.Writers.on.Writing.
Get to know our authors, the foundation and heart of Yellow Arrow Journal, and what writing means to them through our monthly series.
.W.o.W. #82
Ellen Zhang
Describe an early experience where you learned that language has power.
Despite being born in America, I took English as a second language up until second grade. That experience has really shaped how I recognize how others view language, specifically diction and pronunciation, as tools of power. Now as a writer, I hope to use language to express my own thoughts and advocate for others.
What is your writing Kryptonite? Your most interesting writing quirk?
Mine is probably just being mentally tired from a long day of work. My most interesting writing quirk is that I take notes on my iPhone of phrases or ideas that I always try to incorporate into my pieces—thus, even when I’m not writing, I am actively thinking about doing so.
What is a good writing habit you have picked up?
I try to have myself write twice a week at least. I let myself pick which days work for me, but I always have it in the corner of my mind whenever I have time.
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
Write about what you know but also dive into knowing what you don’t so that you can write about it.
Ellen Zhang is a student at Harvard Medical School who has studied under Pulitzer Prize winner Jorie Graham, poet Rosebud Ben-Oni, and poet Josh Bell. She has been recognized by the DeBakey Poetry Prize (2022) and Dibase Poetry Contest (2022) and was a 2019 National Student Poet semifinalist. Her works appear or are forthcoming in Southword Literary Journal, Rappahannock Review, COUNTERCLOCK Journal, and elsewhere.
Yellow Arrow published Ellen’s “History Cultivated Itself” in Yellow Arrow Journal KINDLING, Vol. VIII, No. 1, Spring 2023. You can find Ellen online at zhangellen.com and on Instagram @In.writes.