the pursuit of destiny.”
“These young authors have embraced their unique voices, demonstrating a maturity and skill beyond their years.”
Taym said he started writing when he was in Grade 4. He was living in Calgary at the time. (He just moved to New Brunswick last summer.)
His teacher assigned many “quick writes” after which he had the urge to keep the stories going.
“Whenever the teacher would be like talking, I would just be writing — while listening,” he said.
He had filled many notebooks before he “really got serious about” writing his first novel at the age of 12. It was called The Lake and was about a half-human-half-alien who goes on a journey into the heart of the multiverse
How he works
Ideas come to Taym when he’s going about his daily life — taking a shower or going to sleep.
“I keep on thinking about them … and they just unfurl in my mind.”
He does his best thinking on his feet. Only after he’s finished fleshing out the characters and the story does he sit down to put something in writing.
He sets goals for himself of completing a few pages a day and time limits so he doesn’t neglect homework and other activities.
Taym isn’t sure where his studies will take him, but astronomy, calculus and chemistry are “definitely” in his sights.
He also wants to continue his piano studies to a level that would allow him to teach.
As for writing, he’s working on another novel, which was inspired by a short story by Cixin Liu, one of his biggest literary influences.
It’s about a person who discovers that he’s inside the mind of another person and is told he has to work for the beings that live there if he ever wants to get back to the world he knows.
Trying new form
He’s also started to dabble in poetry.
“I think I’m going to try to write more sonnets and mess around. … For so long, I’ve only been writing prose, so I want to try something new.”
The Ripple Foundation said The Eternal Box will be available in print and ebook format at Amazon, Google Play, Apple iBookstore, and Overdrive.
Proceeds are to be donated to the Canadian Cancer Society, a charity chosen by the author.
