BELFAST—The age-old advice for writers has always been, “Write what you know.”

So, we’ll get into why 11-year-old Ian Norwood would start his short story, “The Greatest Weapon,” with two characters sharing a beer at a bar.

The story starts off with two adventurers, Adam and Theor, in an alternate universe small town, not unlike Belfast, who are having quite a philosophical conversation. [See the attached story.]

Ian, who lives in Brooks, and is homeschooled, is an avid reader of graphic novels, particularly fantasy and sci-fi and is a fan of multiverses. Given that he doesn’t spend a lot of time in bars hanging out with guys over a beer, he penned a pretty realistic scene.

“Well, I’ve watched a lot of movies and read a lot of books so I just imagined that’s what they would say,” he said.

Even though his adventurers are two characters roughly the same age, they each fit the trope of “writing mentor” to “young protagonist.” The overarching theme in the conversation between the men is basically a martial artist tenet: “To outsmart and defeat an enemy, don’t fight him with anger or hate; disarm him with love.”

“At first I didn’t like this contest, because I didn’t want to write about love,” he said. “But then I realized I could do whatever I wanted with this theme. So, I made it a fantasy. In this context, the adventurers are people who explore the world, discover treasures, and defeat evil. Basically heroes.”

Ian has been writing for fun since he was six years old.

“I like making intricate worlds that can connect to other worlds as a multiverse,” he said. “I like it because anything is possible; there is literally nothing that’s impossible except if it creates a paradox and destroys the universe.”

“The contest’s theme was about love and the parameters were it had to be 2,000 words or fewer,” said Crystal Vaccaro, the Youth Assistant Librarian who chose Norwood as the winner of the contest out of 20 entries. “His story stood out for being creative; there’s great dialogue, and it explored a theme that went beyond romantic love.”

“I loved that the message of the story is that love will heal,” said Vaccaro, “as opposed to violence.”

He has a comic series that he keeps in notebooks in which he has drawn as well as voiced the characters. This is the second contest that he has won.

The prize for winning was a gift certificate to Left Bank Books in Belfast.

Thanks to Ian, it’s a nice thought to consider that Belfast has an alternative universe and it is populated by adventurers who like to unwind after fighting evil with a cold beer every once in a while.

Hail To The Rad Kids is an ongoing feature highlighting teens in the Midcoast with special talent. 

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com