Creative writers display talent at MCC

Cassie Fincher

“I think a lot of students would rather write a short story than take a test on Shakespeare,” Josh Rathkamp said, a creative writing instructor at MCC.During the past five years, the increase in promoting creative writing has been on the rise. One organization, the Office of Light and Letters (OLL), based in Berkeley, Calif., has created multiple events to help inspire people to write.

The OLL started with an event directed toward the youth, called the Young Writers Program (YWP).

OLL and YWP are both non-profit organizations.

Rathkamp believes that people want to participate in these programs because a lot of people have the need to tell stories.

“Hey.I have something to say.everyone wants to be heard, especially when we have jobs and live lives where we are not heard and our interiors are not heard,” said Rathkamp when impersonating an eager writer.

Dawn Tucker, a Script Writing instructor at MCC, believes that some of the best script writing that she has seen in her class, have come from creative writing majors.

“A lot of these creative writers are still looking for their medium.and so they are trying to find something that can really help them find their medium and sink their teeth into.” Tucker said.

Nearly 28,000 students are set to participate in the Script Frenzy challenge, an event in April encouraging people to write 100 pages of scripts for movies, plays, TV shows, and graphic novels, all through the 30 days of April.

ASU film student, Joseph Jurado, is looking forward to the Script Frenzy challenge.

“I like to start with a character or little idea and then just start writing to see where it goes at first. Then if I like it, I’ll start shaping it into something a little more in-depth and fully developed,” Jurado said.

Rathkamp feels that writers should look for workshops that function the same way and promote the idea that, “even though this novel may not come to anything, you’re sitting down.and you’re doing it with like-minded people.

  • Mesa Legend Staff

    These are archived stories from Mesa Legend editions before Fall 2018. See article for corresponding author.

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