Jacklyn Oh - First Place, 2026

We had the privilege of talking with Jacklyn Oh on winning FIRST place overall in this year's Writer's Games.

WW: What encouraged you to participate in Writer's Games this year?

JO: I took part in the Writer’s Games for the first time last year. It was a blast, so of course I signed up again this year. I love the longer word limits (compared to other competitions), the open-ended prompts and the focus on different Core Concepts every week. The quality of the judges’ feedback is incredible—much better than many paid competitions in my opinion. I join writing competitions to improve my writing, and I like the fact that the Writer’s Games are explicitly focused on helping participants become better writers.

WW: What were you worried or nervous about in the beginning?

JO: I was mainly worried about having enough time to write. I prefer writing longer stories, so of course I wanted to max out the word limit if I could. But would I have enough time? Fortunately, I did! I always feel nervous before I start writing a story. English is my first language, but I grew up in Malaysia and now live in Singapore, so I’ve always felt that my English isn’t as ‘native’ as those who grew up in the US or UK. I love the Games’ 72-hour deadline because it forces me to just start writing instead of obsessing over my inadequacies. And I told myself that I was doing this to become a better writer, so I wanted to take risks with my writing instead of playing it safe. Having that mindset helped a lot.

WW: How did life's challenges affect your writing?

JO: It wasn’t too bad. While some of my weekends were busy, I was lucky that I always had at least one free day to just put my head down and write. Usually, I would plot the story on Saturday, write all day on Sunday, and edit on Monday. My biggest problem turned out to be trying to fall asleep after a full day of writing—my brain would be so wired at night that falling asleep was a real struggle! But who cares about that, as long as the story’s finished?

WW: Which Event did you have the most fun with?

JO: It’s so hard to pick just one! Probably Event 1 – All’s Well, because I love the characters in my story and had so much fun writing them. The Core Concept of cohesion was intriguing—in the past my competition stories tended to have rushed endings (because I invariably ran out of words!), so I learnt so much from planning a satisfying ending right from the get-go.

WW: Which Event was more challenging for you?

JO: Event 5 was the toughest one for me. This was the one story that didn’t seem to write itself. I think that’s because I didn’t really like the idea I came up with or the characters in my story. It was a ‘small’ human drama story with one main setting, almost like a play—which is not really my wheelhouse. But I’m glad I wrote it to challenge myself!

WW: What inspires you?

JO: Everything! News articles, an interesting place I visited, an overheard conversation at a café… every time I come across something that has story potential, I jot it down in my phone’s note-taking app. I also daydream a lot; some of the scenes in my stories come straight out of my daydreams!

WW: What advice would you give to writers?

JO: Don’t write for anyone but yourself. Write the thing you want to read, not what you think someone else wants. On the craft side, getting my protagonist’s voice right is very important to me. By ‘voice’, I mean the way they talk to themselves, the way they speak to others, and the lens through which they view the world. If I can pin this down, the story seems to write itself.

Responses are published as received.

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About Jacklyn Oh:

Jacklyn is a writer from Singapore. She spends most of her time dreaming of strange new worlds.