Feel like you’re down a rabbit hole? Then try the Creative Writing Club

“I searched for a club where I could express my writing affinity,” says Trevor Heim-Prechter. “I found myself here. I feel like it's home.”

Heim-Prechter is a member of the Creative Writing Club at UW-River Falls 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 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 in 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 their 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.” Another piece read, “I imagine it would be beautiful at the bottom.” Rabbits were 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”.

President Magnuson credits the club for improving their writing and for helping to make lasting friendships. Vice President Brasser echoed Magnuson’s sentiments by giving credit to the club’s commitment to inclusivity and community-oriented values.

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 and anime to magna. With the floor opened for discussion, members and newcomers alike 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 (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.”