Posted January 29, 2018
“I searched for a club where I could express my writing affinity,” says Trevor Heim-Prechter. “I found myself here. I feel like its home.” Heim-Prechter is a member of the Creative Writing Club on the University on theWisconsin-River Falls’ campus and grew up knowing he wanted to be a writer. He joined the club to seek out a community of fellow writers who would understand his passion for the craft and to increase his exposure to a wider variety of writing styles and writers.
Twelve people attended for the first Creative Writing Club meeting of the 2018 spring semester in the University Center’s Eau Galle River Room last Thursday afternoon. The club, which was created during the fall semester 2014, has 26 members on a closed Facebook group.
At the Thursday meeting, after introductions, the floor was opened to anyone wanting to share their work. Creative Writing Club president Emmett Magnuson was the first to share one of her favorite poems. Secretary Amber Schoeder and Vice President Briana Brasser read pieces they wrote, Schoeder a rhyming poem and Basser an excerpt from a longer piece she is still in the process of writing. After the writers read aloud their work to the quiet room of listening club members, the audience responded with the soft sound of snaps in lieu of clapping.
As is routine for Creative Writing Club Meetings, for ten minutes laptops, ipads, phones, and even traditional notebook paper were brought out to write about the prompt, “If you fell down the rabbit hole, what do you think you’d find?” Members were encouraged to share what they took the ten minutes to write.
Various responses from this writing prompt included,” …an infinite blackness, I can’t feel, I can’t hear” and another piece with the line, “I imagine it would be beautiful at the bottom.” Rabbits, naturally featured in many of the stories with lines such as, “an underground rabbit society” and a short story about “…a tiny town of civilized rabbits”.
Creative Writing Club President-Emmett Magnuson, credits the club for improving their writing and for helping to make lasting friendships. Vice President Briana Brasser echoed Magnuson’s sentiments by giving credit to the club’s commitment to inclusivity and community-oriented values.
Amber Schoeder the secretary, says of the Creative Writing Club, “I can express myself fully and I don’t have to worry about anyone judging me here.” Schoeder wants to make sure that people know “you do not have to be a creative writing major to fit in and have something to talk about, at any meeting you will find where you fit in here.”
The club’s friendly and welcoming atmosphere was apparent during the main event of the meeting. Members of the Creative Writing Club discussed the topic of adaptions of books to movies, movies to books – anime to magna. With the floor opened for discussion members and newcomers to the club began an animated discussion about “Game of Thrones”, Maximum Ride, how Marvel movies have created more interest in comic books and how greatly Disney movie adaptations differ from their original versions. New and returning members bonded over memories of their favorite book-to-movie adaptations and listened respectively to reviews and assessments of movies such as “Gerald’s Game” and the “Shining”.
The Thursday meeting ended with two rounds of MadLibs and deciding on the topic of discussion for the next meeting – sequels.
The group is a safe space to share work in a judgement-free and constructive environment, said Rebecca Misorski, a five-semester member.
“I was such a nervous person when I first got here (to campus),” she said. “I didn’t know anybody so I joined this club in hopes to meet new people and so far this is the only club I stuck to because I loved the people here and it has helped me to venture out and break out of my shell”
“I joined because I really liked writing and it gives you a chance to speak out and show who you are,” she added. “the way you write is really who you are as a person.”
The article may be found online at https://uwrfjournalism.org/2018/01/feel-like-youre-down-a-rabbit-hole-then-try-the-creative-writing-club/.