Otago medical student and avid writer Olivia Wright.
For some, the creativity and imagination required to write beautiful non-fiction might not gel with the image of a strait-laced medical student.
However, the traits required of a good doctor: effective communication, empathy and unwavering dedication are actually fairly similar to the traits required to be a good writer- even if the careers are traditionally perceived to be at opposite ends of the academic spectrum.
Olivia Wright, a second-year Otago medical student and regular contributing writer to Rat World magazine, is familiar with people’s incredulity at her diametrically opposing interests.
“Jen (Jennifer Cheuk, editor of Rat World) was so surprised when I applied to med school after my BA/BSc,” Olivia says.
“She was like, ‘that’s so random’, and I get similar responses a lot. She was always a huge advocate for me going though.”
Olivia has been writing since she was a child “mostly about mermaids or dystopian YA at the start”, but she found her niche during her first degree, after COVID-19 interrupted her plans to study abroad in Seattle.
“I was accepted into a creative writing workshop paper with Paula Morris (New Zealand novelist, short-story writer editor and literary academic), and while I was upset about missing out on travelling it ended up being an amazing chance to make something good out of a loss.”
Olivia learnt about creative non-fiction writing with Morris, an approach which combines the nuances of your own perspectives with the truth of non-fiction.
“I wrote a piece for the class which was published online. It was about my Dad and it was so interesting researching my own life like that.”
Olivia spoke on a panel at the NZ Young Writers Festival 2023 entitled ‘Prescriptions and Prose: Where Medicine and Creativity Meet’.
She used the time to speak about the intricacies involved in enmeshing a creative discipline with her studies at medical school.
“It’s not as clear cut as just being a writer makes me write better in exams.
“It’s more that I have some additional perspective, which helps me to remember that there are things outside of medicine which I love and which I want to cultivate,” she says.
Olivia also discusses the instability inherent to creative occupations, framing medicine as a safe and reliable career which gives her more freedom to enjoy writing.
“I’m able to combine the two interests in a lot of ways, from using scientific research techniques for my creative writing projects to editing the medical school magazine and writing the Medical Revue.”